KUALA LUMPUR: The glamorous Kuala Lumpur quartet of Rafiq Ismail, Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek, Hafiz Zainuddin and Timmy Tan lived up to their favourite tag by capturing the men's team title on the final day of the Interstate Championships yesterday.
However, the victory was not enough for Kuala Lumpur to prevent arch-rivals Selangor from being crowned the overall champions of the tournament's 35th edition with a final medal haul of five golds, three silvers and six bronzes.
The gold delivered by Rafiq and his teammates was their team's fourth in the campaign, placing Kuala Lumpur in second place in the medal standings at 4-6-0.
The men's team contest proved to be a nail-biter, with Kuala Lumpur facing fierce competition from Sarawak's contingent of Abang Afiq Yazid, Mussayar Khalid, Tsen Fan Yew and Chong Jun Foo. The Sarawak team trailed by a mere eight pins heading into the final round.
However, Kuala Lumpur's formidable lineup, boasting recent Asian trios champions Rafiq, Syafiq, Hafiz, alongside two-time Asian singles champion Timmy, withstood Sarawak's challenge. They posted an impressive 5,020 total.
Sarawak claimed the silver with 4,951 while defending champions Penang, represented by Hariz Adlan, Hafiz Darwisy, Ahmad Aidil and Megat Zaqrul Haiqal, secured bronze with 4,834.
In the men's All-Events, Syazirol Shamsuddin clinched gold with a remarkable 3,899 pinfalls across all three events, narrowly edging out Rafiq (3,892) and Megat (3,872).
Syazirol's stellar individual performance serves as a statement of intent as he prepares to defend his title at the National Championships next week.