Malaysia achieve a grand double in bowling

The Malaysian men's and women's team clinched a grand double at the Orchid Bowl. - IZZRAFIQ ALIAS / The Star

SINGAPORE: Malaysia made a clean sweep of the men’s and women’s team-of-five bowling gold medals at the Orchid Bowl at the Orchid Country Club.

They did it Brunei in 1999 and in Manila in 2005, and on Friday, they did it again.

The men easily cruised to victory with 6,238 pinfalls, 172 ahead of second-placed Indonesia (6,066), and Thailand came in third with 5,852.

Bowling two lanes away from second-placed Singapore, the women held their nerves amidst screams of “Majulah, Singapura” and chants of “Let’s go, Singapore!”

Despite the cheers for their opponents, Shalin Zulkifli, Esther Cheah, Sin Li Jane, Syaidatul Afifah Badrul Hamidi and Natasha Roslan knuckled down to amass 6,067 pinfalls and win by 55 pins.

Singapore took silver with a total of 6,012, while the Philippines were third with 5,776 pinfalls.

“We wanted this win really badly because (Youth and Sports Minister) Khairy Jamaluddin said that you need to win the gold to be considered for the Podium Programme and we wanted everyone to get in,” said Shalin, who is making her seventh appearance at the Games.

“This win is a defining moment for our team. They’ve (Singapore) always beaten us. So it was nice to beat them for a change.”

Malaysia are the only country to win both the men’s and women’s team titles at the Games since bowling was introduced in 1977.

“The experience was similar to the one we had in Palembang (in 2011), where we had a good lead and we could enjoy the game. This was the last chance for some of us to win the gold, and we did it,” said men’s team captain Alex.

National chief coach Holloway Cheah was beaming with pride. “I’m very happy. We did the grand double. We’ve been preparing for months. Mission accomplished!

“A lot of people were questioning the selection, of Shalin and Alex, but I knew what they could do. They have a strong fighting spirit. I’m very proud of them.”

Five men and five women bowlers have made the first round of the Masters event.

Malaysia’s best haul at the SEA Games was seven golds at the 1999 Brunei Games and 2001 Kuala Lumpur Games.

Will Singapore bear witness to another magical seven gold haul?