8th July, J.Bahru: National youths, Nazrinnah Bte Mohd Kamil of Perak and Rodson Tong of Pahang clinched their first title this year as they triumphed in the Girl's and Boy's Open stepladder finals of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Johor leg which ended Sunday afternoon.

Perak's Nazrinnah Bte Mohd Kamil, who led from Stage 1 through the end of the round-robin semifinals, lost the first stepladder match to third-seed and challenger, Tunku Haifaa Bte Tunku Osman of Pahang, 149-161 but bounched back to win her first title this year beating Tunku Haifaa, 189-169.

The national youth accummulated a total of 4177 pinfalls over 22 games, winning five of the eight matches played in the semifinals to move into the stepladder finals as top-seed. Tunku Haifaa, who finished

third, edged second-seed, Siti Nur Harini of Selangor and last leg champion and fourth-seed, Fatin Syazliana Bte Adi Nasution of Penang, 187-183-184 to face the champion.

Meanwhile, top-seed Muhammad Fazrin Khairul Faizi of Perak, was denied his third title this year after he was defeated by second-seed, Rodson Tong of Pahang in both matches. Rodson forced Muhammad Fazrin into the sudden-death decider after he taking the first match, 218-204 and went on to clinch the title in the second match, 181-159.

Despite leading all the way from the start and accummlating a total of 4661 to finish 136 pins ahead of Rodson, Muhammad Fazrin settled for second spot.

The champion earned a crack at the title after he outclassed third-seed, Muhammad Saman Mohd Shuib of Pahang and fourth-seed, Tengku Afnan B Tg Zahri of Kedah, 224-176-157 in the first stepladder match.

The 15-year-old SMK Assunta Form 4 pupil has gone from strength to strength and displaying great promise as she led from start to finish. The champion amassed a total of 4033 over the 8-games round-robin semifinals and the earlier rounds of 14 games to reach the stepladder finals as top-seed.

Nastasya settled for second despite knocking out third-seed, Nazira Nasir of Pahang and fourth-seed, Nur Diana Hussin of Kuala Lumpur, 182-173-150 in the first Girl's Under-16 stepladder finals match. The junior circuit next stop will be at Pyramid Mega Lanes in Selangor on the 27th July.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo.

7th July, J.Bahru: Perak youths continue to dominate the quarterfinals of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Johor leg as Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil and twice champion, Muhammad Fazrin Khairul Faizi topped Girl's and Boy's Open divisions at Ampang Superbowl Johor.

Stage 1 leader and national youth, Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil was on fire as the girls took to the lanes for their 6-game quarterfinals. Despite a poor start on 158 in the opening game, the 17-year-old Perak girl recovered slightly and maintain her pace throughout the next four games.

Although ending the block with 165, the lead Nazrinnah built up yesterday in Stage 1 was sufficient for her to retain the lead with 2649. Twice champion, Fatin Syazliana Bte Adi Nasution of Penang improved from third overnight to take up second spot with 2577 followed by Tunku Haifaa of Pahang took third spot with 2546.

Nur Alyany Bte Lahat Dadok of Johor dropped from second to fourth on 2535 while Siti Nur Harini of Selangor, Siti Nazwa Bt Md Sanap of Johor, Diyana Zuhaili of Penang and Nicole Teong Sze Mun making the semifinals from fifth to eighth positions.

Twice winner and last leg champion, Muhammad Fazrin Khairul Faizi of Perak continued to show a clear pairs of heels to his opponents romping home a confortable 157 pins margin after the qaurterfinals on 3017.

National youth, Rodson Tong of Pahang improved from fourth to finish second with 2860 with Muhd Saman Mohd Shuib, also of Pahang in third with 2765. Equine Lam Wai Lik of Perak, who was second in Stage 1, dropped to fourth with 2761.

Chang Sean Der of Kuala Lumpur, Tengku Afnan Tg Zahri of Kedah, Abdul Muhaimin of Perak and Mohd Hanif Bakri of Pahang competed the top 8 to make the semifinals from fifth to eighth positions respectively.

Stage 1 leader, Yusof Abd Raof of Kuala Lumpur maintain his lead in the Boy's Under-16 division after the quarterfinals with 2779 but saw his lead of 215 pins reduced to just 52 pins. Twice champion and current leader in the GP Rankings, Chan Wei Siang of Johor, finished second with 2727 with Tan Siong Lin of Melaka settling for third with 2679.

Pyramid Youth's Hee Kar Yen continued to lead the Girl's Under-16 with a total of 2528 and looked set for another crown. Nastasya Adam of Kuala Lumpur also retained her second position with 2468 while Nazira Nasir improved from fifth to third with 2459.

The top 8 from each of the four divisions will contest the round-robin matchplay semifinals tomorrow (8th July) and the top 4 at the end of the semifinals will make the cut for the stepladder finals.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo.

7th July, J.Bahru: Last leg champion and winner of two legs this year, Muhammad Fazrin B Khairul Faizi outclassed a field of 41 youths to lead the Boy's Open Stage 1 of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junir Circuit Johor leg this morning.

Muhammad Fazrin, of SMK Gunong Rapat Pusat Sukan Negeri in Ipoh, set a cracking pace with back-to-back 236 with fellow Perak youth, Mohammad Khushairi Basha hot on his heels posting 262 and 204 to trail by 6 pins. Both suffered low games in the third with Fazrin managing 157 and Khushairi 163 to level at 629 after 3 games.

Despite Fazrin posting 214 in his fourth game, the 15-year-old lost the lead to Equine Lam on 862 to Fazrin's 843 at the halfway mark. Determined not to regain the lead, Fazrin then fired all cylinders to bring home 228, 247, 216 and 231 to end Stage 1 in the lead with 1765.

Equine Lam settled for second, 141 pins adrift on a total of 1624 followed by national youth, Rodson Tong of Pahang, third a further 20 pins away on 1604. Muhammad Saman Mohd Shuib of Pahang and Mohamad Hanif Bakri rounded up the top 5 while pace-setter, Khushairi only managed a seventh place finish.

Last start champion and winner of two legs this year, Fatin Syazliana Bte Adi Nasution of Penang, set the tone for the Girl's Open division as she surged ahead to take a 16 pins lead after 3 games but lost the lead in the next game to Johor's Dhira Marzuki.

While Dhira held the lead after 5 games, a poor 132 from the Johorean saw national youth, Nazrinnah Bte Mohd Kamil grabbing the lead after a high game of 244 in the sixth game. Nazrinnah ended the round with 205 and 200 in her final two games to top the division with 1567.

Nur Alyany Bte Lahat Dadok of Johor snatched second spot with a strong finish for a total of 1507 while Fatin Syazliana settled for third spot with 1497. Selangor's Siti Nur Harini and Pahang's Tunku Haifaa completed the top 5. The top 16 Boy's and Girl's Open made the cut for the quarterfinals.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo

6th July, J.Bahru: Hee Kar Yen of Pyramid Youth and winner of three legs this season, looked set for her fourth title as she easily led Stage 1 of the Girl's Under-16 of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Johor leg underway at Ampang Superbowl.

Apart from a slow start in the opening game, the 16-year-old Hee Kar Yen recovered in the second game with 220 to trail Kuala Lumpur's Nastasya Adam and Nur Liyana Bte Abd Halim of Johor in fifth spot. The winner of 3 legs just got not get her rythmn going and suffered another low game of 149 in the fourth.

Hee bounced back with 202 in the fifth and then went on to just post moderate games of 185, 188 and 181 while the rest of the leaders' games did not event reach 180. Hee was able to overtake her opponents to finish in front with 1474.

Nastasya Adam settled for second with 1458, 16 pins adrift but ahead of Tengku Aimi Laily of Kedah, who took third spot with 1408. Kuala Lumpur's Radin Nur Najwa and Pahang's Nazira Bte Nasir rounded up the top 5 with 1406 and 1399 respectively.

In the Boy's Under-16 division, Kuala Lumpur's Yusof Abdul Raof, who trains in Putrajaya, was a class above the rest as he romphed a clear leader with 1793 with all 8 games above the 200-mark. His impressive average of 224.13 gave him a confortable 215 pins ahead of his nearest rival.

Shin Chern Yew of Perak. finished a distant second with 1578, just 4 pins ahead of Mohammad Isham of Kuala Lumpur, who settled for third spot with 1574. Two more Kuala Lumpur youths, Radin Mohd Rafiqquzman and Muhammad Farhan B Rahmat completed the top 5 with 1563 and 1558.

Meanwhile 5 local Johor youths completed the Girl's Open Stage 1 which saw Nur Alyany Bte Lahat Dadok leading with 1507 followed by Siti Nazwa Bte Mohd Sanap and Dhira Markuzi in second and third on 1460 and 1413.

Girl's Open from other states will commence their Stage 1 later while the Boy's Open will take to the lanes for their Stage 1 tomorrow morning.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo.