Pulling up our socks in targeting lawn bowls glory in 2026 Commonwealth Games

LETTERS: During the 1998 Kuala Lumpur 16th Commonwealth Games, I began my involvement as a volunteer in lawn bowls. Malaysia had a good start as we won a silver and two bronze medals.

Four years later, it was a gold and a bronze in the Manchester games in 2002 and in the 2006 Melbourne games, we went on to win two gold medals. Then, it was only a silver and bronze in 2010 in Delhi.

After the games, accepting the responsibility for not achieving the target of three golds, the MLBF Deputy President cum team manager, Datuk Jamal Abdul Nasir Bakar, stepped down together with Vice-President Major (rtd) Azizan Mohd Zain.

Then in 2014 in Glasgow, it was two silver medals and 2018, it was only one gold. Sadly, in Manchester 2022 it was only a silver and a bronze - equalling the achievement of 2010.

The team had failed to reach their target of one gold plus another medal of any colour. I am wondering whether the best players were fielded in England, guided by our best local coaches and team managers.

I noticed that there were under performing players who have been in the national team for the past two decades and could only offer lame excuses when they lost.

I was surprised that the newcomers in the team were not chosen based on merit, namely the national ranking system introduced by the MLBF president, the late Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid.

In 2013, the late Ahmad Sarji stepped down, along with his appointed committee members (secretary, assistant secretary and honorary treasurer) to make way for a fresh line-up to take over the MLBF.

It has been all downhill after that since many state associations are inactive without any funding from the parent body such as Johor, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Penang, Pahang, Kelantan, Perlis and Sarawak.

Whereas Terengganu, Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Kedah, Labuan and Sabah are all self-funded. As a fan of lawn bowls, I hope the MLBF can pull up their socks and put their act together.

Since October 2021, a new president, Datuk Awalan Abdul Aziz, has been helming the MLBF. I suggest that he set up an independent body consisting of experienced veteran committee members of MLBF.

These veterans had produced men and women players who made Malaysia the World No. 3 team behind Australia and New Zealand from 2006 to 2010. In addition, Safuan Said was World No. 1 in the singles from 2006 to 2010.

We hope that this independent committee can make recommendations to the president on the criteria of selecting players by merit, draw up effective training strategies and identify capable coaches.

Hopefully, these suggestions will pull the national lawn bowls from the doldrums and enable the country to achieve greater success in the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Australia.