Malaysia’s Izzat Shameer Dzulkeple is the new world number one ranked male bowler.

In the latest updated World Bowls Series rankings, the 32-year-old from Malaysia takes the top spot from inaugural holder Australia’s Aron Sherriff – the first major change since the rankings were launched in June.

Dzulkeple takes the top spot after winning Gold in the men’s singles at the Asian Lawn Bowls Championship, Silver in the men’s singles and Bronze in the Mixed Pairs with Nor Farah Ain Abdullah at the World Bowls Indoor Championships in Guernsey. Abdullah is now ranked number two in the women’s list after winning the women’s singles Gold medal in the Channel Islands and is now hot on the heels of the World No.1 Kelsey Cottrell of Australia.

As ranking points accumulated from previous events are removed, Aron Sherriff, Australian Open men’s singles champion for the third consecutive year and sixth in total moves to third place behind Scotland’s World Indoor Bowls Championship open singles winner Stewart Anderson who now sits in second spot.

England’s Harry Goodwin is one of the biggest climbers – he leaps from 11th to 4th, while Sheldon Bagrie-Howley (New Zealand), semi-finalist in Singapore’s Lion City Cup, moves up from 8thto 5th. Newly crowned Bowls England’s men’s singles champion Jamie Walker makes his debut in the top 10 moving four places from 13th to 9th. The Philippines has its first player in the upper echelons of the list with Elmer Abatayo featuring at 10th after triumphing in the men’s pairs at the Lion City Cup, while the youngest highest ranked player currently is 19-year-old Jack McShane (Australia) who has jumped from 24th to 11th after winning the Australian Open pairs with Joseph Clarke.

Australian Indoor Championships women’s champion Kelsey Cottrell, who was also runner-up in this year’s Australian Open women’s singles, still maintains her leaderboard position in the female rankings, but after losing a number of previously accumulated points the difference between numbers 1 and 10 is closing. In fact, there is now only 31 points between Kelsey and the second placed Nor Farah Ain Abdullah.

Scotland’s Julie Forrest is now fourth becoming the highest ranked northern hemisphere female, while other significant movers include Selina Goddard (New Zealand) 19th to 5th, Australian Indoor Championship women’s singles runner-up Chloe Stewart (Australia) 30th to 18th, Alison Merrien MBE (Guernsey) 14th to 10th and Nurul Alyani Jamil (Malaysia) 17th to 12th.

World Bowls Series is the official year-long calendar of sanctioned events connecting to the official world rankings. It is a joint venture between World Bowls and Tier 5 Ventures. The sanctioned events occur across the globe and feature a mixture of existing and new events.

WBS currently has 29 sanctioned events. Each WBS event belong to a different tier having different ranking points based on the size, location, and stature it presents for the sport.

The purpose of WBS is to build the profile and brand of bowls, showcase the best players in the game, accelerate the legitimacy of the sport on the global stage and launch world rankings that will help create clarity and interest in the sport of bowls.

The next ranking events are the African States Championships in Orapa, Botswana, September 23-26 and the City of Dubbo International Fours in Australia, September 24-26.

Please note at the time of publishing, the results from the British Isles International Series, Bowls Scotland National Finals and Canadian Nationals were still to be received.

For more information regarding the World Bowls Series, contact: Neil Dalrymple, CEO, World Bowls, [email protected]

Author: Ceris Hewlings, World Bowls media officer

Caption: Izzat Shameer Dzulkeple (Malaysia) is the new World Bowls Series number one ranked male player

 

Female ranking list – Click here

Male ranking list – Click here