11th June, S.Prai: Top-seeds survived challenges from their opponents to bag the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Penang leg titles which concluded Sunday afternoon at Mega Lanes Seberang Prai.

Following a two Gold medal haul at the recent SUKMA XI in Sungei Petani last week, national youth, Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil of Perak, carried her fine form into the Penang leg by taking her maiden circuit win over challenger, June Lim Wai Jun of Pahang, 219-213 in the Girl's Open stepladder finals.

The 16-year-old led from the start of the 8-game Stage 1, all the way to the 8-game round-robin matchplay where she won five matches for a grand total of 4673 to make the stepladder finals as top-seed.

The challenger and fourth-seed, June Lim settled for runner-up despite knocking out second-seed and first leg champion, Fatin Syazliana of Penang and third-seed, Nicloe Teong of Kuala Lumpur, in a closely fought first stepladder match, 205-202-193.

In the Boy's Open division, top-seed and national youth, Rodson Tong was over-powered by his challenger, Tengku Afnan B Tengku Zahari of Kedah loosing both the first and the sudden-death decider, 127, 178 to 234, 193.

The champion, who was seeded second, had earlier disposed off third-seed, Fahmi Bahri of Johor and fourth-seed, Mohd Shazwan of Kelantan, 221-219-160 in the first match. Tengku Afnan made amends for failing to win any medal in the SUKMA XI despite breaking the 6-game individual games record during the Trios event.

Siti Nur Nadia of Penang, who finished second in the first leg, finally broke the ice by taking the Girl's Graded title after defeating second leg champion and SUKMA All Events Gold medalist, Syaidatul Afifah of Perak over two matches, 176, 169 to 180, 167.

The runner-up and fourth-seed, Syaidatul had earlier ousted second-seed, Radin Nur Najwa of Kuala Lumpur and third-seed, Farah Izzazaya of Pahang, 204-169-158 before going down to Siti Nur Nadia.

Top-seed, Khoo Beng Khai of Penang had an easy win over his challenger, Mohd Hafizi of Penang, 191-134 to capture the Boy's Graded division title. The champion had crawled his way up from 14th in Stage 1 and to seventh in the quarterfinals before making the stepladder finals as top-seed.

Mohd Hafizi could not repeat his form in the first match after he knocked out second-seed, Teh Lit Qing of Perak and fourth-seed, Shaun Sebastian Tan of Penang, 217-170-209 going down to the champion in just one match. The next leg will be held at Ampang Superbowl Leisure Mall in Johor Bahru in two weeks time from the 23rd - 25th June, 2006.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo, MTBC.

10th June, S.Prai: Kuala Lumpur's Radin Nur Najwa and Xavier Ang took over the lead of the Girl's and Boy's Graded division of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Penang at the end of the 6-game quarterfinals completed this morning.

Radin Nur Najwa, who was fourth in Stage 1 yesterday and trailing overnight leader, Siti Nur Nadia, scored a superb 1159 over the 6 games quarterfinals to take over the lead with a 14-game total of 2549. Siti Nur Nadia of Penang settled for second on 2509, 125 pins ahead of Noor Amirah Bte Mohd in third with 2424.

Farah Izzazaya Bte Mohammad dropped one spot to fourth with 2414 ahead of SUKMA XI Team and All Events Gold medalist, Syaidatul Afifah in fifth spot on a total of 2406. The top 8 made the cut for tomorrow's round-robin finals.

The day belong to Xavier Ang of Kuala Lumpur when the 14-year-old stormed into the lead after a scintillating 6-game, 1353 series in the quarterfinals. Ang, who was 10th yesterday, posted lines of 213, 210, 225, 210, 236, 259 to average 203.50 over the 14 games played so far.

Ang totaled 2849 to finish 155 pins ahead of Penang's Mohd Hafizi, who took second spot with 2694 while Shaun Sebastian Tan of Penang dropped one rung to third with 2673. Muhd Dhuha of Penang and Perak's Teh Lit Qing completed the top 5.

The top 8 made the cut for Sunday's round-robin matchplay semifinals at the end of which the top 4 will proceed to the stepladder finals to determine this leg's champion.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo, MTBC.

9th June, S.Prai: SUKMA XI two Gold medalist, Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil of Perak and national youth, Rodson Tong grabbed the lead in the Girl's Open and Boy's Open Stage 1 of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Penang leg at Mega Lanes Seberang Prai.

Following her success in the SUKMA XI Tenpin Bowling Championship which concluded last week in Sungei Petani, national youth, Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil continued her fine form to lead the 8-game Stage 1 of the Girl's Open division with a total of 1702 and averaging an impressive 212.75.

The 16-year-old lass posted 246, 222, 238, 189, 206, 215, 218 and easing off with a 168 in her final game to lead the field of 18 players with a commanding 192 pins. Pahang's Lim Wai Jun finished a distant second with 1510 followed by Kuala Lumpur's Nicole Teong third with 1493.

Asian Schools Team Gold medalist and SUKMA XI Singles Gold medalist, Fatin Syazliana of Penang took fourth spot with 1483 ahead of second and third leg champion, Irene Lee in fifth spot on 1464.

Meanwhile, national youth, Rodson Tong, who was not selected to compete in the SUKMA XI, went out to prove a point by grabbing the lead in the Boy's Open Stage 1 with a total of 1611 and was the only bowler to average above the 200-mark.

Tong led the field of 36 boys with 19 pins ahead of Mohd Syazwan of Kelantan in second with 1592. Perak's Equine Lam, who pulled out of the SUKMA XI due to injury, returned to finish an impressive third with 1568.

Muhammad Saman of Pahang and SUKMA XI Trios Gold medalist and third leg champion, Fahmi Bahri completed the top 5 in fourth and fifth spots on 1530 and 1524 respectively. The top 12 girls and top 16 boys made the cut for tomorrow's quarterfinals.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo, MTBC.

9th June, S.Prai: Penang youths, Siti Nur Nadia and Ahmad Safwan dominated Girl's and Boy's Graded Stage 1 of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Penang leg underway at Mega Lanes Seberang Prai Friday evening.

The petite Siti Nur Nadia set a cracking pace with 223 in the first game and suffered a slight set back of 158 in the second. But the 14-year-old recovered with lines of 191, 179, 182, 173, 175 and 190 to top the Girl's Graded division in the 8-game Stage 1 with a total of 1471.

Siti led the pack of 68 girls 28 pins ahead of Noor Amirah Bte Mohammad of Kedah, who posted 1443 while Pahang leg champion, Farah Izzazaya Bte Mohd Fariq of Pahang, finished third with 1401. Radin Nur Najwa of Kuala Lumpur and Nur Ain Nadira of Kedah rounded up the top 5 in fourth and fifth positions with 1390 and 1381 respectively.

The top 28 finishers in Stage 1 made the cut for the next round in the quaterfinals where the players will bowl another 6 games. The top 8 at the end of the quarterfinals will qualify for the matchplay round-robin semifinals.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Safwan and Shaun Sebastian Tan gave Penang double cheer when both the players occupied the top 2 positions in the Boy's Graded Stage 1. Despite starting with a lowly 158, Ahmad Safwan gradually crawled his way up to lead the field of 127 bowlers with a score of 1561.

Muhd Fazrin Khairul Faizi of Perak, took the early lead after two games with Wan Nur Hisham of Kelantan a close second. Penang's Mohd Hafizi grabbed the lead in the third and continued to lead until the fifth game.

There was a keen tussle for the lead amongst the top six contenders but Kuala Lumpur's Radin Rafeedin led by 28 pins from Wan Nur Hisham in second, Mohd Hafizi by 31 and Ahmad Safwan by 32 pins.

A poor 136 from Radin saw him dropping to seventh while a 213 final game posted by Ahmad Safwan allowed him to end the 8-game Stage 1 in pole position. Shaun Sebastian Tan settled for second with 1557, just 1 pin ahead of third-placed, Wan Nur Hisham.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo, MTBC.