Malaysians barred from practice
12/08/07
Even before a single ball has been bowled, the mind games have already started with the Malaysian and Indonesian bowling teams being barred from the competition venue yesterday.
The SF Strike Bowl was sealed off to everyone except the Thai team, who were given first option to train on the freshly oiled lanes in the morning, as the Malaysian and Indonesian teams waited patiently by the roadside.
Datuk Liow Tiong Lai (center) and Zaiton Othman (on his right) together with the officials and members of the national bowling squad.
National coach Holloway Cheah said they arrived early in the morning to test the lanes but were told instead that the venue was closed to allow for the oiling of the lanes.
"I know for a fact that the Thai team are training inside. They said they were fine-tuning the oiling machines and making some minor adjustments. But I think they had already oiled some of the lanes earlier to give them a chance to get used to them first.
"I don't think it will matter much because we will get our chance later. But I had hoped the bowlers would have been able to bowl for a short while just to get a feel for the place," he said.
Team manager Cheah Ban Cheng said it was a common occurrence these days to give the home team an advantage by allowing them to adapt to the oiling patterns first.
"This happens quite often but to lock us out is not very nice of them. They are probably afraid of the strength of our team and need all the help they can get," he said.
The official practice for bowling is tomorrow with the competition set to begin on Saturday when the men and women's singles gold medals will be decided.
Esther Cheah, Shalin Zulkifli, Zandra Aziela Ibrahim Hakimi, Sharon Koh, Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman and Zatil Iman Abdul Ghani headline a star-studded women's team while the men's team comprises Alex Liew, Zulmazran Zulkifli, Daniel Lim, Adrian Ang, Aaron Kong and Mohd Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek.
The Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress set a modest four-gold target, which would be an improvement on their three-gold effort in Manila two years ago, but Ban Cheng has challenged the team to do better.
"We won a record seven gold in 1999 (in Brunei) and we now have a team that are capable of matching if not bettering that performance," he said.
Malaysia
Republished courtesy of New Straits Times - Persekutuan, Malaysia (Dec. 6, 2007)
Even before a single ball has been bowled, the mind games have already started with the Malaysian and Indonesian bowling teams being barred from the competition venue yesterday.The SF Strike Bowl was sealed off to everyone except the Thai team, who were given first option to train on the freshly oiled lanes in the morning, as the Malaysian and Indonesian teams waited patiently by the roadside.
Datuk Liow Tiong Lai (center) and Zaiton Othman (on his right) together with the officials and members of the national bowling squad.
National coach Holloway Cheah said they arrived early in the morning to test the lanes but were told instead that the venue was closed to allow for the oiling of the lanes.
"I know for a fact that the Thai team are training inside. They said they were fine-tuning the oiling machines and making some minor adjustments. But I think they had already oiled some of the lanes earlier to give them a chance to get used to them first.
"I don't think it will matter much because we will get our chance later. But I had hoped the bowlers would have been able to bowl for a short while just to get a feel for the place," he said.
Team manager Cheah Ban Cheng said it was a common occurrence these days to give the home team an advantage by allowing them to adapt to the oiling patterns first.
"This happens quite often but to lock us out is not very nice of them. They are probably afraid of the strength of our team and need all the help they can get," he said.
The official practice for bowling is tomorrow with the competition set to begin on Saturday when the men and women's singles gold medals will be decided.
Esther Cheah, Shalin Zulkifli, Zandra Aziela Ibrahim Hakimi, Sharon Koh, Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman and Zatil Iman Abdul Ghani headline a star-studded women's team while the men's team comprises Alex Liew, Zulmazran Zulkifli, Daniel Lim, Adrian Ang, Aaron Kong and Mohd Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek.
The Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress set a modest four-gold target, which would be an improvement on their three-gold effort in Manila two years ago, but Ban Cheng has challenged the team to do better.
"We won a record seven gold in 1999 (in Brunei) and we now have a team that are capable of matching if not bettering that performance," he said.