Malaysia's Blend Of Old And New To Defend Asian Lawn Bowls Titles In Pattaya

KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 (Bernama) -- The national lawn bowlers are confident of defending the overall champion title for both the senior and Under-25 categories at the 15th Asian Lawn Bowls Championship and 13th Asian Under-25 Lawn Bowls Championship in Pattaya, Thailand (March 3-10).

President of the Malaysian Lawn Bowls Federation (MLBF) Datuk Awalan Abdul Aziz said the national players are not in any doubt about achieving the mission, even though they are expected to receive fierce opposition from the home team, India and the Philippines in this edition.

He also voiced the high confidence based on the training and simulations that the national team have been going through for the past few months.

"Not only in training, but MLBF has a strict selection process because since the last two years, we have introduced a ranking system to facilitate the process of selecting bowlers to be absorbed into the national fold.

"This means, those selected are based on merit and have shown their best performance in a particular tournament. Therefore, with the combination of old and new players, I am confident that we can accomplish the mission," he said after visiting Wisma Bernama here today.

At the 14th Asian Championships in Ipoh, Perak last year, Malaysia maintained dominance as the continent's bowling powerhouse, claiming their ninth Asian title after winning four gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

For the Under-25 category which was held concurrently with the Asian (senior) Championships, Malaysia won three gold, two silvers and a bronze to emerge as overall champions last year.

In other developments, Awalan, who is also president of the Asian Lawn Bowls Federation, said he will leave for Melbourne this weekend to sign two important memorandums of understanding (MoU) that will fuel the development of the sport in Malaysia and Asia.

One of them is related to the collaboration with the world's largest bowling ball and accessories company, Henselite, where it is expected to continuously sponsor balls, equipment and clothing for players in Malaysia, as a step to expand its brand in the Asian region.

"Besides that, there are some other things that have not been finalised and we hope to finalise them to fuel the development of Malaysian lawn bowls," he said.

-- BERNAMA