PETALING JAYA: After a long, long wait, eight national youth bowlers will have a chance to prove their worth on the international stage.
Megat Zaqrul Haiqal Megat Zairudin, Ahmad Azriq Izamudin, Shaqeem Izwan Teh Shahrul Hafiz Teh and Airel Amri Suhaimi will spearhead the boys’ challenge for the inaugural International Bowling Federation’s (IBF) World Under-21 Championships in Helsingborg, Sweden, from June 20-29.
The girls’ team comprise reigning national youth champion Alyaa Addini Zulamri, Nurul Anis Nabila Nizam, Anis Hannani Romzi and Cara Loh.
The tournament replaces the now-defunct World Youth Cham-pionships (WYC), which was last held in Michigan, the United States, in 2018.
Peru was supposed to host the 16th edition in 2020 but it was called off due to Covid-19. Travelling with the team are manager Maradona Chok and two coaches, Azidi Ameran and Alex Liew.
“This is a young team with all the eight members aged between 17-20. We don’t have high expectations as all of them are playing in their first ever world-level tournament.
“They have been training for quite a while under Azidi and Alex, but there was hardly any competition in the last three years. But I believe all of them are raring to go,” said Maradona.
