PETALING JAYA: Lawn bowler Izzat Shameer Dzulkeple will be the first Malaysian in action at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games when he begins his men’s singles campaign today.
The former world No. 1 and his five teammates have been in Glasgow for more than a week to acclimatise to the weather, time difference and indoor playing conditions ahead of the competition.
The national squad have also played friendly matches against Northern Ireland, Singapore and Malta as part of their final preparations.
The early arrival also gave the squad time to get used to the portable rink at the Scottish Event Campus, where lawn bowls will be played indoors for the first time at the Commonwealth Games.
Being the first Malaysian to compete at the Games comes with added pressure, but Izzat is confident the team’s thorough preparations have left him ready for the challenge.
Izzat will open his Group D campaign against Falkland Islands’ Cecil Alexander.
“The pressure is still manageable. We’ve prepared well and trained hard,” said Izzat.
“We have tested the rink and get a feel for the speed of the bowls.”
Meanwhile, Syafiqa Haidar Afif Rahman and Aleena Ahmad Nawai will begin their women’s pairs campaign tomorrow against the Falkland Islands in Group D.
The duo believe the new competition format introduced at this year’s Commonwealth Games could work to Malaysia’s advantage, having already competed under the same system at the Australian Open in June.
The team that top each group advances to the semi-finals.
“The new format suits us because we only need to finish top of the group. We just came back from the Australian Open, where the same format was used.
“We’ll try to apply the same strategy here to finish top of the group and qualify for the semi-finals,” said Aleena.
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