PETALING JAYA: Timmy Tan hopes to re-ignite the spark within as prepares to make his Asian Games debut in Incheon, South Korea, from Sept 19-Oct 4.
Timmy began the year on a bright note – bowling his way into the elite team during the national selection roll-off in January and quickly making his mark by clinching the men’s singles and all-events gold in the Inter-State Championships in April.
Timmy then finished a credible third in the Masters event at the Malaysian Open the following month.
A lacklustre outing at the recent World Youth Championships in Hong Kong saw Timmy, Rafiq Ismail, Jonathan Ding Sagan and Ahmad Muaz Fishol return home with a solitary silver in the boys’ team event.
However, Timmy, 19, and Rafiq, 17, did enough to earn their spots in the men’s squad for the Asiad.
The duo, along with Alex Liew, Adrian Ang, Zulmazran Zulkifli and Mohd Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek make up the six-man team.
“(In Hong Kong) it was okay ... I was bowling well but things just didn’t click for me,” said Timmy.
“But I’m in a very good place right now. I feel good, am bowling well ... hopefully, that will re-ignite my game.”
The Asiad will see Timmy back in familiar settings – the Anyang Hogye Gymnasium is the same venue where he competed in during the Asian Indoor Games last year.
Then, he made the quarter-finals of the men’s singles, took ninth place in the doubles with Syimir Abdul Razak and fifth in the team event (with Syimir, Aris Ardila and Jonathan Chan).
Medals and personal goals aside, a good showing in Incheon would improve his chances of featuring in the WTBA Men’s World Championships in Abu Dhabi in December.
“I don’t like to look too far ahead,” said Timmy.
“What’s important now is to do my best in training, get into the right frame of things and the results will come.”
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
