Kuala Lumpur: National kegler Tun Ameerul Luqman Al-Hakim Tun Hasnul Azam created history as the first Malaysian to bag a title at the Professional Bowlers’ Association (PBA) Tour in the United States of America, Tuesday.
Tun Ameerul was crowned as the PBA Chameleon champion when he came out tops against America bowler Kevin McCune 269-227 during the stepladder final at the National Bowling Stadium, in Reno, Nevada.
In a short video posted on PBA Facebook page, the 25-year-old described his historic win as amazing.
“It feels amazing as a PBA Tour champion, my first title. To all you guys back home this is for you Malaysia and I love you so much, thank you,” he said.
Earlier, he blazed the lane in the elimination rounds and cemented his place as the top seed going into the stepladder finals.
Earlier, Tun Ameerul brushed aside the challenge of American Boog Krol 237-226, 216-247, 268-267, 279-187 and continued his fine momentum by outplaying Swedish bowler and 12-time Tour winner Jesper Svensson 245-214, 245-228, 254-215.
The victory saw him take home US$20,000 (about RM88,618) and a trophy.
Last Sunday, former 2018 world champion, Muhammad Rafiq Ismail missed becoming the first Malaysian to win a PBA Tour.
Muhammad Rafiq had to be satisfied as runner-up at the PBA Scorpion Championship after falling short in 172-224 to Sweden’s Rasmus Edvall in the stepladder final at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) have praised Tun Ameerul for paying his own way to compete in the United States and making history by becoming the first Malaysian to win a title at the PBA Tour in Reno, Nevada.
MTBC secretary-general Maradona Chok said that, for the past two years, they have not provided any sponsorship to national bowlers to compete in the PBA and Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) due to several factors that had been mutually agreed upon.
“(Firstly) The PBA and PBWA are professional tours, and secondly, sending a team of around 20 players would be very costly. So, the agreement between the MTBC and the National Sports Council (NSC) is that we are limited to competing as a team in Asia.
“So, the programme with the NSC is solely in Asia, and for anything outside of Asia, the MTBC have been allowed to permit players to compete on their own,” he told reporters when met at the Sunway Megalanes here on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, MTBC president Datuk Mohd Najeeb Abdullah said they would review the sponsorship given by the Youth and Sports Ministry through the NSC to help or sponsor bowlers for future tournaments.
This, Mohd Najeeb feels is because the PBW and PWBA tournaments are the best platform for national bowlers to face tough competition and gain valuable exposure as many of the world’s top stars usually compete in these events.
“These tournaments offer stronger competition because all the best players are there. So, I think that in the future, our team will consider (competing) if there are sponsors and not just rely on the NSC… but we must also look for sponsors.
“For example, before going to the PBA, I had the chance to meet Tun Ameerul and his teammates and they each forked out over RM30,000 to stay there (in the US) for nearly a month,” he said.
Tun Ameerul, 25, was crowned the PBA Chameleon champion after defeating American Kevin McCune 269-227 in the stepladder final at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada.