13th July, Seremban: Four youths, Mohd Firdaus, Yusuf Abdul Raof, Tengku Aimi Laily and Sonia Teoh took their maiden victories in the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit sixth leg which concluded at Ampang Superbowl Seremban on Sunday afternoon.

SUKMA Singles gold medalist, Yusuf Abdul Raof, who finished third in Round 2 despite leading the first round, defeated fifth seed, Ahmad Amiruddin of Selangor, 379-340 over the two games total pinfall stepadder finals.

Yusuf edged Ahmad 182-174 in the first match and won the second match comfortably, 197-166 to take his first-ever junior circuit title. The KL youth's best performance in this year's circuit was a fourth place finish in the second leg in the Penang/Kedah stop.

The 16-year-old reached the finals by knocking out second seed and KL's Faliq Aimran, 392-333 in the semi. The KL youth edged sixth seed, Ros Qusyairi of Neger Sembilan, 407-402 to book his semi-final spot earlier.

SUKMA Team gold medalist, Tengku Aimi Laily Bt Tengku Zahri of Kedah, over turned all odds to captured her first-ever Junior Circuit title after defeating Selangor's Nadya Izzati Bt Noor Azman, 412-372 in the final title match.

Tengku Aimi upstaged topseed, Hurul Ainul Abd Razak of Negeri Sembilan, 401-345 in the quater-finals before going on to beat Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil of Perak, 404-389 in the semi-finals to face Nadya Izzati.

Pint-sized, Mohd Firdaus B Idris of KL also claimed his first-ever Boy's Graded Junior Circuit title when he denied fifth-seed and local youth, Mohd Shahir Surni a home victory with 428-366 in the finals.

Firdaus, who finished sixth in Round 2, edged third-seed, Muhd Amiral B Che Mat of Kedah, 437-432 in the quarter-finals and then topseed, Muhd Mizan Abd Rahman of Johor, 417-403 in the semi to have a crack at the title.

Meanwhile, Melaka's Sonia Teoh has secured a place in the GP Finals with a maiden victory in the Girl's Graded by defeating favourite, Norsyazana Rusli, 326(+9)-326(+7). Sonia lost the first game to the topseed, 144-161 but rebounded with a 182-165 win over her opponent in the second match to tie the match at 326 each.

The Melaka youth shot 9 pins in the ninth and tenth frame tie-breaker but failed to spare so did Norsyazana after she shot 7 pins and missing the spare to hand the title to Sonia. The champion beat sixth-seed, Farah Ain Diyana of Negeri Sembilan, 351-337 in the quarter-finals and second-seed, Sharifah Marissa of Selangor, 353-338 in the semi.

The Sarawak leg will be staged this weekend from July 17-20 and the seventh and final leg in KL on August 1-3 at Mega Lanes Endah Parade.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo.

12th July, Seremban: Local youth, Hurul Ainul Abu Razak of Negeri Sembilan, snatched pole position of the Girl's Open division to move into the quarter-finals of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit sixth leg as KL's Mohd Amirrul Afif finished as topseed in the boy's division.

Hurul Ainul needed a good finish in order to make the GP Finals after having only competed in one previous leg when she took pole position in the Girl's Open division round 2 with a 14-game total of 2838.

Ex-national youth, Nazrinnah Mohd Kamil of Perak, who made most of the running and having led in round 1, settled for second with 2794 followed by SUKMA Masters gold medalist, Cheryl Cheong Pui Yee of Kuala Lumpur in third with 2781.

Third-ranked in the GP Finals standings, Nadya Izzati Bt Noor Azman of Selangor, who was second overnight, dropped to fourth with 2707 with Nur Diana Hussin of KL in fifth spot with 2707.

SUKMA Team gold medalist, Tengku Aimi Laily Bt Tengku Zahri of Kedah squeezed into the quarter-finals in eith position with an average of 187.43 behind SUKMA Singles gold medalist, Farah Izzazaya of Pahang and Radin Nur Najwa of KL sixth and seventh spots.

KL's Mohd Amirrul Afif took over the lead from SUKMA Singles gold medalist, Yusuf Abdul Raof of KL after the eighth game and went on to end the second round in the lead with a scintillating 3118.

Faliq Aimran finish second and first round leader, Yusuf third to give KL the top 3 positions. Faliq knocked down 3080 whilst Yusuf posted 3005. Nearest challenger was Mohd Hanif B Mohd Bakri of Pahang taking up fourth spot with 2847.

The fourth KL youth to qualify for the knockout quarter-finals was Mohd Isham B Idri finishing eighth position with an average of 196.21. The top 8 girls and top 8 boys advanced into the next stage.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo.

12th July, Seremban: Round 1 leader, Norsyazana Rusli of Perak sailed through into the knockout stage of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit sixth leg by topping the Girl's Graded division while Johor's Muhd Mizan B Adb Rahman clinched pole in the boy's division.

As the top 28 qualifiers from the first round to to the lanes at Ampang Superbowl at Seremban Parade, there was no stopping the Perak youth, Norsyazana Rusli as she cruised to a comfortable end with a 14-game grand total of 2641.

Norsyazana, who led in yesterday's round 1 with 1562 and a hugh margin of 154, posted 1079 to give the Perak youngster a margin of 131. Selangor's Sharifah Marissa was the biggest mover, rising from a lowly 14th overnight to claimed second spot with 2510 after a superb 1151 second block.

Sonia Teoh, who has yet to win a junior circuit title, also made up grounds from sixth to take up third spot with 2488. Farhana Amelia (KUL-2475), Ainna Khairina (PRK-2472), Farah Ain Diyana Zahari (NSE-2458), Zati Iman Zainudin (NSE-2456) and Nur Shamira (KUL-2448) made the top 8 quater-finals cut.

Meanwhile, first leg champion, Muhd Mizan B Abd Rahman of Johor, clinched pole position from his last two games with a grand total of 2921 after losing the lead briefly in the tenth game. Team-mate, Syed Mohd Hafiz improved from fourth in the first block to finish second with 2918.

Muhd Amirul B Che Mat of Kedah, who was Mizan's main challenger and who led in game 10, settled for third spot with 2889 followed by Azry Haziq B Mohd Yusuf of Selangor in fourth position with 2816.

Perak's Aiman Syahin B Abd Malek made the top 8 cut for the knockout quarter-finals with an average of 196.43 on a total of 2750. Aiman finished behind Adee Bahry (KED-7th), Mohd Firdaus B Idri (KUL-6th) and Mohd Shahir Surni (NSE-5th).

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo.