MUHD Hairul Miran, Noor Lizah Salman and Muhammad Suhaili Abdul Hamid rose to the occasion by cinching gold medals for Malaysia in their respective events on the opening day of the ASEAN Para Games tenpin bowling competition at Sunway Mega Lanes on Tuesday (Sept 19).
It was also a fruitful day for Thailand, Singapore and Philippines keglers as they grabbed gold medals along the way.
Muhd Hairul, competing in the mixed singles TPB1 (full blindness) category, rolled a total 919 pinfalls after six games to clinch gold by 202 pins over Thailand’s V. Tangpoolpun while Krisada Kietkongtawee, also from Thailand, claimed bronze with a total of 686 pins.
Noor Lizah, 50, and teammate Ruzila Mustapha completed a 1-2 finish in the TBP8 wheelchair women’s singles (physical impairment) category. Noor Lizah amassed a total of 824 pins to finish ahead of Ruzila (804) and Rohayati of Indonesia (679).
The introduction of Muhammad Suhaili in the mixed singles TPB2 turned into a success story for the host. Suhaili rolled a total of 1,268 pins to claim the third gold for Malaysia – 62 pins ahead of silver medallist Kamarul Ariffin of Brunei while fellow Malaysian Choo Kam Chan won bronze (1,104).
Malaysia also won two silvers through Mohd Rizal Hassan (TPB3 singles mixed) and Mohd Azrin Rahim (TPB singles mixed).
Thailand also made a haul of two gold medals – P. Chumchai took gold in the men’s singles TPB8 and R. Phisittanakul in mixed singles TPB10 events.
Singaporean Mohamed Ismail Hussain, 33, also retained his TPB3 title by amassing a total of 1,303 pinfalls over six games to defend his crown.
He had won this event at the 2015 Singapore and 2011 Indonesia Para Games. The sport was not contested at the 2014 edition in Myanmar.
Malaysians Rizal Hassan (1,216) and Noresham Manaf (1,120) won the silver and the bronze respectively. The TPB1-3 class is reserved for visually-impaired athletes, where a higher number indicates a lower level of impairment.
