Muhammad Rafiq Ismail says the recent Japan World Open was a great experience for him despite leaving empty handed.
The 18-year-old player, who won 3 golds and a silver at the recent SEA Games held in Singapore, competed against some of the best professional bowlers in the world comprised of 130 participants from 52 countries.
Rafiq, who also won gold at the Asian Youth Bowling Championship at Macau this year, has cited the lack of familiarity with the Olympic format for his inability to ignite the tournament as he did at the SEA Games, but nevertheless is pleased to have experienced a tournament like this for the very first time.
“It was disappointing because I couldn’t bring my A game over there. Maybe I couldn’t adapt with the Olympic format with five games in a round. It’s rather short to me but this is my first experience playing in this format at a World Open tournament.” He said, as quoted by Harian Metro.
After having hands on experience, Rafiq promised to work even harder in the future.
“This was a good experience for me in order to work even harder if I’m given the opportunity to participate in a tournament like this in the future.
“There are no tournaments to look forward to, but I’ll train as usual – two hours a day to control and stabilize the speed of the ball.”
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