Guangzhou : The UAE bowling team came up with a stunning performance in the men's team event, but fell short of a medal in the bowling competition at the 16th Asian Games at Tianhe Bowling Hall yesterday.

"This was our best form by far, but not good enough for a medal," UAE bowling coach Patrick Healy told Gulf News.

"I am proud of what these boys achieved today with a lot of winning attitude and pride. But this was not good enough and we paid the price of not being consistent," Healy said.

First big loss

This is the first time since the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games in Japan that the UAE bowlers have failed to bring home a medal. In 2006, Naif Oqab was a silver medallist in the men's singles and took his second silver combining with Mohammad Jamal in the men's doubles.

However, yesterday the UAE team of Shaker Ali, Naif Oqab, Mohammad Khalifa Al Qubaisi, Syed Ebrahim and Mahmoud Al Attar came up with their best showing at these Asian Games as they started challenging overnight leaders and ultimate gold medal winners South Korea right at the top of the standings.

The UAE team had a total pin-fall of 3,332 compared to the Koreans' 3,446, in the bargain pushing Hong Kong and Malaysia in second and third respectively at the end of the second block of bowling yesterday.

Proud

However, it was a case of being too late as South Korea took gold, Malaysia ended with the silver and Hong Kong with the bronze medals respectively. "Obviously, it was a good fightback from our bowlers and I am proud of how they fought," Healy said.

"We gave ourselves a chance to win a medal, but it came a wee bit too late," rued the American.

Meanwhile, the two UAE riders Mohammad Al Murwwi and Banihammad Yousuf were among the seven who either did not start or finish the gruelling 180km men's individual road race held at the Triathlon Venue yesterday.

The 41 riders registered for the road race were scheduled to make the nine laps of 20km each. While Qatari rider Ahmad Al Boaurdainy did not start, the two Qatari riders were among the remaining six who did not complete the course.