The 21-year-old kegler was patient and calm in the tense final to defeat defending champion Park Jong-woo of South Korea 534-511.

The bronze medal went to another South Korean, Koo Seonghoi who lost to his compatriot 245-254 in the semi-final. Rafiq had earlier progressed to the stepladder final after downing 3,995 pinfalls in 16 frames.

In the first block yesterday, the southpaw was placed sixth with 1,889 pinfalls before making a brilliant comeback in the medium oil today to book a berth in the stepladder final.

Meanwhile, fellow Malaysian, Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek, could only muster the eighth place after scoring 3,796 pinfalls after the second block.

Last Thursday, Rafiq delivered a silver medal in the trio event with Ahmad Muaz Fishol and Timmy Tan Chye Chern.

The previous best achievement by a Malaysian in the event was the fifth placing by Alex Liew in the 2006 edition in Doha and 2010 edition in Guangzhou.