Holloway wants bowlers to stay home and hone Asiad skills

The national women's bowling team, except for Shalin Zulkifli and Lai Kin Ngoh, have been told to cancel all upcoming international tournaments and concentrate on their preparations for the Asian Games.

For a start, their entries for the Hong Kong Open next week have been withdrawn. Only Shalin, the current Asian number one, and Kin Ngoh, who is based in Hong Kong, will carry the challenge for Malaysia.

The decision to withdraw the other bowlers could see fewer Malaysian qualifiers for the Asian Bowling Tour (ABF) Grand Finals this year. The Hong Kong Open is the last tournament that offers ranking points for the Finals.

World Championships singles gold medallist Esther Cheah and Zandra Aziela Ibrahim Hakimi are certain to miss the cut as both are now in 19th and 37th places respectively in the standings. Wendy Chai, who is in 13th spot, is also in danger of not making the grade.

Only the top 16 men and top 16 women after the season's eight legs for men and six legs for women get to compete in the Finals.

After a disappointing outing by the women in the recent Asian Championships in Jakarta, national chief coach Holloway Cheah has decided to keep all his charges at home.

“The importance is not on having a record number of qualifiers for the Grand Finals. By not competing in the Hong Kong Open, some of our bowlers may miss the cut. But that is not our priority,” he said.

“The priority is getting a solid team for the Asiad (in Doha from Dec 1-15). It is best that all the bowlers improve on their technical part of the game. There is so much to change.”

At the Asian meet, the women's team failed to win a medal for the first time in over a decade.

Besides Shalin, Wendy, Zandra and Esther, the other member of the elite team is Choy Poh Lai.