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BOWLING sparked off the gold hunt for Malaysia, through Kenny Ang and Ben
Heng, in the just concluded Commonweath Games.
Kenny also won the singles gold while Shalin Zulkifli and Lai Kin Ngoh
provided a doubles silver with a bronze coming from Kin Ngoh in the
singles.
Coach Sid Allen, in a question and answer session with Mailsport tells
how it all happened. The fears, the moments of ecstasy and what is in
store for the future.
Mailsport: Congratulations on the team's performance at the Commonwealth
Games. You must be relieved that bowling met their target:
Allen: After the success of the whole contingent, we would have definitely
been disappointed if we had not done as well as we did. It was indeed a
relief on the first day of competition, when we won the gold through Kenny
and Ben. That took off a great deal of pressure from the team. We had kept
the pressure off by just saying that we would be going for two medals
without naming the colours. But MTBC, NSC and the Sports Ministry, knew we
were looking at gold. We have to thank NSC and the Sports Ministry for nor
pressuring us with open announcements. We also have the media to thank for
keeping our targets under wraps.
And we are happy we kept our part of the bargain and delivered the
goods.
Mailsport: Are you satisfised with what was achieved or do you feel we
could have done better?
Allen: I am very satisfied. We could not have done better. In the men's
section we dominated with gold medals in the singles and doubles. In the
women`s section, Australia's Cara Honeychurch and Maxine Nable were the
better players in the tournament and they dominated. And with K.N. Lai
picking up the bronze in the singles and Shalin and Lai winning the silver
in the doubles, we could not have done better. But I am a little
disappointed with the mixed doubles. The gold and silver medal in the men
and women's doubles respectively got the better of the players.
The attention we got and the euphoria somewhat drained the bowlers. We
could have done better othrwise.
Mailsport: The selection of the bowlers for the Commonwealth Games must
have been a difficult one especially when you could only name two in each
category. Did you at anytime doubt your choice?
Allen: I did, because we have so many players who were capable of
playing at the Games and achieve what we did. Anyone of the players from
Y.H. Ng, Alex Liew and Sharon Low could have done well. We have three
players who are world champions - Daniel Lim and Sharon, both World Games
champions, and Alex Liew who was the World Youth championship gold
medallist. The fact that they were not used only shows our depth. I am
glad that everything worked well for us.
Mailsport: Did Shalin crumble under pressure or did she suffer a burn-
out?
Allen: Definitely not, I should know. She gave her best and was all the
time in control of herself.
She was highly competitive and motivated to do well, but things just did
not go her way. Besides, with Honeychurch and Maxine playing at their
best, there was no way Shalin could have beaten them.
Shalin's selection to represent Malaysia at the World Cup in Kobe in
November, underlines the fact that she is still the No 1 bowler in the
country. She has not lost her edge.
Mailsport: Was there a possibility that Malaysia could have made a clean
sweep or flopped completely during the Games?
Allen: No, I do not believe we could have made a clean sweep especially
with the presence of the Australian women who were in awesome form.
But we could have got in trouble if we had not had a good start on the
first day when we won the women's doubles silver and men's doubles gold
medal. We may have even succumbed under the pressure.
But talking about pressure, I must say that the players handled it very
well and showed teremendous character.
It was indeed a big story because they became role models.
They showed how to make use of home crowd support to their advantage.
Mailsport: The preparations for the Games were thorough, but were you
worried that you might have overlooked something?
Allen: My job is to worry and if I did not I would not have been doing
my job. Our preparations were thorough. I was more worried when everything
was going on smoothly because it is during these times that one will not
see any signs if things were going wrong. But I am glad that everything
went on smoothly without any hitches.
Mailsport: With all the money spent, preparations made and expectations
riding high, what was your greatest fear?
Allen: My greatest fear was if the players could handle the pressure.
But they handled it well and even made use of the crowd support to their
advantage.
Thy did not allow fear to get the better of them. Instead they went on
and conquered it.
Mailsport: If you were given an opportunity to prepare all over again
for the Games, would you do it any differently?
Allen: In terms of selection of players and preparation, I would not.
But probably on the "Operation Cara" I would have handled it differently.
It was certainly not an operation like the foreign media made it out to be
to rattle Honeychurch or put fear in her that we have an hostile crowd
here. We knew that Honeychurch could be rattled under pressure and all we
asked was for the local crowd to come and support our bowlers. We
certainly would not have condoned jeering and this certainly did not
happen. Honeychurch was fearful that the crowd would be hostile and that
probably affected her performance on the first day. But when she found out
that she was not going to get any stick from the crowd, she settled down
to bussiness. The best player won and that alone speaks for the fairness
displayed here.
Mailsport: Was there a turning point which saw the team rise to the
occasion?
Allen: The turning point was the Opening Ceremony. When we walked into
the Stadium to the standing ovation, the atmosphere instantly gripped us.
When we walked in we were made to realise that we were the stars. It was
like music and we danced to a perfect tune of success.
It spurred ud on to greater heights and when we walked out of the
stadium there was relief on our faces.
Mailsport: Where do you go from here?
Allen: The quartet who bowled at the Games are a tired lot. But it is
back to work because we have a lot more to do. We began training before
the closing ceremony and that underlines our seriousness. Ben Heng and
K.N. Lai are competing in Manila in the Brunswick Asian tournament of
champions, while the rest are working for the World team Cup in Holland,
in three weeks, the Bowling World Cup in Kobe in November and, finally,
the Bangkok Asian Games in December.
It is going to be work and more work. Only in January or February when
all is done, will we have time for celebration.
Mailsport: How long more are you going to be in Malaysia and what is
your ultimate target for bowling in Malaysia?
Allen: I will be around until the end of next year, until after the
World championships. In the meantime, I intend to set up a structure good
for Malaysian bowling for the next 15 years. We have progressed by leaps
and bounds since we started work eight years ago. We now have younger
bowlers coming up. The men`s team is getting younger. Besides Kenny, the
rest are all youngsters. The men have progrssed tremendously to catch up
with the women bowlers. It is now important for us to work towards more
consistent performances.
I would like to see development in the technical aspect of the game and
the presence of people like Bill Hall, the ball specialist who was here
for the Games, will definitely be a boost.
I will also be updating the development programme and manuals as we have
made headway n the last eight years. We are moving up the ladder and we
need to continue to be more professional in our approach in order to
improve.
It will be another three years before the present batch of players peak.
(END) |
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