Lim hooks national colours

13/02/2003

THE Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) announced the national team
for the Fifth World Tenpin Team Cup on Feb 16-24 after a training session
at the Pyramid Megalanes, and the biggest winner was 18-year-old Jonathan
Lim.
The Sarawakian was part of the selection over more established Ng Yiew
Hup and Mustapha Yassin because new coach Mats Karlsson feels that the
hook bowler is more suited than spinners for the championship in Europe.
The six men and six women bowlers, recommended by Karlsson, was endorsed
by the National Selection Committee and will head for Odense, Denmark, on
Friday.
This will be Swede Karlsson's first assignment after being hired on Jan
22.
Karlsson, 46, was in Singapore during the Masters Open, and was
impressed when Wendy Chai won the Open title and Shalin Zulkifli bagged
the AVIVA Asian Bowling Tour Grand Slam after an all-Malaysian final
against Lai Kin Ngoh.
"Malaysia have good bowlers and they can go higher. There is still fine-
tuning to be done and that will be my challenge here," said Karlsson.
"I'm looking forward to working here. It is not the money as I have a
very good business back home. I am attracted by the challenge to coach a
team after having done well as a bowler," said Karlsson.
Karlsson was Sweden's nine-time Bowler-of-the-Year and twice World
Bowler of the Year. He was part of the Swedish mental training programme
and currently works on special techniques for teams and groups in Sweden.
Malaysia's highest ranking in the Team Cup was the bronze won by our
women in 1996 in Canada and 1998 at Holland. The men's highest ranking was
fourth in 1994 in Malaysia and fifth in Puerto Rico in 2000.
The competing teams will bowl three rounds of round-robin matches on
best-of-three format, with one point awarded to each game won.
At the end of the three rounds, the top three countries with the highest
accumulated points will qualify for the Step-Ladder Grand Finals, also
based on best-of-three matches.
Men's team: Alex Liew, Azidi Ameran, Ben Heng, Daniel Lim, Jonathan Lim,
Zulmazran Zulkifli.
Women's team: Choy Poh Lai, Lai Kin Ngoh, Sarah Yap, Shalin Zulkifli,
Sharon Chai, Wendy Chai.
(END)