KUALA LUMPUR: An unstoppable Rafiq Ismail helped Malaysia claim its first men's team title at the Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships (ATBC) since 2008 in Hong Kong today.
Buoyed by their triumph in the trios event on Friday, Rafiq, Timmy Tan, Ahmad Muaz Fishol, Tun Hakim Tun Hasnul Azam, Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek and Syazirol Shamsuddin ended the nation's 15 year wait after posting a 7,323 total.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) came in second with 7,079 while South Korea claimed bronze after amassing 7,044 pinfalls.
Rafiq was over the moon as the team gold is the most coveted category in the tournament. He chipped in an impressive score of 1,522, the highest individual effort among all the competitors.
Rafiq's fine performance also saw him bagging the all-events title.
"Myself, Timmy and Muaz were part of the team that finished second (to South Korea) in 2015. We were all ATBC debutants at the time," said Rafiq, who has won three gold in the competition so far.
"Fast forward eight years and here we are on the top of the podium. It's very emotional for the three of us.
"The victory shows that our team has strength in depth. Syafiq, Hakim and even Syazirol, despite being a newcomer, did so well.
"Even before the tournament, we had spoken about the long drought (for men's title). All of us shared the same ambition and we knew we had a chance."
Rafiq, Timmy and Hakim completed a glorious day for Malaysia with a clean sweep of all three medals in the all-events competition.
Rafiq bagged gold with a grand total of 6,218 pinfalls from the four events combined (singles, doubles, trios and teams), 55 pins ahead of 2019 winner Timmy (6,073) while Hakim (5,954) came in third.
Muaz (5,938), Syafiq (5,850) and Syazirol (5,770) made it a remarkable six Malaysians in top-eight, enhancing Malaysia's chances of winning gold in the masters' event.
This means Malaysia will have full representation in the men's Masters. Only the top 16 players from the all-events standings make the cut.
Rafiq is hungry for more and is determined to reclaim the masters gold he last won in 2016.
"I'm so happy as I have never won more than one gold at the ATBC, but this time I have three already with one more event to go," said Rafiq.
"But the job is not over yet. I'm going to aim for that fourth. I won it in 2016 but could not defend it in 2019. I hope to win it back."
Team manager Maradona Chok was proud of how the players bounced back after making a slow start to the tournament.
"We started off slow in the singles and doubles and we knew that all we needed was a spark to get the team going," said Maradona.
"The trios win was crucial and gave everyone in the team a lift.
"It was an awesome team effort. The players truly fought as a team and they dominated the men's division with some superb bowling.
"Taking the top five spots in the men's all events speaks volumes about this team."