Malaysian lawn bowlers storm into women’s triples semis

BIRMINGHAM – National lawn bowlers Nur Ain Nabilah Tarmizi, Syafiqa Haidar Afif Abdul Rahman, and Azlina Arshad produced a scintillating performance en route to march into the semi-finals of the women’s triples event of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games here yesterday.

The trio overcame Laura Daniels, Ysie White, and Anwen Butten of Wales 25-22 in the quarter-finals at Victoria Park, Leamington Spa to set up a last-four clash against New Zealand’s Nicole Toomey, Tayla Bruce, and Val Smith.

Siti Zalina Ahmad and Emma Firyana Saroji, meanwhile, beat siblings Rebecca Louise Rixon-Connie-Leigh Rixon 20-16 in their third Group A match in the women’s pairs event.

The Malaysians, who aim to defend the pairs gold medal they won at the 2018 edition in Gold Coast, Australia, suffered a 17-22 loss to Norfolk Island’s Shae Wilson-Carmen Anderson in their final group match.

However, Siti Zalina-Emma Firyana, with three wins out of four, managed to top Group A and qualify for the quarter-finals, where they will face Northern Ireland’s Megan Devlin-Shauna O’Neill today.

Malaysia’s Fairul Izwan Abd Muin, fresh from recording two wins in Group C of the men’s singles event, fell 12-21 to Namibia’s Carel Aron Olivier but managed to bounce back to win his final group match by defeating England’s Jamie Walker 21-8 and advance to the quarter-finals.

Fairul Izwan, who topped Group C with nine points, will face Ross Davis of Jersey in the quarter-finals. – Bernama, August 5, 2022