16th July, P.Jaya: Two top-seeded youths had to work hard in the deciding stepladder final matches to emerge victorious in the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Selangor Leg which ended at Pyramid Mega Lanes Sunday afternoon.

National youth, Fatin Syazliana of Penang lost the first match to challenger, and fourth-seed, Siti Nursyakila Mardyana of Megalanes Shah Alam, 155-215 and was forced into the sudden-death deciding match. But the first leg champion came back strongly to topple Siti Nursyakila, 191-165 to cap her second circuit title this year.

The champion, who won the first leg way back in March this year, only managed a third place finish in the fourth leg on home soil in Seberang Prai but bounced back with another well deserve victory.

Siti Nursyakila settled for second despite outclassing second-seed, Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil of Perak and third-seed, June Lim Wai Jun of Pahang, 248-187-162 before going down to Fatin. Nazrinnah dropped to third with Lim finising in fourth position.

In the Boy's Open division, third-seed, Syed Muzaffar Syed Mohsin had a more convincing victory when he took the first match to knock out second-seed, Aziem Azemi of Pyramid Youth and fourth-seed, Adrian Charles Dragon of Penang, 256-184-187 to challenge the top-seed.

Syed went on to set the lanes ablazed with another win over top-seed, Abdul Hadi Haris of Megalanes Shah Alam, 231-192 in the first title match and forcing Abdul Hadi into the decider. Syed brought home strikes after strikes to the delight of his supporters to romp home 274-192 to take his first win this year.

Abdul Hadi had to settle for second despite leading in all the three stages of this leg. The top-seed amassed a total of 4728 in the earlier 8-game round-robin semifinals, 37 pins ahead of Aziem in second with 4691, Syed in third with 2669 and Dragon fourth with 4653.

Meanwhile, Megalanes Shah Alam's Sharifah Nurfarhana and Kuala Lumpur's Faliq Aimran claimed their maiden win when both triumphed in the Girl's and Boy's Graded stepladder finals. Sharifah defeated challenger, Farah Izzazaya of Pahang, 200-193 for a well deserve victory after leading the quarterfinals and semifinals.

Farah finished second despite taking the first match to knock out second-seed, Syaidatul Afifah of Perak and third-seed, Dina Nurnadia of Selangor, 203-174-195.

Faliq Aimran earned a crack at the title after he edged top-seed, Chaim Zi Kuan of Johor, 195-182 in the first match. In the second match, Chaim could not keep up with the pace of Faliq going down, 170-220 to the champion.

Faliq had earlier knocked out third-seed, Xavier Ang of Kuala Lumpur and Tan Wei Bin of Johor, 225-188-185 before going all the way to the final match. The seventh and final leg will be held at Ampang Superbowl, Seremban on August 4th - 6th.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.

15th July, P.Jaya: Mega Lanes and Penang youths dominated the quarterfinals of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Selangor leg as Sharifah Nurfarhana, Abdul Hadi Haris and Fatin Syazliana topped Girl's Graded, Boy's and Girl's Open Saturday evening.

The 16-year-old SMK Bukit Jelutong student, Sharifah Nurfarhana posted 1103 in the 6-game quarterfinals to amassed 2601 over 14 games to take over the lead of the Girl's Graded division for tomorrow's matchplay round-robin finals. SUKMA XI All Events Gold medalist, Syaidatul Afifah of Perak moved up from sixth overnight to second with a total of 2592.

Stage 1 leader, Radin Nur Najwa of Kuala Lumpur, settled for third with 2535 after a weaker quarterfinal score of 1034. Dina Nurnadia (4th-

2529), Farah Izzazaya (5th-2490), Hee Kar Yen (6th-2481), Leisha Abdul Manan (7th-2480) and Nur Diana Hussin (8th-2471) qualified for the next round.

Meanwhile, the lead in the Boy's Graded division also changed hands as the SMK Seberang Jaya Form 5 student from Prai, Mohd Hafizi B Mohd Radzi Woo posted 1293 and a two blocks total of 2913 at the end of the quarterfinals played this morning.

Stage 1 leader, Tan Wei Bin of Johor dropped to third with 2874, 39 pins from Chaim Zi Kuan of Johor in second with 2897. Faliq Aimran (4th-2864), Xavier Ang (5th-2812), Muhammad Fazrin Khairul Faizi (6th-2806), Khoo Beng Khai (7th-2804) and Azer Azrin B Anuar (8th-2793) made the cut for the next round.

Making the cut for the Boy's Open division was a tougher affair as some of the youths with above-200 average missing the cut. Maintaining the top of the leaderboard was Stage 1 leader and national youth, Abdul Hadi Haris, who continued to scorch the lanes with 1235 in the quarterfinals to top the field with 3005.

Pyramid Youth's Mohd Aziem Azemi, who came close to overtaking the leader, settled for second with 2973 while national youth, Adiran Charles Dragon of Penang finished third with 2902.

Asian Schools Gold medalist and national youth, Fatin Syazliana of Penang, hung on to top the Girl's Open division by a single pin from Pahang's June Lim Wai Jun. Fatin totaled 2844 to Lim's 2843. SUKMA XI triple Gld medalist, Nazrinnah Bte Mohd Kamil maintain third place with 2775.

The top 8 from each of the four divisions moved into the matchplay round-robin finals to be played on Sunday morning. The top 4 at the end of the 8-game semifinals will proceed to the stepladder finals which will take place at 1.30pm.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.

15th July, P.Jaya: Asian Schools Gold medalist, Fatin Syazliana of Penang and Abdul Hadi Haris of Mega Lanes Shah Alam led the Girl's and Boy's Open Stage 1 of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Selangor Leg at Pyramid Mega Lanes Saturday morning.

Fatin, who got off to a good start winning the first leg in March but only managing a fourth and third place finish in the KL and Penang legs, displayed determination to cap another title by leading the Girl's Open Stage 1 with a total of 1673.

Penang leg runner-up, June Lim Wai Jun of Pahang, did well to finish second, 54 pins adrift with 1619 while SUKMA XI triple Gold medalist and national youth, Nazrinnah Bte Mohd Kamil of Perak took third spot with 1611. The top 3 were the only girls who managed to average above the 200 mark.

Current GP Finals ranked No. 1, Siti Nursyakilla Mardyana of Mega Lanes Shah Alam and SUKMA XI Silver medalist, Tengku Emanina Bte Tengku Zahari of Kedah completed the top 5 with 1568 and 1530 respectively.

National youth, Abdul Hadi Haris surprised the field after taking the lead in the Boy's Open division with a superb 1770 over the 8-game Stage 1. The leader's best showing this year was finishing fourth in the KL leg in May. Except for easing off in the final game with 158, Abdul Hadi's lines were 245, 254, 259, 213, 204, 225 and 217.

Penang's duo of Jason Yam and Adrian Charles Dragon trailed the leader in second and third with 1754 and 1680 with Muhammad Shahril Hafiz of Mega Lanes Shah Alam and Perak's Equine Lam making up the top 5 with 1662 and 1636.

Johor's Afiq Rifqi B Lahat Dadok and Mohamed Alif B Molok were the remaining two youths averaging above-200 mark finishing sixth and seventh with 1627 and 1609 respectively. The top 12 girls and top 16 boys made the cut for a further 6 games in the quarterfinals.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.

14th July, P.Jaya: Tan Wei Bin of Johor grabbed the overall lead after the Boy's Graded Squad B completed their 8 games Stage 1 of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Selangor leg at the end of Day 1 at Pyramid Mega Lanes.

The Form 5 student of SMK Paduka Tuan in Segamat blazed the lanes scoring all 8 games above 200 with lines of 243, 205, 213, 219, 213, 202, 222 and 215 for a superb 1732 total and an average of 216.50 to take over the lead in the Boy's Graded division.

"I've only managed to make the top 48 in the three legs that I've competed in my first year circuit," said the 17-year-old youth. "This time I've trained hard and I'm determined to make the top 8," added Tan who only needed 113 in his final game to take the lead.

Squad A leader, Chiam Zi Kuan, also from Johor, settled for second, 102 pins adrift with 1630 posted earlier in the day. Mohd Hafizi B Mohd Radzi Woo took third spot with 1620, a further 10 pins away.

Two Pyramid Youths, See Yu Boone and Syimir Abdul Razak made up the only top 5 youths surpassing the 200-mark average to take up fourth and fifth spots with 1605 and 1602 respectively. The top 48 made the cut for tomorrow's quarterfinals of another 6 games.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.

14th July, P.Jaya: Kuala Lumpur leg champion, Radin Nur Najwa looked set to capturing her second circuit title after topping the Girl's Graded Stage 1 of 8 games in the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit underway at Pyramid Mega Lanes.

The 13-year-old SMK Puteri Titiwangsa student, who nearly won her second consecutive in the fourth leg in Sebeang Prai in June but took second spot, led the field of 77 girls with a total of 1501. Radin, who trains with D'Zulkarnia Sapian at Bangsar Bowl under the Sekan Teras program posted lines of 207, 211, 162, 208, 165, 181, 164 and 203 for the lead.

Fifth leg runner-up, Sharifah Nurfarhana of Mega Lanes Kuala Lumpur, finished second with a score of 1498, just 3 pins adrift followed by Pyramid Youth's Hee Kar Yen in third spot with 1477.

Negeri Sembilan's Hurul Ainul Abu Razak and Dina Nurnadia of Selangor took fourth and fifth spots with 1452 and 1440. SUKMA XI All Events Gold medalist and double leg champion, Syaidatul Afifah of Perak finished sixth with 1423.

Meanwhile, Johor's Chiam Zi Kuan topped Squad A of the Boy's Graded division earlier in the morning with a score of 1630, just 10 pins ahead of Mohd Hafizi B Mohd Radzi Woo, who posted 1620. Shaun Sebastian Tan of Penang did well to stay with the leaders in third spot with 1580.

The 16-year-old Chaim, who is trained by John Liow in Johor Bahru, posted 170, 227, 177, 215, 243, 188, 224 and 186 to take the lead. This is his second competition in the junior circuit since joining the Sukan Teras program last year.

Kedah's Azer Azrin B Anuar, Perak's Teh Lit Qing and Kedah's Ahmad Muaz B Hond Fishol completed the top 6 from fourth to sixth positions with 1577, 1542 and 1536 respectively. Squad B of the Boy's Graded will start their Stage 1 shortly while the top 28 girls made the cut for the quarterfinals.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.