KUALA LUMPUR: There won't be an additional medal coming from the national bowlers at the World Championships in Kuwait after none of the four Malaysian combinations in trios managed to reach the medal rounds on Saturday.
Gillian Lim, Nora Lyana Nastasia Norkamal and Esther Cheah came closest to securing at least bronze before being narrowly edged out in Group 2 by Canada for the last ticket to the semi-finals.
In the three-way playoff to decide on the two qualifiers from Group A, South Korea's Jung Da Wun-Hong Hae Ni-Kim Hyun Mi topped the ninth and 10th frames roll-off with 59 points, while Canada's Samatha How-Jennifer Besana-Marissa Naylor secured second by better Malaysia by a single pin with scores of 29-28.
Earlier, the three nations were tied at the top with 15 points each.
Singles champion and runner-up Natasha Roslan and Sin Li Jane teamed up with Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman in Group 1 but missed out on the top-two cut after finishing third with 12 points. Denmark and Canada advance as group champions and runners-up on 18 and 13 points respectively.
Timmy Tan-Tun Haim Tun Hasnul Azam-Syazirol Shamsuddin were the only Malaysian team in the second round.
They could manage 12 points and got eliminated in Group 2 by Denmark (18) and Czech Republic (15).
Rafiq Ismail, who played alongside doubles bronze medallists Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek-Ahmad Muaz Fishol, failed to even clear the first round on Friday.
The keglers will be out to salvage something in the men and women's team events in Sunday's finale.