Malaysian team has tough act to rise

The Malaysian team struggled with fluctuating performances in the five-player team event this morning at the 2010 WTBA World Men's Championship at the Dream Bowl Palace in Munich to be placed 28th after the first block of three games.
Except for anchorman Zulmazran Zulkifli who was the best performer with his 198, 211 and 223 lines for an average of 210, the rest had problems stringing three good games.
The worst affected was Aaron Kong who could only string lines of 176, 168 and 161 for a poor average of 168.
The others had yo-yo performance and it drastically affected their total score for three games which saw them down a total of 2881. They had games of 911, 916 and 1009.
They certainly have to buck up and start shooting high scores and consistently with averages of 220, on the long-oiled pattern today, if they cherish any hopes of making the top four.
They are currently trailing by 216 pinfalls to fourth placed Columbia.
It was Team USA who holds the lead currently.
The Americans put together a three-game set of 3,314, an average of 220.9, to take the lead.
The top four teams after six games will advance to the semifinals tonight.
Team USA had games of 1,142, 1,122 and 1,050 and leads Finland by 29 pins on the medium oil pattern. Chris Barnes led the Americans with a 692 series and was followed by Tommy Jones (670), Bill O'Neill (663), Patrick Allen (645) and Wes Malott (644).
"I think we are in good shape because tomorrow's long pattern plays to our strengths," Barnes said. "The goal is to get the top seed so you can have choice of lane pattern in the semifinals and final. I like our chances in the semifinals, especially if we can get there and choose the pattern."
Barnes said the team was satisfied with the score, but felt like they could have finished a little stronger in the third game to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the field.
In the all-events race, O'Neill maintained the top spot with just three games remaining. He has totaled 4,717 for 21 games, an average of 224.6, and leads Barnes, who has 4,633, by 84 pins. Korea's Jang Dong-Chul is third, 94 pins behind Barnes.
Malaysia's best placed bowler is Aiman who is in 29th position with his total of 4313 with three more games to go for the final total for the All-events. Next best is Adrian in 41st position with his total of 4265. Zulmazran is tied on 48th position with Puerto Rico's Gabriel Sanchez with a total of 4259 while Aaron is in 61st position (4200), Alex in 63rd (4196) and Muhamad Shafiq in 65th (4192).
The top 16 players in the all-events standings after 24 games advance to Masters match play Saturday.

Malaysia's standing and scores:

28	Alex Liew Kien Liang	Malaysia	571	190,33	160	178	233				233
	Muhamad Syafiq Ridhwa		578	192,67	155	213	210				213
	Adrian Ang Hsien Loong		595	198,33	222	191	182				222
	Aaron Kong Eng Chuan		505	168,33	176	168	161				176
	Zulmazran Zulkifli		632	210,67	198	211	223				223
			0	0,00							0
	Total		2881	192,07	911	961	1009				1009

Top five finishes after the first block of three games:

Pos.	Name	Nation	Tot.	Ave.	1	2	3	4	5	6	High
1	O'Neill, Bill	United States	663	221,00	245	186	232				245
	Allen, Patrick		645	215,00	220	231	194				231
	Malott, Wes		644	214,67	207	225	212				225
	Barnes, Chris		692	230,67	268	212	212				268
	Jones, Tommy		670	223,33	202	268	200				268
	Page, Rhino		0	0,00							0
	Total		3314	220,93	1142	1122	1050				1142
2	Salonen, Petteri	Finland	715	238,33	231	214	270				270
	Jähi, Joonas		628	209,33	214	211	203				214
	Koivuniemi, Mika		631	210,33	240	194	197				240
	Uotila, Pasi		586	195,33	203	206	177				206
	Palermaa, Osku		725	241,67	248	238	239				248
			0	0,00							0
	Total		3285	219,00	1136	1063	1086				1136
3	Olsen, Svein Roger	Norway	610	203,33	208	190	212				212
	Olsen, Martin		639	213,00	248	203	188				248
	Rudshagen, Bjørn Einar		698	232,67	298	214	186				298
	Sandbækken, Mads		658	219,33	201	212	245				245
	Torgersen, Tore		582	194,00	183	204	195				204
			0	0,00							0
	Total		3187	212,47	1138	1023	1026				1138
4	Monroy, Jaime Enrique	Colombia	609	203,00	226	201	182				226
	Romero, Jorge David		582	194,00	187	199	196				199
	Garcia, Fabio Augusto		641	213,67	207	222	212				222
	Otalora, Manuel Hernando		610	203,33	180	217	213				217
	Gomez, Jaime Andres		655	218,33	237	238	180				238
			0	0,00							0
	Total		3097	206,47	1037	1077	983				1077
5	Maggi, Mats	Belgium	643	214,33	222	207	214				222
	Peetroons, Steve		602	200,67	177	204	221				221
	Leroy, Olivier		623	207,67	201	256	166				256
	Samain, Jean-Marc		579	193,00	166	189	224				224
	Verbruggen, Gery		641	213,67	202	225	214				225
			0	0,00							0
	Total		3088	205,87	968	1081	1039				1081