PALEMBANG, Aug 27 — Asian Games men’s Masters bowling champion, Rafiq Ismail said he was able to win the historic gold for Malaysia because he chose to fight till the end, without giving up.

Despite trailing 21 pins in the first game of the stepladder final, the 21-year-old kegler fought his way calmly in the tense final to send defending champion Park Jong-woo of South Korea packing in 534-511 after the second game.

"Speechless. I did not expect to win gold. I told myself that we still have another game, even though he was quite far ahead, but I kept reminding myself that anything can happen.

"I prayed to God that I could and would fight to the last pin, and in the end my prayers came true,” he told Bernama after the prize-giving ceremony at the Jakabaring Bowling Centre here, today.

Despite making his debut in the Asian Games, the Ampang-born kegler played like a veteran and emerged as the first Malaysian to win the men’s Masters event at the Asiad, where the previous best achievement was a fifth place finish by Alex Liew in the 2006 edition in Doha and 2010 edition in Guangzhou.

Commenting further, the southpaw wanted to dedicate his win to his parents Ismail Nimat and Zaiton Abd Ghani, coaches Holloway Cheah and Ben Heng Boon Hian as well as fellow Malaysians.

"Without the support of parents, family friends, teammates, coaches and the Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC), I would not be able to deliver this gold medal,” he said.

Meanwhile, Holloway only had praises for Rafiq for his fighting spirit to secure the gold.

"This is superb, he is a special breed … Under this kind of circumstances, he made a comeback and defeated the Korean. I am very proud of him, he was very good.

"Jong-woo is a world-class player, it is not easy to bowl against him,” he said.

After the last day of the bowling event, the Malaysian squad had a proud haul of two gold and two silver medals out of six events contested. — Bernama