KUALA LUMPUR: The top contenders began their campaign in the men’s singles event of the inaugural ‘World Cup 2025’ in Bukit Kiara.
A star-studded cast took the green led by World No. 1 Jason Banks of Scotland and World No. 3 Corey Wedlock of Australia.
A host of legends, too, are featuring in this Platinum event of the World Bowls Series – Ryan Bester (Can), Paul Foster MBE (Sco), Aaron Teys and Sam Tolchard (Eng).
Banks and Foster who had advanced to the men’s pairs finals, had a disappointing day.
Foster, with four Commonwealth Games gold medals and 13 World Indoor titles – lost both matches.
“I had two hard games and lost both. I just have to reshuffle … tomorrow is another day,” said Foster.
He lost to Tolchard (6-4, 1-11, 0-1) and Ross Owen of Wales (2-6, 3-8).
Banks recovered after his opening defeat to England’s Jamie Walker (5-7, 4-6) and edged Daniel Davies Jnr of Wales (12-4, 3-8, 1-0).
The home team’s challenge came from former World No.1 Izzat Shameer Dzulkeple and seasoned Muhd Soufi Rusli.
The duo had a refreshing day after a dismal outing in the pairs event.
Izzat dazzled with wins against Wedlock (6-6, 11-1) and New Zealand’s Finbar McGuigan (5-6, 8-6, 1-0).
Soufi lost to Teys (7-8, 4-7) but bounced back against New Zealand’s Keanu Darby (14-0, 4-6, 1-0).
Emma Firyana Saroji who qualified for the women’s singles final, did not have a good run in the pairs event.
She and Nurul Alyani Jamil suffered two defeats against the pair from Canada and New Zealand after their opening game against India.
Meanwhile, Coach Madehi Ramlee was full of praise for both their para athletes – Muhd Rafi Muda and Jariah Zakaria.
The duo had raised eyebrows, even though they exited in the mixed pairs.
“It is their first World Series, and they put on a strong display.
“They held their own, not intimidated by the more superior opponents,” said Madehi.
Jariah said there was no shame in defeat.
“We didn’t go down without a fight,” she said after losing the tie-breaker set to strong contenders England’s Sally-Ann Lewis-Wall and John Greaves.