It was a bad day at the office for Brunei at the World Indoor Singles Championship in Australia yesterday.
Neither Abd Rahman Hj Omar nor Hjh Amalia Hj Metali got in the win column at the Warilla Bowls & Recreation Club in New South Wales.
Abd Rahman started out with a 9-4, 6-5 loss to current leader Neil Furman of the United States in the April 8-16 competition.
He then fell to the narrowest of defeats to the hands of South African Bobby Donnelly 6-8, 12-6, 4-3 in the second match.
The defeats place Abd Rahman 10th in the 11-player field of men's Group 2.
He has only triumphed once in five games so far in the tournament.
His win came in the first match when he beat Turkey's Ozkan Akar 6-6, 7-7, 5-0 on Tuesday.
He will continue his campaign today against second place Fairul Abd Muin of Malaysia, followed by a meeting against Chi Leung Fung of Hong Kong in the second game.
The national bowler will then compete against Ireland's Neil Booth, Fiji's Samuela Tuikiligana and Australia's Tony Wood in the upcoming games.
On the other hand, Hjh Amalia fell 10-8, 2-11, 3-1 to American Dee McSparren in her first match.
Her second game saw her drop 11-6, 13-6 to Caroline Brown of Scotland.
The Bruneian is currently in last position in the 12-player field in the women's Group 1 with only one win from six matches.
She got on the winning end after defeating Hong Kong's Tammy Tham 6-9, 8-6, 2-1 on Wednesday.
Hjh Amalia will begin today with a meeting against Carmen Anderson from Norfolk Island before taking on Nikki Lee of Macau.
Malta's Carmen Spiteri, Japan's Hiroko Emura and Australia's Karen Murphy are the remaining matches left on the schedule.
The tournament is the first major international meet of the year for the national team.
Last year's men's category saw Australia's defending champion, Jeremy Henry, walk away on top after successfully retaining his title with a score of 10-5, 5-8, 5-0 against New Zealand's Tony Grantham.
World number one, New Zealand's Jo Edwards, lifted the women's title for the fourth time in five years after she eliminated eight-time champion Alison Merrien from Guernsey 3-8, 8-3, 3-2. Edward's previous wins were in 2009, 2010 and 2012, according to a previous report in The Brunei Times.
Merrien stopped Edwards from taking the hat-trick in 2011 through a 7-6, 9-5 win.
Edwards is currently leading the women's Group 1. Malaysia's Siti Zalina Ahmad leads the women's Group 2.
