KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia were in a class of their own as the quartet of Muhd Nur Aiman Khairuddin, Timmy Tan, Shalin Zulkifli and Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman clinched the nation’s third gold medal in the Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championships mixed team event on Thursday.
Having already bagged the men’s singles (Aiman) and women’s doubles gold earlier in the week, the team combined superbly to chalk up a total 5,602 pinfalls, 588 pins more than host South Africa who came in second.
Wales settled for the bronze on a 4,946 total.
Apart from the three gold medals, Malaysia have already won three silvers (men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles) and a bronze (mixed doubles).
Malaysia’s best ever haul was at the 2005 edition in Cyprus, where they won four gold medals.
All four Malaysian keglers also made the top 12 cut for the Masters finals with a one-two finish in both the men and women's All-Events standings.
Aiman topped the men's list on a 5,800 total, followed by Timmy on 5,602.
Shalin leads the women's standings on 5,296, while Siti Safiyah amassed 5,248.
As the best team with the highest combined score, Malaysia were awarded the Triple Diamond Trophy.