Lawn bowlers fancy chances of defending Asian title

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysia Lawn Bowls Federation (MLBF) are optimistic the team assembled have what it takes to defend the country’s overall champions’ title at the Asian Championship starting in New Delhi, India, tomorrow.

The national team’s main target is to maintain their dominance in Asia by emerging overall champions again. The tournament, which brings together Asia’s best teams, will see the participation of countries such as India, Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Japan, Sri Lanka and Singapore.

The national squad will comprise seven men and seven women, competing in the senior and Under-25 categories with the hope of maintaining excellence on the Asian stage.

Emma Firyana Saroji, who bagged the World Cup singles title for Malaysia late last year, leads the women’s squad which also include Nurul Alyani Jamil, Syafiqa Haidar Afif Abdul Rahman, Aleena Ahmad Nawawi, Nur Ain Nabilah Tarmizi, Ain Nurnajwa Norhisham and Nurul Balqis Anisha Bakar.

The men’s challenge will be shouldered by Izzat Shameer Dzulkeple, Mohd Ihdam Amin Ramlan, Mohd Soufi Rusli, Mohd Naufal Azmi, Mohd Fadley Jabal, Mohd Haikal Roslan and Mohd Afiq Azman.

For Emma, the tournament serves as a good platform to test the level of readiness ahead of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

“We don’t have many opportunities to test our level of readiness for big competitions. The Asian Championships will offer good challenges and gives us the opportunity to collect world ranking points at the same time,” she said.

For the record, Malaysia emerged as the overall champions in last year’s edition in Clark, the Philippines, after winning five golds, two silvers and one bronze.