Skip to main content

It's a teen show in Thailand as Rafiq and Nora complete sweep

Nora Lyana and Rafiq Ismail with their trophies at the Thailand International Open in Bangkok.
Nora Lyana and Rafiq Ismail with their trophies at the Thailand International Open in Bangkok.


PETALING JAYA: Teen titans Rafiq Ismail and Nora Lyana Nastasia completed a clean sweep for Malaysia at the Thailand International Open bowling championships in Bangkok.

The men’s competition was an all-leftie final between Rafiq and compatriot Muhd Nur Aiman Khairuddin.

In-form Rafiq came back from a match down to beat Aiman 185-197, 256-216 in the step-ladder final to land his first Thailand Open title. It was his 10th win out of 11 events in four tournaments this season.

Rafiq, a four-gold medallist at the Asian Youth Tenpin Championships in Macau last month, received 300,000 Thai baht (RM33,802) while Aiman took home 150,000 Thai baht (RM16,901).

It was also an all-Malaysian affair in the women’s final with 17-year-old Nora edging Esther Cheah 247-214 to bag her maiden senior title in her first senior tournament. Esther also finished second in 2006.

“It feels amazing to win my first senior international crown,” said Nora who collected 100,000 Thai baht (RM11,267) for her efforts.

Nora showed just why she was given the nod to compete in the women’s Open category with a confident display throughout the week.

Having kept pace in the first round of qualifying, Nora’s 1,305 pinfalls saw her top the leaderboard in round three to qualify directly for the final.

Having qualified in third place, Esther put up a gallant display by amassing 258 pinfalls to beat compatriot Sin Li Jane (227) and Indonesia’s Tannya Roumimper (190) in the semi-final to set up a final with Nora.

In the final, it was Nora who got off to a better start with three strikes while Esther had an open first frame. From then onwards, it was Nora all the way as she picked up five more strikes to seal victory.
“This win means a lot to me. It’s my first senior tournament and the experience here will do me a world of good,” said Nora, who won a gold and three silvers at the Asian Youth Tenpin Championships.



The Star

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...
2 comments
Read more

Govt Always Gives Emphasis To Sporting Culture, Says PM

KUALA TERENGGANU, May 29 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badaw i said the government always gives emphasis on cultivating a strong sporting culture in achieving excellence at the international level. As such, the Prime Minister said, it was important to scout for young talents in sports. "I observe that the Malaysia Games (Sukma) has become one of the important platforms to do so. "In this arena, the potentials and skills of the youngsters can be identified for development so that they can achieve greater success in sports," he said in his message in the souvenir book of the 12th Sukma from May 31 until June 9. Abdullah said he was aware that competition in sports was very keen and challenging but this did not mean that Malaysian athletes were incapable of competing at the international level. "The fact is that we have all the characteristics required to be excellent. We must inculcate a strong fighting spirit so that we don't easily surrender,...
1 comment
Read more

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more