26th May, Hong Kong: Japan emerged as overall champion as Misaki Mukotani won her third individual gold and Japan's sixth in the 11th Asian Schools Tenpin Bowling Championship with victory in the Girl's Masters finals.

Gold medalist in the Singles and All Events, Misaki Mukotani hauled herself up from fourth overnight in the first block to finish second in a bid to capture her third gold medal of the championship.

And she did not disappoint her coach, Yoshiyuki Arai by winning her third gold and Japan's sixth in the championship. The 17-year-old Itsandong High School student easily defeated Australia's Rebecca Whiting 211-181 in the first stepladder match to advance into the championship round.

Misaki set a cracking pace in the first game with seven strikes in a row to take a massive lead leaving her opponent and topseed, Sim Ui Jin of Korea little chance to mount a serious challenge.

Misaki took an 18-pin lead and the match, 242-224 in the two-game total pinfalls title match to set up a grand finale. The Japanese rookie sealed the victory with another superb display of maturity 219-206 and 461-430 total.

"Competing in my first Asian Schools championship is already quite an achievement for me and to win three gold and a silver medal is simply amazing," exclaimed the delighted Misaki. "I'm also very happy that Japan emerged as champion."

Sim settled for the silver medal while another rookie, Rebecca took home the bronze medal. "The atmosphere and intensity of this championship is fantastic, nothing I've ever seen or participated," said Rebecca Whiting, who trains with Wayne Parlby back in Melbourne.

"I only spent two hours with Rebecca after the roll-off to select the team for this championship and as a debutant, she has done extremely well," said coach Chris Batson. "We didn't really have much time to prepare but I'm impressed by their performances.

Meanwhile, in the all-Korean title match, third-seed, Lim Dong Sung outclassed topseed and fellow compatriot, Park Jong Woo, 440-345 over two matches to give Korea their second gold medal.

Lim, who was second in the first block, easily took the first match, 219-169 and cruised to a 221-185 in the second match to win his first medal of the championship. Lim edged second-seed, Diasuke Yoshida, 243-235 to set up the match with Park.

Park settled for the silver medal while Yoshida took home the bronze medal after winning the Team gold yesterday and two silver medals in the Doubles and All Events.

Japan emerged as overall champion with a convincing medal haul of 6-3-2 with Korea 1-4-3. The gold medal won in the Masters did not count toward the overall tally as it came from Lim Dong Sung from Korea's B team.

Philippines finished third with 1-1-2. The final gold medal went to Australia when they clinched the Team gold yesterday againsts favourites Japan and Korea. Fifteen boys team and 10 girls team from 10 countries participated in this year's championship.

25th May, Hong Kong: Korean youths dominated the first block Masters finals of the 11th Asian Schools Tenpin Bowling Championship to take up the top two positions of the Boy's and Girl's divisions on Monday afternoon.

All Events bronze medalist, Muhd Amirrul Afif of Malaysia set a cracking pace in the opening game of the 8-game first block Boy's Masters finals with 269 beating team-mate, Bong Kihow to earn the 10 pins bonus but just 1 pin ahead of Korea's Lim Dong Sung.

An aweful second game of 166 saw the Malaysian falling down the field as Lim surged ahead into the lead with another superb 257. But his lead was short-lived as fellow-compatriot, Park Jong Woo took over the running at the halfway mark, 40 pins ahead of Aussie Sam Cooley in hot pursuit.

A sizzling 268 and 243 in the next two games gave the All Events silver medalist, Daisuke Yoshida of Japan the lead, 21 pins ahead of Park.

Lim regained the lead after shooting a strong game of 277 in the seventh game as Park maintained second spot and narrowing the margin to just 16 pins. Park ended much stronger of the duo to take top spot with 1975.

Lim gave Korea a 1-2 finish taking up second spot with 1967 just 8 pins behind while Yoshida settled for third with 1901.

"The field is very strong and there are many good bowlers here," said the 19-year-old Kyung Dock High School student from Seoul, Park Jong Woo. Park started bowling 9 years ago under coach James Kim and won the Milo Junior All Stars Boy's Graded title in 2005 when he was just 14.

Aussie Sam Cooley and Hong Kong's wonder boy, Michael Mak rounded up the top 5 just one pin separating the two on 1824 and 1823 respectively.

Meanwhile, Korea's second team member, Han Kyeo Rae snatched the lead of the Girl's Masters finals with 1846 winning five of the 8 games played. Doubles gold medalist, Sim Ui Jin of Korean team 1 gave Korea a 1-2 finish with 1820, 26 pins off her team-mate.

Team gold medalist, Rebecca Whiting of Australia, who led the field at the halfway mark, posted a poor 169 in the final game to settle for third spot with 1813, a further 7 pins away.

"This is my first Asian Schools championship and also my first international tournament and I'm so surprise to lead the first block," said the 18-year-old Kyeong Ki Girls High School student in Seoul. "I've not won anything yet after taking up the sport 3 years ago and it would be nice to take home a medal.

Two gold medalist, Misaki Mukotani of Japan, who got off the blocks poorly, recovered to finish a creditable fourth with 1807 followed by Filipina, Kimberly Lao completing the top 5 with 1766.

The finalists will bowl another 7 games plus a position round tomorrow where the top 3 will advance into the stepladder finals for the final two gold medals. Japan will most likely win the overall title with a medal haul of 5-3-1. Korea can make a bid for the title if their boys and girls can win the last two gold medals at stake.

The schedule is based on approximately 20 Boys and 14 Girls teams participating each with 4 players, in total 140 players. The lane maintenance time will be 60-90 minutes by using sanctioned machines.

The schedule is based on WTBA World Tenpin Bowling Championship format - Singles, Doubles, Team of Four, All Events and Masters Finals.