3rd April, S.Prai: Local favourite youth, Irene Lee ended the second leg of the SportExecl-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Penang/Kedah with an easy win to capture the Girl's Open crown while Syed Muzzafar of Pahang took the Boy's Open title.

Lee, who led from start to finish, defeated fellow Penangnite Fatin Syazliana, 187-171 in the stepladder match to claim the Girl's Open crown at Mega Lanes Seberang Prai. Third-seeded, Fatin had to settle for second despite ousting second-seeded, Low Xin Pin of MSN/K.Lumpur and fourth-seeded, Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil of Perak 219-198-166 in the first match.

Low ended up in third with Nazrinnah remaining in fourth place. The champion had finished top-seeded at the end of the 8-games round-robin finals played earlier in the morning with a total 4283 from scores

carried forward from Stage 1 and the quarter finals. Low was second with a total of 4106 ahead of Fatin Syazliana and Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil third and fourth with 3972 and 3895 respectively.

Meanwhile, last leg runner-up, Syed Muzzafar of Pahang had to work hard to bag the Boy's Open title after defeating third-seeded and challenger, Aliff Ahmad of Sekolah Sukan Bandar Penawar, Johor, in the deciding second stepladder game, 190-183. Muzzafar lost the first game, 182-245 before turning the table in his favour.

Third-seeded, Aliff was equally impressive when he ousted first leg champion, Khairul Hadfiz of MSN Kedah and fourth-seeded, Afiq Rifqi Lahat Datok of Johor, 226-182-170 in the first match and almost snatch the title from the champion, Muzzafar.

Muzzafar also topped the round-robin finals earlier with a total score of 4627, just 2 pins ahead of Khairul Hadfiz, who accummulated 4625. Aliff Ahmad and Afiq Rifqi had made the stepladder finals in third and fourth with 4388 and 4367.

The Girl's and Boy's Graded titles went to Bettina Tan of Pyramid Youth team and Muhd Zakwan of Perak. Tan, who led in all the three stages including the round-robin finals, defeated third-seeded and challenger, Charmaine Ho of MSN Kuala Lumpur, 174-156 to claim her first-ever title. Ho ended up as runner-up despite knocking out second-seeded, Melissa Lee of Pyramid Youth and fourth-seeded, Siti Nur Nadia of Penang, 202-183-163 in the first stepladder match.

Stage 1 leader, Muhd Zakwan snatched the Boy's Graded title from top-seeded, Ng Wee Kiat of Melaka after taking the deciding match, 199-190. Zakwan had forced Ng to a sudden-death decider with a first game win of 178-169.

A total of 192 youths participated in the second leg made up 49 Girls

Graded, 92 Boys Graded, 18 Girls Open and 33 Boys Open categories. The third leg of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junor Circuit will be held at the new Megalanes Kuala Lumpur in Endah Parade, Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur from the 15-17 April, 2005.

Photos by B.C. Cheah, PTBPP

2nd April, S.Prai: First leg champion, Khairul Hadfiz of Kedah took over the lead at the end of the Boy's Open quarter finals of th Sportexcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit second leg at Megalanes Seberang Prai this evening.

The 18 year-old MSN Kedah youth, who finished second earlier in Stage I, set the lanes at Megalanes Seberang Pri on fire when he posted 245, 246, 180, 198, 187 and 216 to take over the lead by a comfortable margin of 83 pins.

Nicknamed "Smiley" by his coaches, Khairul totalled 1272 in the 6-games quarter finals for a 14-game total of 2938. Stage I leader, Afiq Rifqi of Johor settled for second with a total of 2855 while Pahang's Syed Muzzafar improved from fifth earlier to third with 2801.

Penang youths dominated the Boy's Graded division when Kelvin Tan Ing Ghee and Jason Yam Khai Dong finished 1-2 in the quarter finals. Tan totalled 2667 while Yam recorded a total of 2659. Melaka's Ng Wee Kiat maintained third with 2622.

In the girl's division, local favourite, Irene Lee maintained the lead at the end of the quarter finals with 2628, 61 pins ahead of MSN Kuala Lumpur's Low Xin Pin with 2567. The southpaw improved from fourth earlier while Perak's Nazrinnah Bte Mohd Kamil remained in third spot with 2546.

Another Penangnite, Fatin Syazliana also moved up one notch from fifth to fourth on a total of 2498 followed by Aressa Malenie of Negeri Sembilan in fifth with 2459.

Stage I leader, Bettina Tan of Pyramid Youth continued to lead the Girl's Graded divison at the end of the quarter finals. Tan amassed 2447 over 14 games to lead from MSN Kedah's Fatin Akhalili in second with 2363. Siti Nur Nadia of Penang finished third with 2357.

The top 8 from each of the four divisions made the cut for tomorrow's round-robin semifinals over 7 games and one position-round match before the top 6 in each division qualifying for the stepladder grand finals.

Photos by B.C. Cheah, PTBPP.

2nd April, S.Prai: Johor's Afiq Rifqi and local youth, Irene Lee topped the Boy's and Girl's Open Stage I of the Sportexcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit second leg at Megalanes Seberang Prai this morning.

Afiq had lines of 197, 170, 189, 205, 241, 248, 211 and 214 for a total of 1675 to take the lead at the end of the 8-games Stage I. First leg champion, Khairul Hadfiz of MSN/Kedah trailed only by 9 pins in second with 1666.

Third spot went to SSBP Johor's Aliff B Ahmad with a total of 1538. Last start stepladder finalists, Alex Choo of MSN/Kedah and Syed Muzzafar of Pahang made up the top 5 in fourth and fifth with 1532 and 1484 respectively.

In the Boy's Graded division played Friday evening, Mohd Zakwan of Perak topped the field of 92 bowlers with a total of 1501, 23 pins ahead of second placed, Kelvin Tan Ing Ghee with 1478 while Melaka's Ng Wee Kiat finished third with 1475.

Local favourite, Irene Lee of Penang led the Girl's Open division Stage I with a total score of 1551. Lee had lines of 235, 147, 161, 221, 221, 168, 205 and 193 to lead by a comfortable 58 pins margin over Aressa Malenie of Negeri Sembilan, who totalled 1493.

Third spot went to 18th Interstate two silver medalist, Nazrinnah Bte Mohd Kamil of Perak with 1477 followed by MSN Kuala Lumpur's southpaw, Low Xin Pin in fourth position with 1473.

The lead of the Girl's Graded went to Pyramid Youth from Kuala Lumpur, Bettina Tan with a scoreline of 1359 played Friday evening. Tan topped the field of 49 youths from MSSM 2005 triple Gold medalist, Fatin Akhalili of MSN Kedah in second with 1341 and Charmaine Ho of MSN Kuala Lumpur in third with 1310.

The top 16 Boy's Open, top 12 Girl's Open, top 48 Boy's Graded and top 28 Girl's Graded division made the cut for another 6 games in the quarter finals to be contested later today.

Photos by B.C. Cheah, PTBPP.