KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — The Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) have decided to bar the national keglers from participating in all tournaments until May amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
MTBC secretary-general, Maradona Chok said the decision was made during the emergency exco meeting on the tournament plans for national team last night as the athletes themselves had expressed their concerns on their safety.
Following the decision, the national men’s squad would be opting out from the Brunswick Euro Challenge in Munich, Germany from March 17-21, while the women will withdraw from the Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) Tour legs in the United States.
“As team manager, upon discussion with the athletes, we found that half the team had concerns about the Covid-19 situation and with National Sports Council’s (NSC) views and advice on the matter, I recommended to cancel both trips.
“The exco have decided on the recommendations and agreed to cancel the trips for the safety of the teams, and to not cause unnecessary anxiety for the athletes and officials. MTBC will review later the situation for tournaments from June onwards,” he said.
The ladies had registered for the Tucson Open from April 23-25, Spokane Open (April 30-May 2), Sacramento Open (May 7-9) and USBC Queens (May 13-19).
Maradona said the keglers will continue to focus on training and playoff matches to stay sharp and competitive.
“Although it is not the ideal situation, but participating in international tournaments at this time may do more harm than good. Adding risk of the Covid-19 to the team will create more anxiety and stress which will be worse for the team.
“The team has a strong mind-set in training to overcome the lack of competition. In my opinion, they will be able to stay sharp and be competitive among themselves,” he added.
The coronavirus has already had a huge impact on Asian bowling after a number of tournaments, including the 41st Malaysian Open scheduled from March 26 to April 4 at the Sunway Mega Lanes, Thailand Open and Incheon Open were forced to be postponed.
The NSC two days ago barred all athletes from competing or training in five countries - China, South Korea, Iran, Japan and Italy - for the whole of this month due to the deadly virus, which has so far claimed over 3,200 lives and infected more than 95,000 people globally.
— Bernama
