Star Search

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So far I have not done well in any tournaments held in U-Bowl (besides internal circuits) so I decided to do my best in the Star Search tournament (Leg 1) held on 20 July 2008. I arrived a little earlier than the registration time, scheduled at 9.30am and after adhering to all the formalities, the excitement began…

I started my first game badly, only a 14* and I thought, “Haih, Just like all the other tournaments held here…” But I didn’t give up. I pressed on and kept going. My games picked up and got higher and higher. Soon all the 6 games ended and I had an average of 170. I thought, “Well, that’s kind of low…” Then I realized that everyone had seriously low score due to the INSANE, yes INSANE oiling and lane conditions…!!! (I managed to adjust to it, phew…). I was feeling anxious and nervous while the administrators were doing the ranking list. I waited and waited... visited the washroom, came back and waited again. Finally, the results were out and I GOT 6th…!!!

Then it was time for the knock-out round as required by the top 8 bowlers to determine the prize winners. For the first match, I fought against my own league member, Azroy. I played a good game of 198 and he lost to me around 50 pins. My coach then advised me to relax in my next game as I had a huge lead. The second game started and POOF… he had 3 strikes in a row while I had two open frames. Dang… the pressure got to me so I relaxed and calmed myself by saying, “I look good… I look good… Haha… just kidding.” I focused in converting my spares and then some strikes came in. Azroy was leading by 18 pins. I continued sparing, giving him a great need for connection strikes. Soon, I got a split…! “Gosh, of all the times, why now?” Well, I managed to stay calm, relaxed and focused… and SPARED IT… WOOT…!!! After that came another split. This one was easier but it was still a split. (For bowlers out there, I’m not referring to 6/10 or 4/7. It was a 4/9 if you know what I mean). Anyway, the game soon ended and my score was 189 - lost by a dozen pins. But my first game with a 50-pin lead took me to the next round, securing the top 4 positions… :)

After that, I moved on to the second session of the knock-out round, aka semi finals. My opponent is one of the top players who happened to be my good friend (Aqeem), undergoing the same training program. We both bowled like crap when compared to our earlier games of 19* during our first session. When we fought, we only had 16*. Lol… Aqeem won me by only 6 pins. It was far from over. The second game started with me having a strike while he had an open frame. Just as I thought things were looking up, DANG… I had an impossible split to spare and soon after, Aqeem had 4 strikes in a row. I continued facing another split and although I targeted it perfectly, the remaining pin shook but did not fall. I knew then it was history so I tried my best to end nicely and BOM… my last frame was ANOTHER SPLIT…!!! I got 16*… it was over for me.

Although I lost to my opponent during the semi finals, my total pin-falls was higher than one of the other semi-finalists, therefore I GOT 3rd…!!! I was overjoyed. I won a MEDAL and RM100/= plus a cool t-shirt worth RM29/= So WOOT…!!!