PERFECT ADRIAN

Thursday, 10 May 2012

 

Adrian Ang is one who is not satisfied easily and his mission in the 35th Canon Malaysian International Open Bowling Championship is win a battle over him.   The national bowler who turns 24 on July 11 fired the championship’s second perfect game this morning and his total score of 754 for the series together with his previous series of 765 for a total of 1519 saw him move to the top of the local pool.   National back-up bowler, Syimir Abdul Razak has been at the top spot since day one of the championship last Sunday with his total of 1476, but now has dropped to second spot.

Former national youth bowler Kang Bo Long is third with his total of 1466 and MTBC Special squad youth bowler, Timmy Tan is fourth with his total of 1443. The top four bowlers from the qualifiers get an exemption from bowling in the Masters Finals round 1.

“It is great to have fired a 300 in the championship as it further boosts my confidence. Generally I have been bowling well,” said Adrian who has a personally record of 19 perfect games of which 10 were achieved in official championships.

“At the end of the day, whether I do well in the championship is all about myself and the lanes. This is a battle only I can win by myself and I have to conquer it,” said Adrian who strives for perfection each time he bowls.

Adrian said the presence of PBA bowlers like Sean Rash, Parker Bohn III, Mika Koivuniemi, Ryan Ciminelli and Dino Castillo, has only made him even more determined to do well and stand tall against these bowlers.

“Without doubt the presence of these PBA bowlers has brought the best out of not only me but the rest of the national bowlers because we have to raise out game to a different level to match these professionals who are really good,” said Adrian the 2010 Malaysian Open champion.

“It will be great to win the title again this year especially with the presence of the PBA bowlers, but I have to work hard and intend to do just that.”

Bowling with the PBA bowlers is nothing new to Adrian as he has competed against them in tournaments like the Euro Challenge in Paris last year where he had finished runners up to Bob Thurlby and had defeated Bill O’Neill and Parker Bohn enroute to the final. Adrian had also won the Ankara Open (ETBA leg) in Turkey in 2009 defeating Finland’s Pasi Uotila, and had finished runners-up to teammate Alex Liew at the 2011 San Marino Open, while Esther Cheah took third spot in a 1-2-3 finish by Malaysia.

National coach Holloway Cheah said that Malaysian’s winning the title this time around is not impossible, but difficult. Holloway also did not rule out the possibility of a double victory as achieved last year when Zandra Aziela Ibrahim Hakimi and Muhd Nur Aiman.

“In the women’s category it will be a battle between the Malaysian and Singaporean bowlers, while in the men’s category I see bowlers like Adrian, Syafiq Rahman, Isaac Russel Paul and Zulmazran Zulkilfi lining up for the challenge. That does not mean that I am ruling out the other Malaysian bowlers, but it is just that at this time of point these bowlers are showing good potential to be up there,” said Holloway.

“The PBA bowlers will definitely be up there to challenge but it is just that I do not know who will be there. Anyone of them is capable to reach the final on their day. It is indeed going to be an interesting battle.”

In the Overseas Pool qualifiers for men, it is PBA bowler Ryan in the lead with his high of series of 789 and 782 for a total of 1571, while fellow PBA bowlers and overnight leader, Sean has dropped to second spot with his series of 779 and 731 for a total of 1510, while Hong Kong’s Wu Siu Hong has moved to third spot with his 760 and 729 series for 1489, while Australia’s Sam Cooley who once led the pool has dropped to fourth spot with his total of 1482 (755 & 727).

In the women’s Open local pool category, Malaysia’s Siti Safiyah Amirah, Jacqueline Sijore and Esther Cheah still hold their top three positions with total of 1478, 1406 and 1386 respectively.

In the Overseas pool, Indonesia’s Tannya Roumimper tops the pack with her total of 1425, with Singapore’s Daphne Tan and Jazreel Tan are in second and third spot with total of 1394 and 1378.   Qualifying is ongoing till late tonight.   After the qualifying rounds, the defending champion, fifth to 12 placed bowlers in the local pool (eight bowlers), 5th to 12th placed overseas bowlers (8 bowlers) , the top 13 qualifiers from the local and overseas bowlers and three bowlers from the “desperado squad” will make the 33 bowlers to make Men’s Masters round 1 on tomorrow (Friday) to bowl eight games.

Tannya Roumimper from Indonesia

For the women’s category, only 27 bowlers qualify for the Round 1, where the defending champion, seven bowlers positioned from 4^th to 10^th from the local and overseas pool respectively together with the top 12 qualifiers from local and overseas pool will qualify.

The top 25 from round 1 for the men, the 1^st to 4^th qualifiers (four bowlers) and 1^st to 4^th from the overseas pool (four bowlers) will make the 33 bowlers to bowl eight games in Round 2 on Saturday to qualify for the quarterfinals, semifinals and final stages.

For the women, the top 21 from round 1, 1^st to 3^rd local and 1^st to 3^rd foreign bowlers will make the 27 bowlers for Round 2.

The Milo Youth Open Finals for Boys and Girls will be held tomorrow (Friday) morning.

 

 

Reported by Tony Mariadass