Southpaws Rule Up North

Lefties ruled in the finals of the Men and Women’s Open in the 37^th Penang Pesta International Bowling Championship which ended yesterday at the Mega Lanes, Prai, Penang.

While the Korean power continued to rule with Choi Bok Eum winning the title and RM10,000, national bowler Zatil Iman Abdul Ghani bagged the Ladies Open title edging Shalin Zulkilfi to win RM5,000. Both were southpaws.

Lefties further ruled the championship, with Men’s Open second placed and third, national bowlers, Alex Liew and Muhd Nur Aiman respectively and Ladies Open third placed, Holland’s Ghislaine Vander Tol, all being lefties.

Alex (left) pocketed RM4,000, while Muhd Nur (right) took home RM2,000.

For the 21-year-old Choi (centre), he was the biggest winner, having bagged the Youth Open title on Christmas Day to pocket another RM3,000 for a total of RM18,000 to take home.

However, Zatil Iman still had enough reasons to be equally happy, as her hopes of ending the year with at least one title was fulfilled.

The 21-year-old lass from Kelana Jaya had even more reason to be happy, as she had pipped overnight leader and senior professional bowler, Shalin Zulifli to the title.

Shalin( left) who collected RM2,500, was the leader until the sixth game yesterday, before Zatil (centre), who was in an overnight fourth position, moved to top spot.

For Zatil a second-year sports science diploma student at UITM, her charge all started on Friday in the first block, where in the seventh game she fired the tournament’s third perfect game.

“The perfect game saw me find the line, and I just used the line to carry on and did well,” said Zatil who had won the bronze medal in the mixed doubles partnering Adrian Ang in World Games in Chinese Taipei and winning the bronze in the singles in the World Youth Championship in Orlando, USA.

“I had least expected to win with Shalin in the lead and two foreign bowlers (Ghislaine and Indonesia’s Tannya Roumimper) ahead of me after the first day. Besides, they are all experienced bowlers,” said Zatil who has been with the national team for two years now.

However, what helped Zatil a great deal in getting the better of her opponents was that the extra 20 pinfalls she collected for wins in the match play.

In the final round yesterday, bowlers were awarded 20 pins for a win and 10 pins for a draw in every game against their opponent in the round robin format.

Zatil won nine of her match plays including her positional round and one drew once against Ghislaine, when both finished with identical scores of 247.

Zatil collected 190 pins in bonus points as opposed to Shalin’s 120 from six wins out of ten match play.

“Yes, the 70 pins difference did help me, but I bowled well too,” said Zatil who had lines of 217, 256, 245, 236, 233, 254, 225, 247, 247 and 278 for an average of 230.55.

Shalin herself too did well with lines of 221, 227, 255, 225, 218, 243, 195, 239, 246 and 257 for an average of 229.05.

“I bowled well and am happy with my performance, but Zatil bowled better,” said Shalin.

“Besides, I think the lines were better for lefties. But I am not complaining because it has been a long season and most of us had come to Penang for a holiday,” said Shalin.

“Thus, I bowled without any pressure and it worked well in the end.”

Zatil too said that she had taken the championship with a relaxed approach.

“I had wanted so much to do well in the All-Stars championship last week and had even qualified as the finals as the top qualifier. But I crumbled and ended up finishing 33^rd out 36 qualifiers,” said Zatil who hopes to make the Asian Games team next year.

As for the men’s category, the Koreans once again underlined their supremacy, while Alex despite being a lefthander too, failed to unseat Choi who won with a 316 pins advantage over Alex (5,445-5,129)

Earlier in the Junior All-Stars championship last week, another Korean, Kim Jong Wook had won the men’s Open title, besides the Korea's domination in the Boys and Girls Graded events too.

FINAL RESULTS:

Men’s Open:

1. Choi Bok Eum (Kor) – 5,445 (average: 240.23); 2. Alex Liew (Mas) - 5,129 (av: 225.86); 3. Muhd Nur Aiman (Mas) – 5,102 (av: 225.55);

Ladies Open:

1. Zatil Iman Abdul Ghani (Mas) – 4,801 (average: 230.55); 2. Shalin Zulkilfi (Mas) – 4701 (av: 229.05); 3. Ghislaine Vander Tol (Hol) – 4,635 (av: 225.25)

Men’s Graded:

1. Khairul Diaz Din (UITM) – 2,253; 2. Mustafa Yassin Hussin (NS) – 2,190; 3. Muhammad Syafiq Sajeli (Swak) – 2,119.

Ladies’ Graded:

1. Tracy See (Spore Sports School) – 2,060; 2. Syaidatul Afifah (Pk) – 1,909; 3. Farah Izzazaya Mohd Fariq (Pah) – 1,898

Senior Masters:

1. Sandra Sageran (Spore) – 2,038; 2. Y.H. Ng (KL Megalanes) – 2,019; 3. Terdporn M (Thai) – 2,013)

Singles Event:

Men’s Open Singles:

1. Zulmazran Zulkilfi (Mas) – 962; 2. Syafiq Ridhwan (Mas) – 934; 3. Daniel Lim (Mas) – 927

Men’s Graded Singles:

1. Jeremy Fang (Spore); 2. Adrian Charles Dragon (Pen); 3. Micky Un (Sunway Megalanes) – 894

Ladies’ Open Singles:

1. Sharon Koh (Mas) – 903; 2. Tan Yan Ling (Spore) – 872; 3. Esther Cheah (Mas) – 854.

Ladies’ Graded Singles:

1. Yap Wi Yin (KL Sukma) – 778; 2. Nursyamimi (Pk) -744; 3.Cindy Ho (Spore) - 738