KUALA LUMPUR: In just two years, national bowler Jacqueline Sijore’s fortunes in the World Championships have turned from joy to sorrow.
The talented Jacqueline not only failed to defend the women’s singles title but also emerged as the worst Malaysian performer after bowling six games on short oil pattern at the Strike Zone Bowling Centre in Nevada on Tuesday.
The Sarawakian, who was the country’s only gold medallist in her debut in Hong Kong in 2011, struggled to get it right on the challenging lanes and found herself in 128th position out of 212 bowlers with a total score of 1,079 pins.
She could only manage lines of 177-158-210-175-181-178.
Her poor showing is likely to ruin her chances of representing Malaysia in the team event.
Unless she picks up in the doubles and trios events, she may be left out as a country can only be represented by five bowlers in the team event.
National chief coach Holloway Cheah’s daughter, Esther, was the star performer on Tuesday.
The 2005 World Championships singles gold winner finished 19th with her six-game score of 1,222 pins.
The other Malaysians – Sin Li Jane, Shalin Zulkifli, Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman and Zandra Aziela Ibrahim Hakimi – also struggled for consistency.
Li Jane was 26th, Shalin 32nd, Siti Safiyah 61st and Zandra 115th.
It was, however, a great day for two other Asian countries.
South Korea’s Rye Seo-yeon defeated Taiwanese spinner Wang Ya-ting 224-182 in the final for the gold medal on a day the fancied American bowlers failed to even make the top 20.
The top US performer was Missy Parkin, who ended up in 23rd spot with 1,212 pins.
Malaysia’s men will resume their campaign in the doubles event next – and hopes are high on seasoned campaigners Alex Liew, Zulmazran Zulkifli, Adrian Ang and Mohd Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek and hotshots Mohd Rafiq Ismail and Timmy Tan to bag the nation’s first medal.
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