TOKYO, Nov 23 (Bernama) -- The national men’s bowling team, viewed as one of Malaysia’s best gold medal prospects at the Deaflympics 2025, suffered a shock first-round exit after transportation issues allegedly caused them to arrive late at the venue and with no time to warm up.
National deaf bowling head coach Joe Tay, who was visibly frustrated, said the incident left his bowlers - Mohd Firdaus Mohamad, Syabil Azam Syamsul Azam, Ho Choon Seong and Mohd Zaidi Awang - completely unsettled.
“Our bus was supposed to arrive at 7.55 am, and we were there on time. But they told us that slot didn’t exist and that only the 6.50 am bus was available, which we had already missed. I showed them proof with photos. Everything was delayed until after 8 am before they finally arranged a taxi for us.
“When we arrived, everything was chaotic. The players were running all over the place and had no warm-up time at all. They had to go in and play immediately,” he told Bernama.
The journey from Deaflympics C, the athletes’ designated bus pickup point, to the Higashiyamato Grand Bowl venue is about 37 kilometres, which would normally take around 1 hour 45 minutes, and the event was scheduled to start at 10 am.
Joe said the Malaysian delegation will lodge an official complaint with the organisers.
He hopes that the bowlers will remain resilient as they shift their attention to tomorrow’s women’s team event and the mixed team event (Nov 25).
“The men’s team had the best chance of winning, but now we cannot do anything. I’m extremely disappointed because my target was for them to go far in this event,” he said.
Under the competition format, only the top eight teams advance from Round 1 to Round 2. Malaysia finished ninth with a total of 1,123 pinfalls, narrowly missing the cut.
South Korea topped the round with 1,283 pinfalls, followed by Germany (1,234) and Taiwan (1,180).
The Malaysian Deaf Sports Association (MSDeaf) has set a target of three gold medals at this year’s Games, specifically in women’s doubles badminton, mixed doubles badminton and men’s team bowling.
Malaysia’s medal tally stands at one gold (men’s doubles bowling), one silver (women’s doubles bowling), and one bronze (mixed doubles badminton).
-- BERNAMA
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