MANILA: National flag-bearer at the 30th SEA Games, Muhammad Rafiq Ismail has yet to win a gold medal after two days of bowling.
After finishing singles in 18th position yesterday, he won the bronze medal for men’s doubles with Tun Hakim Tun Hasnul Azam after knocking down 2,556 pins at Coronado Lanes Starmall Edsa here.
The gold medal belonged to Muhammad Islam’s Billy-Ramachmadian Hardy pair from Indonesia with 2,592 pins, while Thai Atchariya Cheng-Surasak Manuwong (2,564) took silver.
Silver medalist in the same event with Adrian Ang Hsien Loong at the 2017 edition, Rafiq and Tun Hakim started off slow, before climbing up to chase the lead, but struggled with the lanes.
“Although I only won a bronze medal, I’m still happy with the performance and grateful for the medal. Today’s performance was better than yesterday.
“For me the lane was tricky and took a while to adapt. We had a hard time getting strikes. We managed to get strikes on the right lane but not on the left, so we lost a lot of points there.
“As a flag-bearer, I have yet to win a gold medal. For now, I just go with the flow and give my best. I just need to be patient,“ he told reporters.
He will compete in the mixed doubles event tomorrow, followed by a team event on Friday and if he stays in the top 16, he will qualify for the men’s masters on Saturday. - Bernama
