GLASGOW: Mohd Hizlee Abdul Rais is Malaysia's last hope for a lawn bowls gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The national No.1 singles player is through to the quarter-finals after finishing second in Group B with nine points.
Fancied Ryan Bester of Canada topped the group with 12 points after winning all four matches, including defeating Mohd Hizlee 21-11 at the Kelvingrove Lawn Bowls Centre on Wednesday.
The women's triples team’s hopes of advancing to the semi-finals went up in smoke on Wednesday. Azlina Arshad, Nur Fidrah Noh and Emma Firyana Saroji lost to England 24-6 in the quarter-finals.
The trio won the ticket to the last eight after collecting nine points from three straight wins in Group A. They won their matches against India (16-14), Jersey (28-7) and Niue (26-8).
Meanwhile, it is also a sad end of the road for two-time women’s singles champion Siti Zalina Ahmad.
The national No. 1’s hopes of a medal in the women’s pairs with Nor Hashimah Ismail went up in smoke at the Kelvingrove Lawn Bowls Centre.
The Malaysians needed a win against Australians Carla Odgers-Tash Scott in their final Group A match to qualify for the quarter-finals.
But they lost 18-14 to Odgers-Scott and finished third in the standings with six points.
Australia finished top with the maximum 12 points, followed by Northern Ireland’s Mandy Cunningham-Barbara Cameron on seven points.
Earlier, Siti’s dream of a hat-trick of titles in the women’s singles came to a sad end in the preliminary stages.
The seasoned campaigner was bundled out after finishing a dismal fourth in Group B with a win and three losses.
Siti beat Hina Rereiti of Niue 21-2 but lost her other matches – 21-15 to India’s Nayanmoni Saikia, 21-15 to Carmen Anderson of Norfolk Islands and 21-17 to Jo Edwards of New Zealand.
Siti won the singles gold in Manchester (2002) and Melbourne (2006) but lost in the semi-finals in New Delhi (2010).
Malaysia have won two silvers in Glasgow so far – through the men’s pairs of Mohd Fairul Izwan Muin-Mohd Hizlee Abdul Rais and the women’s fours of Nor Hashimah Ismail, Nur Fidrah Nor, Emma Firyana Saroji and Azlina Arshad.
Malaysia still have medal hopes in the men’s singles (Mohd Hizlee) and women’s triples team.
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