Courtesy of SHAMSHUL FITRI /STAR SPORTS

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian bowlers stormed to a 1-2-3 finish in the San Marino Open bowling championships which ended on Sunday.

Alex Liew won the crown after beating compatriot Adrian Ang in the final.

It was also a good indication for the women’s team who will be heading for the women’s world championships in Hong Kong in September, as Esther Cheah reached the semi-finals, only to lose to Adrian in the mixed men and women event.

She ended up joint third together with the other losing semi-finalist Robert Andersson of Sweden.

Alex, together with Sharon Koh, Sin Li Jane, Zandra Aziela and Zulmazran Zulkifli, were forced to work hard having only qualified for the 36-player first elimination round.

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 American Kelly Kulick, the first woman to win a PBA Tour title earlier this year, again showed her supremacy at the 33rd CANON MALAYSIAN INTERNATIONAL OPEN. She emerged top seed going into the Women’s Open Masters Final knockout matches. She did not disappoint, although she had her scary moments.

Kelly Kulick and Carolyn Ballard were the only two American PBA bowlers to take part this year. Carolyn was here to defend the title she won last year.

The lane conditions were described as ‘challenging’ and even Kelly, who has been bowling for 27 years (since she was 6 yrs old) had to dig deep into her experience to lift this year’s crown. In the quarter finals, she defeated 2005 Champion, Siti Safiyah of Malaysia with games of 196/212/224 against Safiyah’s 178/238/197 (won 2-1). Kelly had a relatively easy match against Liza Del Rosario of Philippines in the semi finals when she bowled lines of 191/216 to beat Liza’s 188/178. In the final matchplay, Kelly was stretched to the limits when she had to face a ’spinner’ from Chinese Taipei in the name of HL Chien. Kelly lost the first game 184/211. She recovered to win the second game by a mere 6 pins when she shot a 218 game against Chien’s 212. Again in the decider, she had a close call although she finally clinched the title on a 211 game against Chien’s 201 game.

With her win, Kelly took home RM15000 prize money and a chance to defend her crown next year. HL Chien had to settle for RM7500.

In the Men’s Division, defending Champion Zulmazran Zulkifli of Malaysia was unable to make it a 3-times hattrick after crashing out in the quarter finals. However, team mate Adrian Ang was able to keep the title in the country when he beat Osku Palermaa of Finland in an exciting match to claim his first Malaysian Open title.

Adrian had earlier disposed off Shaker Al Hassan of UAE with wins of 279-191 and 238-202 in the quarter finals. He however did not have an easy passage against Hussain Al Suwaidi, also of UAE, in the semi finals. He was stretched to games of 261/238/199 against Hussain’s 187/247/169 (won 2-1) to set up a meeting with Osku who had earlier disposed off another Malaysian youngster, 18 yrs old Yusof Abdul Raof in the semi finals.

Both Adrian and Osku succumbed to apparently challenging lane conditions on their opening games…with Adrian shooting a poor 163 game and Osku with an even poorer 147 game. However, after many ball changes, they were able to get their act together in game 2 with Osku levelling the points to one each. In the decider, Adrian was able to prove he was a better bowler on that day, when he shot a 222 game against Osku’s 214 game.

An exciting match to watch overall. Home ground, home advantage, plus a hot streak after coming in second and beating a few PBA fellows at the Brunswick Euro Challenge in Paris just a week ago may have added to this young gun’s confidence to win his first Malaysian Open title. 

Adrian pocketed RM35000 for his win and Osku took home RM17000.

For detailed scores, please go to MTBC official website.

Have a HAPPY EASTER!

Jonathan

The 10th edition of the MILO International Junior All-Stars is already in progress at Sunway Megalanes, Malaysia. Qualifying rounds commenced on Dec 9 and will continue until Dec 18, with the Open Masters on Dec 19.

Touted as one of the most popular Youth Tournaments in the world, this year’s tournament is expected to attract 600-700 youths from 12 countries.

Top youths aged 23 and below from Australia, Chinese Taipei, Germany, Hong Kong, Korea, Holland, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam, together with Malaysian youths, will pit their skills to topple the two defending Champions who happen to be Malaysia’s Sin Li Jane and Adrian Ang.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s National Elite Back-Up Squad member, Kang Bo Long, shot the tournament’s first Perfect Game on the opening night of qualifyings. The 23 yr old youth who was promoted to the Back-Up squad this year, has been bowling since he was 13 yrs old. He was the 2007 Singapore Youth Champion, 2008 Malaysian Open second runner-up, and together with teammates Rodson Tong, Kelvin Keong and Syafiq Ridhwan, won a silver medal for Malaysia at the 3rd Asian Indoor Games 2009 in Ho Chi Minh City. This is Bo Long’s first perfect game at an official tournament…although he has shot 6 perfect games during training times.

Be seeing you at the Junior All-Stars,

Jonathan

 A Happy New Year to all our readers. May 2009 prove to be an even more successful year than last year!

The 9th Milo World Junior All-Stars Bowling Championship concluded with one of my former youth bowlers successfully defending his title. This makes Adrian Ang the only ‘Boys Open’ youth bowler to have won this Championship a record 3 times! Congratulations Adrian. Also to Malaysia’s Sin Li Jane who captured the ‘Girls Open’ Championship…her first International title.

However, one bowler did stand out among the participants…Saudi Arabia’s Bader Al-Shaikh. It was a joy to watch this very talented bowler bowl an 816 qualifying score. Speaking to him later, Ivy discovered that his highest 3-game series was actually 851 (278-300-273) at a tournament in Saudi Arabia.

When pressed on how he was able to achieve such impressive scores, he gave credit to his former English Coach, Mario Joseph, who was in Saudi on a 3-yr contract.

Bader Al-Shaikh started bowling at the tender age of 10 years. It became a passion that saw him practising between 5-6 hrs daily (seven days a week) during his first 6 yrs into bowling. So when his English Coach appeared on the scene, he was able to scale new heights in his bowling career.

Bader achieved his first perfect game at the age of 14 yrs and has a whopping 24 perfect games (300) to his credit today…aged 21. He also won 2 golds at the Asian Games in Doha in 2006, capturing the All Events gold and the Doubles gold with his 18 yrs’ old brother, Hassan, and a host of other titles.

Although bowling is his passion, Bader has decided that studies must also come first. He has been residing in Brisbane, Australia for the past 3 mths to further his studies on Finance.

Bader has been to Malaysia 3 times and says he’s happy to be back again as Malaysia is one of his favorite countries to visit…’so amazing’…so he says!

You can find more information on him here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bader-AL-alshaikh/17893255677

A small tip here…most Champion bowlers, or should I say ‘every’ Champion started out by bowling 7 days-a-week! No short cuts here, you must clock in the appropriate number of lane time to be successful. So make your New Year resolution to clock in more training time at the bowling alley this year!

Happy bowling

Jonathan

 Today we feature Adrian Ang, a member of the Malaysian squad that won the10th World Youth Championships Team Gold in Orlando, USA. As a prelude to the World Youth, Adrian was also part of the Men’s Team that won the Team Gold at the 20th Asian Championships held in Hong Kong. Adrian capped it off by winning the Masters Gold medal as well.

Here are excerpts of Ivy’s interview with Adrian when we caught up with him and Team mate Aaron Kong recently.

Ivy: Congratulations on your recent impressive achievements, Adrian.

Adrian: Thank you.

Ivy: Can you tell me what made you choose Tenpin Bowling instead of some other sport?

Adrian: Like Aaron, my father, Steven Ang, was also a bowler. He used to bring me to the bowling alley. I loved the sport.

Ivy: How old were you when you started bowling?

Adrian: I was 9 years old.

Ivy: What was your most memorable moment as a young bowler?

Adrian: When I first started bowling. I really fell in love with the sport. I became addicted to it…just couldn’t go through one day without bowling!

Ivy: I know it was a long time ago, but can you recall any memorable occasion with Jonathan as your Coach?

Adrian: Yes, of course! It was at one Circuit in Malacca. I was the Top Seed, but had just lost the first match. However, Coach was able to guide me to a second high game of 279 which helped me to eventually clinch the Masters Gold. I will never forget that!

Ivy: What would you say is the most important aspect or stage of bowling that aspiring bowlers should focus on?

Adrian: Definitely their Basics. That is very important.

Ivy: What additional bowling tips would you give to those who wish to emulate your success?

Adrian: You must be willing to make lots of sacrifices. Follow your heart. But most important, you must listen to your Coach…be willing to work with him. To improve, focus on your progress stage by stage.

Ivy: Thank you so much, Adrian, for willing to share your success secrets with the bowling community. Jonathan and I wish you every success in your future endeavours. We know you have a very bright future ahead of you.

Adrian: It has been my pleasure. You are most welcome.

There you have it folks. Golden tips from a young World Youth and Asian Champion. You too can be one if you follow these invaluable tips. You can also have access to the very same Basic Fundamentals at my website: http://www.abc2bowlingstrikes-spares.com. Feel free to check it out.

Till the next post, have fun bowling!

Jonathan