20th July, Kuching: Sarawak youths swept all the four titles at stake in the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Sarawak leg just concluded simultaneously at Riverside Superbowl and Crystal Bowl in Sunday afternoon.

2007 Singapore Open youth champion, Chong Jun Foo, who was seeded fourth, defeated topseed and favourite, Azreen Khasful of Kota Kinabalu, 363-331 in the title matches to clinch the Boy's Open crown.

Chong took the first game, 183-146 and despite narrowly losing the second game, 180-185, the 37 pins margin he had built up in the first game was enough to cushion off the defeat in the second game.

The champion reached the finals by easily knocking out SUKMA Team gold medalist, Tan Chien Nan of Kota Kinabalu, 351-283 in the second semi-finals while Azreen edged sixth-seed, Nazrin Wagiman of Kuching, 344-332 in the first semi.

Topseed, Dayang Aida narrowly defeated challenger, Syazwani Bte Sajeli in an all-Kuching finals, 377-372 to claim her first-ever Girl's Open title. Aida edged Syazwani, 187-182 in the first and tied 190 in the second but her higher total pinfalls gave her the victory.

Aida advanced to the finals by ousting fifth-seed, Nabilah Kassim of KK, 366-333 in the first semi-finals while the runnerup, Syazwani took out second-seed, Siti Aishajan of KK, 367-341 in the other semi to make the finals.

The champion knocked out eighth-seed, Natalie Braoh of Kuching, 335-301 in the earlier quarter-finals before going all the way to give Sarawak the double victory in the open division.

While his elder brother failed to win the Boy's Open title, Azril Fakhree was also disappointed after he lost to challenger, Abg Nazreen of Kuching, 328-362 in the Boy's Graded title match.

The topseed narrowly lost the first game, 179-181 and could find his momentum in the second to go down, 149-181 to give Kuching their third title on home soil. Abg Nazreen, who was seeded second beat fourth-seed, Akmal Fikri of Kuching, 376-295 to advance to the finals.

Meanwhile, Farzana Ibrahim of Miri, clinched her first-ever title by defeating third-seed, Siti Farahain of KK, 363-341 in the finals. It was like a fiary-tale come true as the eight-seed edged topseed, Najihah Deli of Kuching, 314-313 to advance to the semi-finals.

Farzana then took out second-seed, Nurul Ashikeen of KK, 347-330 to earn a crack at the title. The champion built up a 29 pins margin when she won the first game, 194-165 during the match against Siti Farahain and despite narrowly losing the second match 169-176, she was able to take the crown.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo, MTBC and Robert Lu, ABAS.

19th July, Kuching: Stage 1 leader, Azreen Khasful Khainih sailed through to the knockout rounds of the SportExecl-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Sarawak leg as topseed in the second stage contested at Riverside Superbowl.

Azreen shot a lowly 164 in his opening game in stage 2 allowing local favourite, Bong Kihow to narrow the gap from 65 to 48 pins but the Sabah youth recovered with two better games of 211 and 203 to take a breather.

Another low game of 148 by the leader gave SUKMA Games Team gold medalist, Tan Chien Nan a sniff at pole when the latter moved up to second with only 29 pins separating the duo. With determination of a champion, Azreen fought on galantly to reel 199 and 201 to end the block with a score of 1126.

Adding his 1741 score in the first block, Azreen amassed a 14-game total of 2867 to move into the knockout stage as topseed. Tan settled for second with 2839, just 28 pins adrift while Sunny Lee stormed home to snatch third spot with 2826.

Local youth Dayang Aida claimed pole position in the Girl's Open division with a total of 2581 ahead of pace-setter, Siti Aishajan of Sabah in second with 2570. Overnight leader, Syazwani Bte Sajeli of Kuching finished third with 2551.

The top 8 from both the divisions moved into the knockout stage tomorrow with the topseed versus the lowest seed, the second versus the second lowest seed in a two-game total pinfalls.

Meanwhile, Azreen's younger brother, Azril Fakhree gave their proud parents something to cherish as he claimed top spot in the Boy's Graded division after totaling 2680. Azril, who bowled in Squad C to lead in Stage 1 with 1595 and 1085 in today's second stage, finished 35 pins ahead of Abg Nazreen of Kuching.

Ahmad Fawwaz of Kota Kinabalu finished third with 2623, a further 22 pins adrift. Five Kuching youths, Akmal Fikri (4th-2610), Jeremy Jerome (5th-2498), Daniel Tan (6th-2491), Mohd Khalid (7th-2486) and Abg Afiq (8th-2474) all advanced into the knockout stage.

Topseed for the Girl's Graded division went to Najihah Deli of Kuching on a 14-game total of 2436. Nurul Ashikeen of Kota Kinabalu and stage 1 leader, Siti Farahain finished second and third with 2374 and 2370 respectively.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo, MTBC.

18th July, Kuching: Newcomers, Syazwani Bte Sajeli of Kuching and Azreen Khasful Khainih of Sabah took top spots in the Girl's and Boy's Open Stage 1 of SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Sarawak leg at Riverside Superbowl on Friday evening.

In just a field of nine youth girls open, Syazwani Bte Sajeli chalked up an 8-game total of 1456 to take pole position. Two Sabah youths, Siti Aishajan and Michelle Jauw finished a close second and third with 1433 and 1420.

Dayan Aida of Kuching and Nabilah Kassim of Sabah took fourth and fifth placings with totals of 1366 and 1363 while Qurratu' Aini Khan, Nurdaridza Amran and Natalie Braoh Weissgerber rounded up the top 8.

Sabah's Azreen Khasful Khainih stole the Day 1 limelight as he blizted the lanes at Riverside Superbowl with lines of 214, 191, 247, 222, 217, 244, 203 and 203 to end the Boy's Open Stage 1 in the lead.

Azreen's incredible total of 1741 on an average of 217.63 put him firmly in the box seat for the next round. He led SUKMA Team gold medalist and fellow Sabahan, Tan Chien Nan, who posted 1676 for second spot.

Local favourite, Bong Kihow of Kuching settled for third spot on 1626 with Chong Jun Foo and Sunny Lee finishing fourth and fifth spots on totals of 1600 and 1559. Mohd Ozzer of Sabah, Nazrin Wagiman of Kuching and Haswan B. Hasni making up the top 8.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo, MTBC.

17th July, Kuching: Sabah youths, Steffira Zeandea Greater cruised to a comfortable victory in the Stars of Tomorrow Girl's Under-12 finals of the SportExcel-NSC-Milo-MTBC Junior Circuit Sarawak leg while Ahmad Azraei snatched the boy's crown to give Sabah a clean sweep.

The 2nd and last leg of the East Malaysia circuit began today in Riverside Superbowl where 43 boys and 34 girls fought for the top 4 spots in the Boy's and Girl's Under-12 categories. The bowlers bowled a total of 8 games over 2 blocks of 4 games each.

Steffira led from start to finish to win Girl's Under-12 crown with a total of 1438, 158 pins ahead of her nearest rival. The Sabahan also won the Sabah leg in June and will put her in pole position for the Grand Prix Finals in August.

"I'm very happy with my performance today," said the Standard 6 pupil from SK St. Joseph, Penapang who has been bowling for 4 years and currently train 3 times a week under coach, Ricky Loh. She also won 2 gold medals at the recent MSSM Under-12 Championship in Perak and idolizes Esther Cheah.

Nur Zahikah Bte Zamree of Sabah, who was battling for second with Nicole Tan Yan Han of Kuching while trailing the leader, settled for the silver medal with 1280. Nicole took home the bronze with 1244.

The Under-12 Boy's gold went to Ahmad Azraie of Sabah posting 1328 which was lower than the 8-game total scored by Steffira. The Sabahan was trading the lead with his fellow compatriot, Ahamd Fawwaz Farhan Abdullah in the second block, snatched the victory in the final game with 172 to Fawwaz's 129.

"I'm very happy!" said Azraie who is from SK Tanjung Aru, Kota Kinabalu. During the MSSM Under-12 Championships in Perak, he helped his team win a Bronze Medal in the Team event. Second and third place went to Fawwaz from Sabah and Christopher Tiong from Sibu with a total of 1313 and 1295 respectively.

Pace-setter, Joshua Joel Jonathan and Abd Afiq Syazani, both of Kuching, rounded up the top 5 with 1264 and 1263. The Graded and Open division youths will contest their 8-game Stage 1 rounds tomorrow.

Photos by Ms Tay Li Neo, MTBC.