26th August, Seremban: Pyramid Youth's Syimir Abdul Razak, Perak's Muhd Amin Abd Razak and Kuala Lumpur's Radin Nur Najwa took their maiden victory in the final leg of this year's SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit which ended at Ampang Superbowl Seremban Sunday afternoon.

Syimir, who topped the 8-game round-robin matchplay semifinals earlier, was forced to a sudden-death decider after he lost to challenger and current GP Rankings No. 1, Muhammad Fazrin B Khairul Faizi of Perak, 150-185 in the first match.

But the 16-year-old came back strongly opening the second match with a turkey while his opponent started on a wrong footing with two splits. And despite a small mistake in the fifth fram, the top-seed knocked down another turkey to pull away.

Syimir won the decider convincingly over Muhammad Fazrin, 208-176 to capture his first junior circuit title. Muhd Fazrin, who already has two wins, 1 second and 1 third this year, settled for second.

The Perak youth, who finished second in the earlier semifinals, edged Stage 1 leader, Adrian Charles Dragon of Penang and fourth-seed, Johnathan Chan of Pahang, 235-222-215 in a closely fought first match.

National youth, Nazrinnah Bte Mohd Kamil of Perak, was the only top-seed not having to move into a second match as she easily despatched challenger, Syaidatul Afifah Bte Badrul Hamdi of Perak, 203-159 in the Girl's Open fnal stapladder match.

Nazrinnah, who topped the earlier semifinals with 4475, captured her second title this year after winning the Johor leg in last month. Syaidatul Afifah had to content with second despite knocking out second-seed, Tengku Emanina Laily Bte Tengku Zahri of Kedah and fourth-seed, Tunku Haifaa of Pahang, 196-192-158 in the first match.

Meanwhile, Muhd Amin B Abdul Razak of Perak, who has made the stepladder finals twice this year and failing to make progress, finally bagged his first-ever circuit title when he defeated challenger, Ahmad Amruddin of Selangor, 212-163 in the second deciding match of the Boy's Under-16 division.

The Form 3 SMK Anglo-Chinese student from Ipoh got his composure back in the crucial second match after loosing the first match to Ahmad

Amiruddin, 158-191. The runner-up and second-seed, edged current GP Rankings leader and winner of fourth legs, Chan Wei Siang of Johor and Ros Qusyairi of Negeri Sembilan, 203-201-165 in the first match.

In the Girl's Under-16 division, Radin Nur Najwa of Kuala Lumpur, also captured her first-ever circuit title when she defeated top-seed, Fatin Hazwani Bte Hassan of Kedah in two matches. The challenger took the first match, 171-156 and went on to win the decider, 176-160.

Radin had earned a crack at the title after she disposed off second-seed, Nastasya Adam of Kuala Lumpur and Maisarah Rozali of Penang, 181-158-150 in the first playoff. The victory has also assured the champion a spot in the GP Finals earning 155 points for the victory in the final leg.

The qualifiers of the GP Finals will converge at Pyramid Mega Lanes from September 7 to 9 to battle it out for the coveted Grand Prix champion crown.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

25th August, Seremban: Pyramid Youth's Syimir Abdul Razak set course for his first win in the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit as he took over the lead in the Boy's Open division in the quaterfinals while sixth leg champion, Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil topped the girl's division.

Syimir, who has yet to win a title this with only a fourth-place finish in the fourth leg in Ipoh, took over the lead in the Boy's Open division with 3045. The leader was third in Stage 1 with 1705 but was in scintillating form to post the highest 6-game series of 1340 for the lead.

Current GP Rankings leader, Muhammad Fazrin B Khairul Faizi of Perak, retained second with 2995 while Stage 1 leader, Adrian Charles Dragon dropped to third with 2956 after only managing 1205 in the quarterfinals.

Johnathan Chan of Pahang, Fahmi Bahri B Sulaiman of Johor, Faliq Aimran of Kuala Lumpur, Tengku Afnan B Tengku Zahri of Kedah and Mohd Kamarul Nizam of Penang made the cut for tomorrow's round-robin finals from fourth to eighth positions.

Meanwhile, despite a low game of 163 in the final game of the 6-game quarterfinals, Johor leg champion, Nazrinnah Bte Mohd Kamil was able to take over the lead in the Girl's Open division with a total of 2852 to dislodge overnight leader, Tengku Emana Laily of Kedah into second spot.

The Kedah youth amassed 1239 to give her a total of 2851 but only trailed the leader by 1 pin. Penang's Diyana Zuhali Bte Mohd Mazli moved up from fifth to take up third spot with 2747. GP Ranked No. 2 and winner of three legs, Syaidatul Afifah Bte Badrul Hamidi of Perak finished fourth with 2737.

Tenku Haifaa Bte Tenku Osman of Pahang, Nicole Teong of Kuala Lumpur, Adlin Nadhirah Bte Ghazali of Negeri Sembilan and Johara Johari of Penang qualified for the semifinals from fifth to eighth.

In the Boy's Under-16 division, current GP Ranked No. 1 and winner of four legs this year, Chan Wei Siang of Johor is going for a record fifth title in one season in the history of the Junior Circuit.

The Form 2 student of SMK Taman Pelangi, who is trained by John Liau at Daiman Bowl, took over the lead with 2881 after a superb 6-game series of 1357, higher than the Boy's Open division. Muhd Afiq Esa of Melaka, moved up seventh to second with 2831.

Perak's Teh Lit Qing retained third spot with 2807 ahead of Ahmad Amiruddin B Ridha Allah of Selangor in fourth on 2799. Stage 1 leader, Muhd Amin B Abdul Razak dropped to fifth with 2768.

Stage 1 leader, Radin Nur Najwa of Kuala Lumpur maintained pole

position in the Girl's Under-16 division with 2709 followed by Fatin Hazwani Hassan of Kedah and Nor Shamira Bte Abdul Manaf in second and third with 2684 and 2680 respectively. The round-robin semifinals will be played tomorrow with the top 4 from each division proceeding to the stepladder finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

25th August, Seremban: National youth, Adrian Charles Dragon of Penang, set the lanes at Ampang Superbowl Seremban on fire as he topped Stage 1 of the Boy's Open division in the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit final leg.

The 18-year-old Penangnie brought home all the 8 games above the 200 mark with 202 as the lowest in his opening game and hgighest of 263 in game 3. Adrian had lines of 202, 224, 263, 223, 203, 223, 210 and 203 to end Stage 1 with a total of 1751.

Current GP Rankings No. 1 and winner of two legs this year, Muhdammad Fazrin B Khairul Faizi of Perak, kept close to the leader in second with 1733, just 18 pins adrift while Symiri Abdul Razak of Pyramid Youth took third spot with 1705.

First leg champion and national youth, Tengku Afnan B Tengku Zahri of Kedah and Asian Schools Team bronze medalist, Johnathan Chan of Pahang finished fourth and fifth positions with 1689 and 1684 respectively.

The top 20 made the cut for the quarterfinals with Tengku Muhd Yasser of Selangor just squeezing in in 20th with 1527 on an average of 190.88. The boys will contest the quarterfinals tomorrow morning.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

24th August, Seremban: Tengku Emanina Laily Bte Tengku Zahri of Kedah, became the only youth to pass the 200-mark average in Stage 1 of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Seremban leg as the national youth topped the Girl's Open division.

Tengku Emanina, winner of the third leg, second once and third twice, will be hoping to add another title with victory in the final leg at Ampmag Superbowl in Seremban Parade. The 16-year-old posted impressive lines of 213, 179, 172, 189, 192, 207, 224 and 236 for an 8-game total of 1612 and averaging 201.5.

Johor leg champion and another national youth, Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil of Perak trailed the leader by 24 pins with a total of 1588, pipping triple leg champion, Syaidatul Affifah also of Perak and Nor Amilia Mohd Nor by one pin.

Syaidatul and Nor Amilia tied in fourth position with 1587 followed by Penang's Diyana Zuhaili Bte Mohd Mazli making up the top 5 with 1567. The cut off for the quarterfinals at 16th position was Dhira Marzuki of Johor scoring 1450. Joyce Chin of Selangor missed the cut by 22 pins.

Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur's Radin Nur Najwa topped Stage 1 of the Girl's Under-16 division with a total of 1590. The 16-year-old, whose best finish was a sixth place in the Johor leg and currently has 230 points in the GP rankings.

Radin need to qualify for the stepladder finals in this final leg inorder to secure a spot in the GP Finals. Siti Nur Syafiqah Bte Rosli and Maisarah Bte Rozali took second and third spots with 1566 and 1539 respectively.

In the Boy's Under-16 division, Muhd Amin B Abdul Razak took pole with a total of 1581. The Perak youth, who has yet to win a title this year and his best finish was a second in the fourth leg in Ipoh. Ros Qusyairi Ros Sahar of Negeri Sembilan was second with 1578.

Perak leg champion and currently second in the GP Rankings, Teh Lit Qing finished third, a further 6 pins adrift. Teh will be hoping to do well in this final lag to claim top spot in the Boy's Under-16 division.

The Boys Open will kickoff their Stage 1 tomorrow morning followed by the quarterfinals for all the divisions in the afternoon and evening.

Photos by Terence Yaw.