20th August, P.Jaya: Top-seeds, Khairul Hafidz Zamri of Kedah and Noor Hanizah Abu Bakar of Kuala Lumpur were convincing champions of the Boy's and Girl's Open division in the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MSSM Junior Circuit Grand Prix Finals which concluded Saturday afternoon.

Despite a narrow win by Khairul Hafidz over his challenger, and last year's runner-up, Fahmi Bahri of Johor on 213-200 in the stepladder finals of the Boy's division, it did not trouble the 18-year-old national youth. While Fahmi had an open frame in the beginning of the match, Khairul was just making sure he did not make any mistake.

The champion finally struck out towards the end to seal his first-ever major title after having taken up the game of tenpin bowling six years ago. Khairul had made the stepladder after topping the round-robin matchplay over 8 games with a total of 4245 and Friday's Round 1 prelimnaries.

"I am happy to have finally won a major title," said Khairul after he was presented with the challenge trophy, a champion trophy plus RM300 in cash. "My game has improved a lot since joining the national youth

squad training here at Pyramid Megalanes under national youth coach, Mr Holloway Cheah," added the beaming champion.

Fahmi Bahri settled for second despite defeating third-seed Rafiq Azri of Pyramid Youth and fourth-seed Syed Muzzaffar of Pahang, 249-227-140. As an added bonus, the top two in today's finals were automatically selected to represent the National youth squad to compete in the Singapore Open next month.

Another up-and-coming star, Noor Hanizah Abu Bakar of Kuala Lumpur, outclassed her challenger, Lina Marissa of Kedah, 228-170 for her third title this year. Noor Hanizah, who won the Penang and Pahang leg, was seeded top in the round-robin matchplay before the stepladder finals.

Noor Hanizah, who turned 15 just last month, is also a member of the national youth squad trained by Holloway Cheah. "Her game has improved tremendously since joining the training here and she has the making of a champion of the future," said Holloway. Noor Hanizah had also topped the National Youth selection roll-off for the Indonesia Open for which she will leave for Jakarta on Sunday morning.

National youth member, and sister of Khairul Hafidz, settled for first runner-up. She had earlier knocked out favourite, Nor Atteya Zainal

Abidin of Perak and Negeri Sembilan's Aressa Malenie, 200-164-197 in the Girl's Open first stepladder match amongst the second, third and fourth seeds.

Like the boy's division, both Noor Hanizah and Lina Marissa have also earned the top two spots for the Singapore Open next month. Nor Atteya took third while Aressa finished fourth.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Chan of Pahang and MSN-KL's Charmaine Ho had to work hard for their win after being forced into sudden-death matches in the Boy's and Girl's Graded divisions. Top-seed and 13-year-old Syimir Abdul Razak of Pyramid Youth lost the first match to Jonathan, 201-231 and in the decider, the champion edged Syimir 201-194 for the title.

Likewise, Charmaine Ho lost her first match, 181-191 to challenger, Tunku Haifaa of Kedah. But the 15-year-old kept her cool in the crucial match to win her the Girl's Graded title, 180-172. Round 1 first block leader, Two Pyramid Youths, Siti Nur Harini and Yap Wi Yin settled for third and fourth positions after loosing to Tunku Haifaa, 165-183-203 in the first match.

A total of 16 Boy's Open, 12 Girl's Open, 18 Boy's Graded and 14 Girl's Graded had qualified for this year's Grand Priz Finals after having earned ranking points from the seven Junior Circuit legs held from March to July in Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.

19th August, P.Jaya: Indonesia-bound, Noor Hanizah Abu Bakar set a blistering pace in the two blocks of 12 games in Round 1 to lead the top 8 Girl's Open into the semifinals of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MSSM Junior Circuit Grand Prix Finals underway at Pyramid Megalanes Friday afternoon.

Noor Hanizah, who also topped last Sunday's National Youth roll-off selection to represent Malaysia in the 3rd Indonesia Open, almost recorded all the 12 games above the 200-mark except for game 5 in the first block this morning. The 15-year-old lass posted 2579 and an impressive average of 214.9.

She had lines of 203, 202, 215, 230, 193 and 202 in her fist 6 games for a score of 1245 and 205, 205, 216, 204, 245 and 259 for a second block score of 1334 and a massive 175 pins ahead of her nearest opponent.

Nor Atteya Bte Zainal Abidin from Perak settled for second spot with a score of 2404 while Kedah's Lina Marissa Bte Zamri finished third with 2389. Jerusha Chan (PAH-2380), Nur Syakirah Yeoh (JOH-2300), Aressa Malenie (NSE-2290), Low Xin Pin (MSNKL-2251) and Siti Shazwani (JOH-2230) all made the cut for Saturday's semifinals from fourth to eighth respectively.

In the Boy's Open division, 18-year-old member of the National Youth from Kedah, Khairul Hafidz snatched the lead from first block leader, Fahmi Bahri of Johor with a superb 1372 in the second block. Hafidz, who was third in the first block this morning, picked up his pace with lines of 195, 234, 192, 257, 250 and 244 rounding off a 12-game total of 2595.

Fahmi Bahri settled for second, 46 pins adrift with 2549 followed by Penang's Adrian Charles Dragon in third with 2451. Johor leg champion, Rafiq Azri Bin Razali of Pyramid Youth did well to keep pace with the leaders in fourth on 2408.

Charmaine Ho of MSN-KL also snatched the lead from early pace-setter, Siti Nur Harini of Pyramid Youth, to top the Girl's Graded division with

2186. Siti finished second with 2171 followed by twice winner, Yap Wi Yin of Pyramid Youth in thid with 2156.

The top 8 from each division made the cut for Saturday's round-robin matchplay semifinals of 7 games and a position round to detemine the top 4 to proceed to the stepladder grand finals.

Meanwhile, a special Parents and Official Games was held which attracted a total of 31 entries. The bowlers had to use house bowling balls and house shoes to bowl 4 games each. Robert Lu, Honarary Secretary of Amateur Bowling Association of Sarawak, topped the roll-off with lines of 170, 220, 222 and 157 for a total of 769. Lu won for himself a MILO hamper and a Hi-Tea voucher at the Atrium Cafe, Pyramid Tower.

Photos by Tay Li Neo, MTBC.

18th August, P.Jaya: A star-studed field of national youth and youth bowlers throughout the country will converge at the Pyramid Megalanes for the SportExcel-NSC-MILO-MSSM-MTBC Junior Circuit Grand Prix Finals commencing tomorrow.

A total of 16 Boys Open, 12 Girls Open, 18 Boys Graded and 14 Girls Graded finalists who have qualified for this year's Grand Prix finals as a results of ranking points earned from competing in the seven legs held in Peninsular Malaysia and two legs in East Malaysia.

Heading the list in the Boys Open division is Syed Muzzaffar Moshin of Pahang, winner of the Penang Leg and followed by Adrian Charles Dragon of Penang, winner of the Kuala Lumpur and Pahang legs this year. PLN Klasik Champion and last year's runner-up, Fahmi Bahri of Johor, Kedah's Khairul Hafidz and Pahang's Rodson Tong Juinn Chuan complete the top 5 qualifiers.

In the Girls Open division, Pahang's Jerusha Chan, winner of the Kuala Lumpur leg and twice runner-up in other legs tops the qualifiers with Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil of Perak, who recently qualified to represent

Malaysian National Youth to compete in the 3rd Indonesia Open next week. Also in the field are Jakarta-bound, Noor Hanizah Abu Bakar of Kuala Lumpur and twice winner this year, Nur Syakirah Yeoh of Johor.

The finalists will bowl the first block of 6 games Friday morning and another 6 games in the afternoon. The top 8 at the end of the 12 games will proceed to Saturday's 8-game round-robin matchplay finals. The top 4 in each division will make the cut for the stepladder grand finals to determine the champion.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.