9th September, Kuching, Malaysia: 2017 SEA Games two silver medallist, Adrian Ang captured the Open crown of the inaugural Sarawak International Open Bowling Championships at Megalanes EMart on Saturday.
Ang got off to a flying start reeling in four consecutive strikes in the all-Malaysian championship match against challenger, M. Hafiz Zainuddin. But Hafiz also struck four times after sparing his first frame. When Ang failed to convert his spare in the fifth frame, Hafiz moved ahead by 14 pins.
Hafiz missed a single pin spare in the eighth frame allowing Ang to re-take the lead, albeit only 8 pins. Although Hafiz struck in his tenth frame, he needed another strike in the eleventh frame to have a chance of forcing the tie to a second match.
Failing a knock down a second strike, Hafiz ended with a spare for a total of 217 and 222 with a 5-pin handicap. Ang need to double in the ninth and tenth frame which he did finishing with 224 to take the crown.
Newly-crowned champion, Adrian Ang with his two trophies
Hafiz had earlier dispatched second-seed, Tun Ameerul Hakim and third-seed, Chong Jun Foo, 205-178-192 in the semi-finals to face Ang. The fourth-seed also sailed past fifth-seed and 2017 SEA Games triple gold medallist, Rafiq Ismail and sixth-seed, Ahmad Aidil B Abdul Halim, 210-172-190 in the first stepladder match.
The champion came away with a trophy and the top prize of RM18,000 (approx. US$4,300) while Hafiz settled for RM10,000 as first runner-up.
Second runner-up Tun Ameerul Hakim earned RM5,000. Positioned 4 to 6 took home RM2,500, RM1,500 and RM900 respectively.
Ang topped the earlier 8-games finals with a total of 1912, 33 pins ahead of Tun Ameerul on 1879. Pace-setter, Chong finished third with 1864 while Hafiz, Rafiq and Ahmad Aidil made the cut for the stepladder finals in fourth to sixth positions.
Top 3 winners, Hafiz Zainuddin, Adrian Ang and Tun Ameerul
Haziq Sahli missed the cut by 10 pins in seventh position with 1752. Participants had bowled two blocks of 8 games each over two days. The top 40 finishers from the Open division after 16 games qualified for the Masters finals. Singapore bowlers, Nikhil Gangaram won the Classified division while Ahmad Safwan took the Youth title.
Photos courtesy of Amatuer Bowling Association of Sarawak.
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