National keglers clinch silver, bronze in IBF World Championships

KUALA LUMPUR − The Malaysian bowling squad concluded their campaign in the International Bowling Federation (IBF) World Championships in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a haul of silver and bronze medals from the women’s and men’s team events respectively.

The women’s team − comprising Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman, Natasha Mohamed Roslan, Nur Syazwani Sahar and Faten Najihah Ahmad Faik − missed the title after losing to the United States (USA) in the finals held at the Sports, Fitness and Wellbeing Hub at Expo 2020 Dubai yesterday.

The national team won the first game 190-170 against Missy Parkin, Jordan Richard, Danielle McEwan and Kelly Kulick but the USA bounced back to win the second tie 171-215, before securing the gold medal with a 40-38 win in the tiebreaker.

While thanking the Malaysian fans for their continuous support, Safiyah was grateful for the second-place finish in the world meet despite not competing in any tournament for the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. She last played in the 2019 SEA Games in Manila. 

“We aimed for gold and did our best, but we could only win this (silver). Nevertheless, we are grateful with the silver, because in not competing in any tournament for two years, this is quite a big achievement for us,” she said through a video clip sent to the media.

The ladies advanced to the finals after ousting the Philippines 203-183 in the semi-finals and Germany 235-199 in the last eight stage.

Meanwhile, the men’s team of former world champion Muhammad Rafiq Ismail, Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek, Tun Ameerul Luqman Al-Hakim Tun Hasnul Azam and Muhammad Syazirol Shamsudin settled for bronze after losing in the last four stage.

They went down 184-299 against eventual champions South Korea in the semi-finals, after eliminating USA 279-258 in the quarterfinals. The Koreans took the crown after defeating Singapore 196-136, 248-198.

The national men and women’s singles, doubles and trios had all failed to get past the quarterfinal stage since the competition rolled off on November 6. – Bernama, November 16, 2021