National bowlers enjoyed an encouraging start to their World Championships campaign in Kuwait with three players checking into the second round of the singles events on Thursday.
Being the first to get down to business at the Kuwai Bowling Centre, Rafiq Ismail, Sin Li Jane and Nora Lyana Nastasia Norkamal led by example by topping their respective groups.
In the six-man Group A-Pool 1, Rafiq, the 2018 champion, won four of his five matches to finish first with 12 points.
Only the winner makes the cut for the next round.
In the women's division, Li Jane and Nora performed commendably too to come out tops in their respective Group A-Pool 2 and Group B Group B-Pool 2.
Despite having the luxury of qualifying for the next by finishing in the top two, Nora stamped her mark by winning all her five matches to finish with a perfect 15 points, six ahead of second-placed Marissa Naylor of Canada.
Li Jane made her presence felt too, winning four times en route to topping the chart with 12 points to advance to the next round with second-placed Veronica Cepeda of Colombia, who bagged nine points.
The first round of round-robin match play will run until Sunday.
Today, Ahmad Muaz Fishol will aim to add to the numbers when he competes in Group B-Pool 2, while Esther Cheah, the 2015 champion, and Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman will feature in Group C-Pool 2 and Group D-Pool 2 respectively.