4th February, S.Petani: National youths, Tengku Afnan Tengku Zahri of Kedah and Fatin Syazliana Bte Adi Nasution of Penang, emerged as Boy's and Girl's Open champions of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit first leg which concluded Sunday afternoon.

Tengku Afnan, who made the stepladder finals in fourth, went all the way to capture the Boy's Open first leg title when he defeated top-seed, Mohd Hafizi B Mohd Radzi Woo of Penang, over two games, 186, 196 to 182, 164 in the final stepladder match.

Afnan had earlier knocked out third-seed, Muhamad Fajrin B Khairul Faizi of Perak and second-seed, Mohd Amirul Afif of Kuala Lumpur, 195-181-184 in the first match to earn a crack at the title.

Mohd Hafizi settled for second despite topping the 8-games round-robin matchplay semifinals with a total of 4368 which included the 14 games stage 1 and quarterfinals. Mohd Amirul Afif and Muhamad Fajrin dropped to third and fourth positions after the stepladder finals.

In the Girl's Open division, top-seed, Fatin Syazliana Bte Adi Nasution was forced into the sudden-death decider after she lost the first game, 164-197. But the 17-year-old member of the national youth squad, came back strongly to out-class her challenger, Nor Amilia Bte Mohd Nor of Selangor, 230-167 to claim the title.

Nor Amilia, who made the stepladder finals in fourth position after the 8-game semifinals earlier, settled for second despite defeating third-seed, Tunku Haifaa of Pahang and second-seed, Cheryl Cheong of Kuala Lumpur, 244-156-172 in the first match.

Chan Wei Siang of Johor bagged the Boy's Under-16 title when he easily defeated Ahmad Muaz B Mohd Fishol of Kedah, 180-131 in the final stepladder match. Ahmad Muaz had earlier ousted third-seed, Low Wooi Kit of Kedah and Ahmad Faisol of Selangor, 212-176-191 before finding Chan too strong an opponent.

Meanwhile, Penang Pesta Girl's Under-16 champion, Hee Kar Yen of Pyramid Youth, continued her fine form to bag the Girl's Under-16 crown by defeating challenger, Maisarah Bte Razali of Penang over two games, 199, 211 to 200, 147.

Maisarah, who led the both the Stage 1 and quarterfinals played on Saturday and this morning, settled for second despite easily ousting third-seed, Tengku Aimi Laily of Kedah and Nurshazwani Bte Ismail of Perak, 193-147-149 in the first match.

En Helmy Shahruddin, assistant honorary secretary of Kedah Tenpin Bowling Association presented the winners with the medals and Milo products. The second leg will be held at the new Pacific Bowl in Kota Bahru for the first time from 6 - 8 April.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo, MTBC.

2nd February, S.Petani: The SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit 2007 kicked off with the first leg at last year's SUKMA Games venue, Ampang Superbowl, Sungei Petani with Penang youth Maisarah Bt Rozali taking a comfortable lead in Round 1 of the Girl's Under-16 division.

Competing for the first time in this year's circuit, the 14-year-old Maisarah did not have the best of start with two low games of 157 and 152. But the leader regained her composure to post three hight games of 214, 204 and 259 in games 3, 5 and 7 to end the 8-game block with 1496 for the lead.

Perak's Nurshazwani Bt Ismail finished 64 pins adrift the leader in second with 1432 while Squad A leader, Fatin Hazwani Bt Hassan of Kedah settled for third spot with 1366. Another Kedah youth, Tengku Aimi Laily and Penang Pesta Under-16 Girl's champion, Hee Kar Yen rounded up the top 5 with 1362 and 1322 respectively.

Meanwhile, Tengku Emanina Bt Tengku Zahri led the Girl's Open first block where Kedah youths played on Thursday afternoon with 1421 followed by Zity Nabila Bt Mohd Nadzri second with 1371 and Noor Amirah Bt Mohamad third with 1337. Squad B will bowl their first block tomorrow (Saturday).

Meanwhile, National Interstate Boy's Team gold medalist, Jonathan Chan grabbed the lead of the Boy's Open division with an impressive 1613 in the first block of 8 games played this evening. Muhammad Fazrin Khairul Faizi of Perak finished second, 30 pins adrift on 1583 while Tengku Afnan B Tengku Zahri of Kedah finished third with 1565.

Squad B comprising Selangor and Kuala Lumpur youths will bowl their first block on Saturday and the top 16 of the combined field will make the cut for quarterfinals to be played on Saturday evening.

Selangor's Ahmad Faisol B Hamza Putra, emerged the overall leader after Squad B completed their first block of 8 games. Ahmad Faisol led with a total of 1534, ahead of Johor's Chan Wei Siang in second spot with 1516. Squad A leader, Ahmad Muaz B Mohd Fishol of Kedah settled for third with 1496.

The top 16 Boy's Open, top 12 Girl's Open, top 48 Boy's Under-16 and top 28 Girl's Under-16 will make the cut for another 6 games in the quarterfinals. The top 8 from each division will proceed to the round-robin matchplay semifinals on Sunday, 4th February.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo, MTBC.