PETALING JAYA: Malaysia have two men’s pairs in the last 16 of the doubles event in the Under-21 World Champion-ships in Helsingborg, Sweden.
Megat Zaqrul Haiqal Megat Zairuddin-Airel Amri Suhaimi finished 13th with 2,241 pins while Ahmad Azriq Izamudin-Shaqeem Izwan Teh Shahrul Hafiz Teh booked the last spot in 16th place with 2,216.
South Korea’s Ji Ge-un and Bae Jung-hun topped the charts with 2,462 pins and followed by Sweden’s William Berggren-Oliver Dahlgren (2,372) and Finland’s Pyry Puharinen-Jesse Ahokas (2,347).
The Malaysians will battle it out in the Group A matchplay round with Singapore’s Mike Ong-Eugene Yeo, Ryan Toh-Joyan Khoo, South Korea’s Ji Geun-Bae Jung-hun, Poland’s Aleks Szczepaniak-Dominik Chomicz and Norway’s Saner Kastas Lindstad-Viktor Brentebraten Mortensen.
The top two from the group will qualify for the semi-finals.
Team manager Maradona Chok said the field was tough but both pairs showed great spirit to make the cut.
“So far, our bowlers are showing plenty of grit and fighting spirit. They fought hard to get into the matchplay stage, which to me, shows they have what it takes to compete against the best,” he said.
Meanwhile in the women’s doubles, Cara Loh-Nurul Anis Nabila Nizam and Anis Hannani Romzi-Alyaa Addini Zulamri failed to get to the semi-finals after finishing in the bottom two of Group A.
Cara-Nurul failed to win any of their matches while Anis and Alyaa won two by beating Cara-Nurul and South Korean pair Kim Min-hee-Shin Dah-hyeon, to collect six points to finish seventh.
Singapore’s Colleen-Arianne and Quek Lu Yi-Ning Tay finished in the top two of Group A to qualify for the semi-finals.
In the Group B, France’s Emma Friant-Manon Grandsire and Peppi Konsteri-Mila Nevalainen made it to the last four.
Maradona said the girls didn’t have the best of starts and nerves got the better of them.
“Unfortunately for our girls, they started shakily and lost a few close battles in the group.
“But that’s the nature of the format. You have to be at your competitive best to survive.”
