11th June, Seremban: Pahang youth, Rodson Tong had to work hard to capture the Boy's Open title of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MSSM Junior Circuit NS/Melaka leg while Nur Syakirah Yeoh claimed her second title of the year.

Third-seed, Rodson Tong captured his maiden title after he forced local lad and top-seed, Noor Afizal Azizan in a nail-bitting stepladder match. The champion tied at 179 in the first match and forced a sudden-death decider with ninth and tenth frame roll-off to break the tie winning by 40-39. In the final match, Noor Afizal had no answer to Tong's determination and went on to win convincingly, 224-181.

Tong earned a crack at the title when he ousted second-seed, Fahmi Bahri of Johor and fourth-seed, Eric Chai of Perak, 203-182-194 in the first stepladder tie. Eric Chai took third spot while PLN Klasik champion, Fahmi settled for fourth.

National youth and Asian Schools Team Gold medalist, Nur Syakirah Yeoh of Johor captured her second circuit title this year after she easily defeated challenger and Piala Remaja Milo Ranking Masters champion, Fatin Syazliana of Penang, 181-159 in the Girl's Open division.

Nur Syakirah had earlier topped the 8-game Round-Robin Matchplay semifinals with a score of 4328, improving from fourth in the quarterfinals yesterday. The two titles won this year will certainly boost her chance to be included into the youth squad for next year's Asian Youth Championship.

Fatin settled for second despite a convincing win over second-seed, Lina Marissa of Kedah and fourth-seed, Pang Shi Wan of Melaka, 212-152-189 in the first stepladder match. Pang took third place while Lina dropped to fourth overall.

Rising star, Cheryl Cheong of MSN/KL earned her third title this year after she survived a strong challenge from fourth-seed, Kiew Lai Eng of Perak in the Girl's Graded division. The champion lost the first match, 151-173 to Kiew but came back strongly for an easy win in the second match, 194-135.

Kiew had an easy path when she ousted second-seed, Siti Nazwa of Johor and fourth leg champion, Yap Wi Yin of Pyramid Youth, 187-138-123 to take a crack at the title. The champion proved too strong for her and had to be contented with a second place finish. Siti Nazwa and Yap ended up in third and fourth position.

Third leg second runner-up, Abdul Muhaimin of Perak captured the Boy's Graded division title when he easily defeated fourth-seed and challenger, Muhd Saman of Pahang, 198-151 in the final stepladder match.

Muhd Saman had earlier knocked out second-seed, Mohd Aziem Azemi of Pyramid Youth and third-seed, Mohd Alif B. Molok of Johor, 188-146-180 before going down to the champion in the final hurdle. Mohd Alif took third spot ahead of Mohd Aziem in fourth.

The next leg will be the Selangor leg which is scheduled from the 1st to 3rd July, 2005 at Pyramid Megalanes in Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya. This will be the final leg for bowlers to earn ranking points to qualify for this year's GP Finals on the 19th and 21st August, 2005.

Photos by Tay Li Neo, MTBC

10th June, Seremban: Tengku Ariff of Kedah and Fatin Syazliana of Penang took over the lead of the Boy's and Girl's Open division of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MSSM Junior Circuit sixth leg at the end of the quarterfinals this evening.

National youth, Tengku Ariff, who finished first runner-up in last week's PLN Klasik 2005 in Putrajaya, posted 1233 in the 6-game quarterfinal to add to his Round 1 score of 1681 to take over the lead in the Boy's Open division with a total of 2914.

Local lad, Noor Afizal Azizan, who was seventh overnight, moved up to second with 2887 while Round 1 leader, Alex Choo of Kedah, dropped to third after only managing 1096 in the quarterfinals for a 14-game total of 2824.

PLN Klasik champion, Fahmi Bahri of Johor and Perak's Eric Chai Seng Kiat shared fourth position with a similar score of 2815 followed by Rodson Tong of Pahang in sixth with 2774. Rafiq Azri Razali and Adrian Charles Dragon made up the top 8 to qualify for tomorrow's Round-Robin Matchplay semifinals in seventh and eighth positions with 2773 and 2771 respectively.

In the Girl's Open division, Fatin Syazliana of Penang also took over the lead with a 14-game total of 2724 from Round 1 and this evening's quarterfinals. Fatin, who had a six month layoff due to injury will be hoping to get back her form when she took two circuit titles last year.

National youth, Lina Marissa Zamri of Kedah, moved up from third to second with a total of 2653 with MSN-KL's Low Xin Pin in third with 2642. Round 1 leader and Asian Schools Team Gold medalist, Nur Syakirah Yeoh dropped to fourth with 2635.

Johara Johari (PEN-2568), Nor Atteya (PRK-2568), KL leg champion, Jerusha Chan (PAH-2553) and Pang Shi Wan (MEL-2547) all made cut for tomorrow's Round-Robin Matchplay semifinals from fifth to eighth positions.

Meanwhile, Round 1 leaders in the Girl's and Boy's Graded divisions, Sit Nazwa of Johor and See Yu-Boone of Penang, maintained their pole position at the end of the quarterfinals with 2631 and 2781 respectively to lead the field of 8 qualifiers for the semifinals.

The top 8 from the four divisions will play 8 games Round-Robin Matchplay semifinals at the end of which, the top 4 will make the cut for the stepladder grand finals to determine the NS/Melaka leg champion.

Photos by Tay Li Neo, MTBC.

9th June, Seremban: Johor leg third runner-up, Siti Nazwa Bte Mohd Sanap and Penang's See Yu-Boone led Round 1 of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MSSM Junior Circuit NS/Melaka leg at the end of 8 games this evening at Golded Bowl.

Siti Nazwa of Johor, who started with poor games of 179, 169 and 153, picked up her pace to knock down 221, 181, 220, 190 and 209 for a total of 1520 to lead by 47 pins in the Girl's Graded division after the first round of 8 games. Pyramid Youth's Siti Nur Harni and Melissa Lee Pui San could not keep up with the leader's pace and had to settle for second and third positions with 1473 and 1460.

Cheryl Cheong of MSN-KL, who was one of the recipients of the SportExcel Individual grant, finished fourth, just one pin from Lee on 1459 while local lass, Hazry Faizura took fifth spot with 1419.

High scores was witnessed at Golden Bowl this evening as leader See Yu-Boone and second-placed Muhd Saman Mohd Shuib, the only two to average above the 200-mark, finsihed in front of a field of 96 youths in the Boy's Graded division. See hung on to the led by just 19 pins with an 8-game total of 1633 from Muhd Saman on 1614.

Two Perak youths, Khairul Anwar Mohd Yusop settled for third spot with a total of 1580 followed by Abdul Muhaimin Khairuddin in fourth place with 1572. Melaka's Khoo Kim Yoon did well to stay with the leaders in fifth with 1563.

The top 28 girls and top 48 boys graded made the cut for Friday's quarterfinals when they will play another 6 games after the girls and boys Open contest their Round 1. At the end of the quarterfinals, the top 8 from both divisions will qualify for the 8-game Round-Robin matchplay semifinals.

Photos by Tay Li Neo, MTBC.