22nd May, J.Bahru: Three out of the four top seeds took their respective division titles of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MSSM Junior Circuit Johor leg which ended Sunday afternoon at Ampang Superbowl, Pelangi Leisure Mall.

Last leg third runner-up, Siti Shazwani of Johor became the only non-top seed to topple top-seed, Jerusha Chan of Pahang to claim the Girl's Open title. Siti won the first match, 193-159 to force Kuala Lumpur leg champion, Chan into a sudden-death decider and winning the crucial match, 184-178.

The second-seed had earlier knocked out third-seed, Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil of Perak and Negeri Sembilan's Aressa Malenie, 206-192-169 to set up the finale with Chan. Chan settled for second while Nazrinnah and Aressa finished third and fourth positions respectively.

Chan ended the 8-game round-robin matchplay semifinals with a score of 4116 ahead of Siti on 4012 in second. Nazrinnah finished third with 3945 followed by Aressa Malenie in fourth with 3942.

Top-seed and KL leg champion, Cheryl Cheong of MSN Kuala Lumpur claimed her second title this year when she edged Vinnie Lim Sook Huey of Negeri Sembilan, 160-159 in the final stepladder match of the Girl's Graded division.

The 13-year-old who led in both the Stage 1 and quarterfinals yesterday, topped this morning's round-robin matchplay semifinals with a total of 3830 with Vinnie Lim in second, just 17 pins adrift on 3803. Melissa Lee of Pyramid Youth and Johor's Siti Nazwa Bte Mohd Sanap were third and fourth with 3785 and 3726.

Despite ousting third-seed, Melissa Lee and fourth-seed, Siti Nazwa, 176-138-169 in the first match, Lim settled for second with Siti moving up to third and Melissa dropping to fourth after the stepladder finals.

The Boy's Graded and Boy's Open titles went to two top-seeds, Mohd Hanif Mohd Bakri of Pahang and Rafiq Azri of Pyramid Youth team member. Mohd Hanif took the title defeating challenger, Mohd Alif of Johor, 178-155 while Rafiq Azri emerged the Boy's Open champion after he defeated Johor's Fahmi Bahri, 222-195 in the final stepladder matches.

Mohd Alif earned a crack at the title after he knocked out second-seed, Jonathan Chan of Pahang and fourth-seed, Equine Lam of Perak, 203-154-160 but found the champion a handful.

National youth member, Fahmi Bahri also found the champion, Rafiq a tough competitor despite easily knocking out third-seed, Muhd Syahrizal of N.Sembilan and Afiq Rifqi of Johor, 228-116-158 in the first stepladder match.

The next two legs has been brought forward with the Negeri Sembilan Leg being held June 10 - 12 at Golden Bowl while the final and Selangor Leg from July 1 - 3 at Pyramid Megalanes, Petaling Jaya.

Photos by Tay Li Neo, MTBC

21st May, J.Bahru: Both Stage 1 leaders, Rafiq Azli Razali and Pahang youth, Jerusha Chan built up a comfortable lead in the Boy's and Girl's Open divisions at the end of the quarterfinals of the Sportexcel-NSC-Milo-MSSM Junior Circuit late Saturday evening.

A member of the Pyramid Youth team at Pyramid Megalanes, Rafiq totalled 2828 over the 8-games Stage and 6-games quarterfinals to lead the field of 8 qualifiers with a comfortable margin of 83 pins. Rafiq had earlier posted 1651 in Stage 1 before another 6-game total of 1177 for an impressive 208 average.

National youth member, Fahmi Bahri of Johor trailed in second spot with 2745 while Penang Leg champion and current GP ranking leader, Syd Muzzafar of Pahang finished third with 2709. Negeri Sembilan's Mohd Syahrizal Yassin and Afiq Rifqi of Johor took fourth and fifth spots with 2653 and 2638.

Asian Schools representative, Muhd Fahd Hazali of Kuala Lumpur, Faris Izwan Alwi of Perak and MSN Kuala Lumpur's Chang Sean Der made the cut for Sunday's round-robin finals from sixth to eighth positions with 2613, 2597 and 2574 respectively.

Kuala Lumpur leg Girl's Open champion, Jerusha Chan was equally impressive building up an unsurmountable lead of 131 pins at the end of the quarterfinals ended late this evening. The Pahang youth had earlier topped Stage 1 before ending the quarterfinals block on a total of 2687.

Johor's Siti Shazwani claimed second position with 2556 ahead of Perak's Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil in third spot with 2536. National youth member, Aressa Malenie settled for fourth place with 2469 ahead of another national youth, Lina Marissa Zamri in fifth with 2469.

Low Xin Pin (MSN/KUL), Amalyna Kelana (SGOR) and Asian Schools Silver medalist, Wan Nur Atiqqa (JOH) qualified for the round-robin finals from sixth to eighth with 2427, 2409 and 2395 total.

Both Stage 1 leaders, Mohd Hanif Mohd Bakri of Pahang and KL leg champion, Cheryl Cheong continued to lead the Boy's and Girls Graded division at the end of the quarterfinals when they totalled 2656 and 2585 respectively.

Mohamed Alif of Johor and Jonathan Chan of Pahang made up grounds to take over second and third with 2648 and 2638 while Pyramid Youth's Melissa Lee maintained second followed by Vinnie Lim of Negeri Sembilan in third position in the Girl's division.

The top 8 from each division will contest in Sunday's round-robin matchplay at the end of the which, the top 4 will make the cut for the stepladder grand finals to detemine the champion of this fifth leg.

Photos by Tay Li Neo, MTBC.

20th May, J.Bahru: Kuala Lumpur leg champion, Cheryl Cheong and Pahang's Mohd Hanif Mohd Bakri led the Girl's and Boy's Graded Stage 1 over 8 games in the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MSSM Junior Circuit Johor leg underway at Ampang Superbowl Pelangi Leisure Mall.

Cheong of MSN Kuala Lumpur knocked down lines of 174, 208, 166, 201, 149, 178, 173 and 176 for an 8-game total of 1425, 57 pins ahead of Pyramid Youth team member, Melissa Lee, who scored 1368 for second position.

Kuantan leg champion, Yap Wi Yin finished third, just 12 pins adrift with 1356 while last leg 2nd-runnerup, Farah Izzazaya of Pahang, took up fourth spot with 1348. Second leg champion Bettina Tan settled for fifth with 1345.

In the Boy's graded division, Sqaud A leader, Mohd Hanif Mohd Bakri of Pahang hung on to the lead after Squad B completed their 8-game Stage 1, with a total of 1572. Local youth, Patrick Nea and Pyramid Youth's Syimir Bin Abdul Razak, who was battling it out in Squad B, shared second spots with 1528, 44 pins adrift.

Another local youth, Mohamed Alif B. Molok finished fourth with 1514, 47 pns clear of fifth-place youth, Ong Bing Yuan of Melaka on a score of 1467.

The top 28 Girls and top 48 Boys made the cut for the another 6 games in quarterfinals at the end of which the top 8 will proceed to the round-robin finals on Sunday, 22nd May. The Girl's and Boy's Open will take on the lanes Saturday morning (21st May) for their 8-games Stage 1.

Photos by Tay Li Neo, MTBC.