16th March, P.Jaya: The Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress today announced the hosting of the Canon Cup 2007 - a 5 person team comprising of the best of Asia versus the best of the Rest of the World on the 25th March, 2007 at Pyramid Megalanes, Sunway Lagoon Resort.

The special one-day event is being held in conjunction with the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 and Malaysia’s celebration of 50 years of nationhood with the Canon being the title sponsor.

The best 3 male, 2 female Asian finishers in the preceding 30th Malaysian International Open Bowling Championship will form the Asian team to challenge the best 3 male, 2 female in a head-to-head one-game matchplay style LIVE on Astro Supersport.

Because the special event is being hosted in Malaysia, a minimum of one male and one female must be Malaysian but each team shall not consist of more than two bowlers from one country. In the event that there are less than five bowlers from the Rest of the World being represented in this cup, the challenge shall be changed to Malaysia versus the Rest of the World (bowlers from Asia, Europe and Americas).

The team that wins by a margin of 5 - 0, the winning team shall take home a prize of US$12,500 and the loosing team, US$2,500. If the margin is 4 - 1, the winning team shall win US$10,000 while the loosing team, US$5,000. If the margin is 3 - 2, then the prize shall be US$8,000 to the winning team and US$7,000 to the loosing team.

The line up of the teams shall be alternating between the male and the female bowlers of each team starting with the male, followed by the female, then the male and so on.

"This cup is the first-ever being hosted and being held in Asia and it promises to be a clash of the world’s best bowlers," said Mr Sidney Tung, secretary general of MTBC. "Undoubtedly, an exciting event such as this should be accorded with a title sponsor and we are indeed fortunate to have Canon as our title sponsor," added Mr Tung.

Mr Tung also announced: "And not missing the opportunity with possible world-class field, Astro has again come forward to sponsor the LIVE telecast of the event on Astro Supersport at 12.30pm for 2 hours. The program will also be broadcast to an estimated 40 million viewers worldwide through Astro’s program partnership exchange program.

"We are extremely happy to be given this unique opportunity to become the title sponsor of such an exciting and prestigious event," said Mr Richard Yeow, Senior Director of Canon Marketing at the press conference.

"Being a sponsor of the Malaysian National Team for the past 4 years, Canon is indeed proud to be associated as a partner to MTBC under the dynamic and capable leadership of its president, Dato’ Dr P.S. Nathan. And we are confident that the country will continue to attain greater successes in many years to come.

At the press conference, Canon also presented Canon Powershot Digital cameras to the Malaysian National Elite squad, who have won a total of 27 international titles in 2006. Mr Richard Yeow presented the cameras to Aaron Kong, Adrian Ang, Alex Liew, Azidi Ameran (retired), Ben Heng, Daniel Lim and Zulmazran Zulkifli for the men. Choy Poh Lai, Esther Cheah, Shalin Zulkifli, Sharon Koh, Siti Safiyah Amirah, Wendy Chai and Zandra Aziela also received the Canon digital cameras.

Zaid Izlan, Jonathan Lim and Zatil Iman received digital cameras for their successes in the Asian Youth Championship. The Canon Cup will be held on the 25th March, 2007 starting at 12.30pm. Apart from the LIVE telecast on Astro Supersport, live results will also be featured at our website.

Photo by Terence Yaw, MTBC.