25th June, J.Bahru: Quarterfinals leaders, Therese Vincent Sipaul of Sabah and Aris Adilla Santosh of Sarawak brought home easy victory over their opponents in the stepladder finals of the SpertExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Sabah leg Sunday evening.

Therese V. Sipaul continued her great run into the stepladder finals by defeating SUKMA XI Singles Gold medalist, Trish Khoo Wei Ling, 220-208 in the finals to claim the Girl's Open title. Therese, who led all the way in Stage 1, made the stepladder finals as top-seed.

Trish Khoo, who had earlier knocked out third-seed, Sarawak's Jacqueline Jeneleeper and fourth-seed, Nor Rashidah, 224-214-188 to set up the showdown with Therses in the finals. Jacqueline Jenelee took third place, while Nor Rashidah settled for fourth.

In the Boy's Open division, another top-seed, Aris Adilla Santosh of Sarawak took the title by edging Sabah's Clement Loh in the stepladder finals, 199-196. Loh, who made a valiant fightback from sixth position after the quarterfinals to fourth place to make the stepladder finals, eliminated teammate Awang Mohd Sharil and Sarawak’s Nazrin Wagiman, 227-223-153.

Loh settled for runner-up while Nazrin Wagiman and Awang Mohd Sharil remained third and fourth. SUKMA XI two Gold medalist, Mohd Zaim Said missed the stepladder finals finishing fifth.

The Girl's Graded division stepladder finals witnessed a low-scoring event with Sabah’s Yap Cheng Yah edging her challenger, Nurhazreen Ashyikin 169-165 to capture the title. Despite defeating teammates, Izzati Nur Ain and Terese Lee Ri Sa, 175-166-164 in the first match,

Nurhazreen settled for second with Izzati Nur Ain and Terese Lee Ri Sa taking third and fourth places.

The Boy's Graded division saw Sunny Lee Khai Shan in superb form after he defeated Mohd Ozzer Othman of Labuan FT and Azreen Khasful of Sabah, 195-149-150 in the first stepladder match. Sunny Lee forced top-seed, Bong Kihow into the sudden-death match after winning the first match, 188-163 and then went on to win 194-143 in the decider. The return leg will be held at Riverside Superbowl, Kuching from the 28th - 30th July, 2006.

Story and photos by Maradona Chok, PTBS.

24th June, J.Bahru: Stage 1 leader, Therese Vicent Sipaul of Sabah, stretched her lead in Girl's Open division in the quarterfinals of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Sabah leg at CPS Bowl on Saturday evening.

Sabah’s Therese Vincent Sipaul extended her lead to 209 pins with a total of 2804 from her teammate, Trish Khoo Wei Ling who remained second with a total of 2595 pinfalls. Jacqueline Jenelee however, overtook teammate Nor Rashidah for third spot with 2519.

The Boy's Open division also saw Aris Adilla Santosh from Sarawak extending his lead going into the round-robin finals with a score of 2992, while Sabah bowlers, Awang Mohd Sharil and Mohd Zaim Said taking up third and fourth positions with 2776 and 2741 respectively.

In the Girl's Graded quarterfinals, Yap Cheng Yah from Sabah moved three rungs up to take over the lead with a total of 2450. Sarawak’s Tessa Lee Ri Sa (2,437), Nurhazreen Ashyikin (2,330) and Syazwani Isa (2,316) finished second to fourth positions.

Bong Kihow of Sarawak took pole position from teammate Benjamin Tan Jin Hock with a total of 2553 pinfalls but the Sabah bowlers showed some character when Muhd Khairudin and Azreen Khasful put in some good scores to take second and third places with 2545 and 2543 respectively. Azreen, who was at 13th position after Stage 1 put on a great show to climb to third spot.

The round-robin matchplay finals will commence early Sunday morning followed by the stepladder finals for each division.

Story and photos by Maradona Chok, PTBS.

23rd June, K.Kinabalu: Sarawak youths dominated Stage 1 of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Sabah leg underway at CPS Bowl with Benjamin Tan Jin Hock, Tessa Lee Ri Sa and Aris Adilla Santosh leading except for Therese Vincent Sipaul of Sabah leading the Girl's Open division.

After a night of supporting and shouting for their younger counterparts who competed in the Stars of Tomorrow Tournament. It was back to serious business when time comes for the East Malaysian youths to strut their stuff and show their younger aspirants of what real competition is all about.

In the Boy's Graded division, once again a record number of entries were received totaling 66 participants. After the first block of 8 games,

Sarawak dominated the Boy's graded field taking the top 3 positions. Benjamin Tan Jin Hock led the pack with a total of 1483, followed by Bong Kihow in second with 1475, Chin Jit Chong third with 1456 and Muhd Khairuddin of Sabah fourth with 1437.

The Girl's Graded division also saw a record entry with 36 participants. Again, Sarawak ruled with a top 3 finishes in the first block of 8 games. Tessa Lee Ri Sa led with a total of 1438, followed by Nurhazreen Ashyikin in second with 1382, Syazwani Isa third with 1,368 and Yap Cheng Yah of Sabah fourth with 1367.

Miri bowler, Aris Adilla Santosh took the lead with a total of 1692, trailed by Nazrin Wagiman from Kuching, 39 pins behind with a total of 1653. SUKMA XI Gold medalist, Clement Loh and Awang Mohd Sharil, both from Sabah, followed the leaders in third anf fourth with scores of 1568 and 1538 respectively.

Therese Vincent Sipaul of Sabah prevented a total Sarawak domination when she took a comfortable 130-pin lead from the rest of the pack with a total of 1573 followed by teammate and SUKMA XI Singles Gold medalist, Trish Khoo Wei Ling in second with 1443. Nor Rashidah and Jacqueline Jenelee, both from Sarawak finished third and fourth with 1427 and 1420 respectively.

The second block of 6 games will commence early Saturday morning, 24th June 2006, where the bowlers will contest for the top 8 Round-

robin matchplay semifinals. The top 4 at the end of the semifinals will make the cut for the Stepladder finals at noon time, 25th June 2006.

Story and photos by Maradona Chok, PTBS.

22nd June, K.Kinabalu: The Sukan Teras Under-12 trainees from Sarawak, Labuan Federal Territory and Sabah converged at CPS Bowl Thursday for a historic showdown in the inaugural Stars of Tomorrow East Malaysia.

Organized by CPS Bowl as a prelude to the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Sabah Leg from 23rd June to 25th June 2006, the initial idea of the tournament was to give the Under-12 a fun tournament where they can enjoy, have fun and get a taste of the "rivalry" among the East Malaysian states.

Sarawak had other ideas when an army of participants, parents invaded CPS Bowl. A total of 106 officials, parents and participants braved the long journey to Sabah. This shows the Sukan Teras programme which

included the under-12 kids is bearing fruits and thus creating a new breed of bowlers. Parents were also on hand to provide the support unseen in the past. Labuan FT as well sent a record of 10 Under-12 youths and 13 youths for the Junior Circuit.

A total of 32 boys, and 31 girls participated in the Stars of Tomorrow Under-12 Bowling Tournament. Although Sabah was playing host in the tournament, the roars of the Sarawak supporters were deafening, and the atmosphere of the competition was so intense that it was beyond words, even though the participants were pint-sized kids.

Sarawak youth, Mohd Taufik Mahmud from Kuching, emerged the champion in the boys division with a total of 705, tipping Sabah's favourite Ahmad Fawwaz Farhan by just 3 pins. Fawwaz completed his series of 4 games at 702 pinfalls. The Sarawak supporters went wild when Mohd Taufik finished with a 179 game in the last game to overtake Fawwaz, who managed only a 148 and dropping to second spot.

But that was nothing compared to the third and fourth place one-game roll-off when Sabah's Mohd Muzammil Zamree and Sarawak's Muhd Syafiq Sajeli tied their four-game series at 638. The one-game roll-off was called to break the tie, as both states supporters rallied behind their bowlers to give the one extra boost for the third spot.

Muhd Syafiq started the game with a jittery opening the first frame to Mohd Muzammil's spare, but it was all uphill after the first frame when Muzammil opened the second and third frames, while Syafiq managed a double strike in the third and fourth frames and not looking back since then to cruise to an easy 189-133 victory to take third spot.

In the girl's division, Sabah had regained some pride when Siti Aishatun Hussin brought glory back for the home crowd by emerging as the Champion with a 4-game series of 668. Jackelyn Ng from Kuching, Sarawak took second spot with a total of 616, followed by Farzana Ibrahim from Miri, Sarawak with 601.

CPS Bowl and Milo also sponsored lucky draw prizes for the contestants. Top prize being 2 bowling balls. The lucky draw was as intense to the kids as the competition itself as the organizers were surrounded by the kids waiting and hoping their names were called out as a winner. Mr. Jason Chong, Marketing Manager for Nestle Products (East Malaysia) was on hand to give away the prizes to the winners.

Story and photos by Maradona Chok, PTBS.