GA_googleAddSlot("ca-pub-1197233282945943", "Star_Sports_Skyscraper");

Sports

Wednesday October 7, 2009

Zulmazran wants to use Ancol Bowl Open as warm up to AMF World Cup

By SHAMSHUL FITRI

PETALING JAYA: Only Adrian Ang, Zulmazran Zulkifli and Shalin Zulkifli have thus far confirmed participation in the Ancol Bowl Open from Oct 8-17.

Malaysia will not have their full elite squad in the tournament as the bowlers have to bear the expenses to compete in Jakarta.

Zulmazran: Is showing fine form and needs a little or no tweaking.

The Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) secretary, Sidney Tung, said that the tournament was not listed in their annual programme submitted to the National Sports Council (NSC) for funds.

“Initially the tournament was planned for the back-up squad but we decided to send them to the Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam (Nov 2-11) instead,” he said.

“This means that the national bowlers who want to compete in Jakarta will have to pay their own way.”

Adrian, riding high on his success of winning the Ankara Open crown last month, will be defending the title while Shalin, who is now on a break from the Pro Tour in the United States, will vie for another Asian title after last winning the Hong Kong Open in 2007.

For Zulmazran, the tournament will also serve as a warm-up for his challenge in the AMF World Cup in Malacca from Nov 14-21.

However, national chief coach Holloway Cheah felt that whether Zulmazran competed in Jakarta or not would not make much difference to his preparation for the World Cup.

He said that Zulmazran was showing fine form in training and needed little or no tweaking at all.

“Everyday I tell the bowlers to pull no punches in training and treat it like a tournament,” said the 67-year-old coach.

“And each week they have competition among themselves to let them know where they stand against each other.”

Zulmazran is the Malaysian male competitor in the World Cup while 19-year-old Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman will feature in the women’s competition.

With the fine form Zulmazran has displayed thus far in tournaments, Holloway said that the Ancol Open would boost his competitive edge by a slight margin.

“For both of them, competing in a tournament will be a bonus as they are already in fine form. But they have to tread with caution and not pick up injuries,” Holloway said.

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story

Sports Poll