The smiles on his face and the hugs and pats he received to congratulate him hailed Rafiq Ismail’s gold medal in the men’s Masters in bowling at the Jakabaring Bowling Center in Palembang on Monday.
The 21-year-old Malaysian kept his cool with a solid performance for a 534-511 (245-266, 289-235) win to land the gold against South Korea’s defending champion Park Joo-woo.
In the process, Rafiq wrote a bit of bowling history in Asian Games bowling competition by becoming the first Malaysian to win the men’s Masters event.
The historic gold from Rafiq is Malaysia’s second gold in the bowling competition. The first was won by the women’s trio of Syaidatul Afifah Badrul Hamidi, Esther Cheah, and Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman.
Malaysia ended their bowling campaign with a haul of two gold and two silver. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
