24th July, Orlando: Aaron Kong reached the pinnacle of youth bowling on Thursday and capped off an historical victory for Malaysia when he won the Masters gold medal at the 10th World Youth Championships.

Despite only shooting games of 194, 191 and 204 in the championship match, it was more than enough to beat American Dean Richards' 176, 166 and 181 to win his first-ever individual world title.

"After winning the team gold, I was more relaxed and that's how I can bowl better," said Kong. "Both gold medals are satisfying because everyone on the team gets one and, of course, I wanted to win an individual title as well. We came here to win the team gold for Malaysia and everything else is a bonus."

Kong capped off an emotional two days, earning back-to-back gold medals in team event and Masters to write a successful ending to his youth bowling career. The 22-year-old had earned a crack at the title after he dispatched Norway's Fredrick Tjernes, 3-1 in the best-of-five games semi-finals.

Richards ended the fine run of singles gold medalist and topseed, Dominic Berrett of England, 3-2 in the other semi before going down to the Malaysian.

Malaysia asserted their prowess winning the men's team and masters gold medals in the Asian Championship early this month and repeated the feat at the world youth championship.

In the girls finale, Jun went ahead 2-0 on wins of 209-206 and 206-192 before Alvarado mounted a comeback. Alvarado won a shootout in Game 3, 279-248, and stayed alive with a 207-203 win. Jun closed out the match with a 242-176 win to earn the title.

"I'm really happy that I won because I want to push myself so I can continuously improve," Jun said. "I didn't expect to leave with a gold medal, I just came here to get some experience at the world level."

Jun's run to the title included a tough battle in the opening round as she tied with Jasmine Yeong-Nathan of Singapore in the fifth and deciding game. In the one-ball, sudden-death tie-breaker, both players ahd strikes on their first two shots. Jun then got a seven count and Yeong-Nathan managed only six, allowing Jun her great run to the title.

In the semifinals, Alvarado became the first girl to fire a 300 game in tournament history. She defeated Germany's Tina Hulsch, 3-1, highlighted by a 300-225 victory in Game 3.

The Masters closed out the 10th World Youth Championships, which saw a diverse number of countries take home medals. Fifteen of the 55 countries that competed earned at least one medal.

Korea's girls team dominated the medal tally, earning three gold medals (team, singles and Masters) and one bronze (doubles). On the boys side, England also came away with four medals, earning two golds (singles and all events), one silver (doubles) and bronze (Masters).

Malaysia, who was the overall champion at the last world youth meet in Germany, finished third with two gold (Masters and team) and one bronze (singles). Kong was the only Masters qualifier while none of the girls made the finals this year. Detailed scores: Boy's Masters Semi & Finals and Girl's Masters Semi & Finals.

Photos by Cheah Ban Cheng, MTBC and Bowl.com..

23rd July, Orlando: After finishing second in 2004 and 2006, Malaysia finally nailed its first team gold medal in the history of the 10th World Youth Championships with victory over Finland while the girls missed the semi-final by just 4 pins.

Needing a double in the tenth frame to secure its first team gold medal in tournament history, Malaysia's anchor bowler Aaron Kong delivered and locked up an 837-819 victory over Finland.

Malaysia, which finished as the runner-up in the boys team event in 2004 and 2006, was led in the championship match by Kong's 253 game. Syafiq Ridhwan shot 232, Nur Aiman had 190 and Adrian Ang fired 162.

"The last frame I knew I needed at least two strikes to beat Finland," Kong said. "I just kept my cool and wanted to be sharp like normal. I tried to control my nerves with breathing exercises and thankfully I did it."

The Malaysians made the final frame a lot closer than it needed to be as Nur Aiman left a 4-6-7 split to start off the tenth frame and it was immediately followed by a pocket 4-9 split from Ridhwan. Ang then left a 2-8 and converted the spare to keep Malaysia in the match.

Finland was led by Juhani Tonteri's 226 game and he was followed by Magnus Lonnroth (222), Joonas Jehkinen (213) and Joonas Jahi (158).

Finland advanced to the finals by defeating the United States by just five pins in the semifinals, 819-814. Needing a mark to advance, American Matt O'Grady left the 3-4-6-7 split and failed to convert it sending the United States to a disappointing loss.

In the other boys semifinal, Malaysia defeated Norway, 876-845 to advance. With the losses, Norway and the United States shared the bronze medal.

The girls were less fortunate as they failed to miss the cut for the semi-finals by just 4 pins. Malaysia had trailed Canada by just 1 pin at the halfway point in yesterday's first block.

When Germany took over the lead at the start of today's second block, Malaysia maintained second and was adrift by 23 pins. Singapore made their bid to grab second spot after the fifth game as Malaysia dropped to fourth but still in contention.

Zatil Iman led with a 256 in her final game but Sharon Koh could only shoot 187. Zandra Aziela posted a poor 161 while Esther Cheah could not do much with 205 ending with 807 and a 6-game team total of 4884.

But Japan stormed home with a superb 845 and Korea shot 800 to deny Malaysia a slot in the semi-finals. In the girls gold medal match, Korea had just four open frames in their victory over Japan.

Jun Gwi Ae led the Koreans with a 216 game while Lee Yeon Ji added 213, Park Mi Ran a 203 and Lee Hye Mi a 173. Each Korean bowler struck on their first ball in the tenth frame to lock up the victory.

For Japan, Rie Totsuka led with a 217 game and Maki Nakano shot 188. The other two players struggled down the stretch as Suzuna Miyagi had 167 and Maya Takemata shot 169.

The girls semifinal between Korea and Germany came down to the final frame as Tina Hulsch needed two strikes in the last frame for Germany to advance, but her effort came up short in an 825-813 loss. Japan dominated the other girls semifinal, knocking off Singapore 821-692. Germany and Singapore shared the bronze medal.

Aaron Kong's 1335 made him the only Malaysian to make the Masters Finals by finishing 12th in the All Events standings. Dominic Barrett of England easily won the gold medal in the boys all-events, finishing with a tournament record 4153 total for 18 games. Barrett's average of better than 230 a game topped the old record of 3982, set in 1992 by Qatar's Saeed Al-Hajri.

Joining Barrett on the medal stand will be Mads Sandbaekken of Norway, who took the silver with 1330, and Joonas Jehkinen of Finland won the bronze with 3926.

In the girls all-events, Japan's Maki Nakano won the gold medal as she finished the 18 games (singles, doubles and team) with 3921, including a 1373 total in team event powered by a 279 in Game 4 to start Wednesday's play.

Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia took silver with 3906 while Colombia's Rocio Restrepo earned the bronze with 3876. The top 16 players in all-events advanced to the best-of-five, single-elimination Masters competition on Thursday. Detailed scores: Boy's Team Semi & Finals, Boy's Team 2ndBlk and Girl's Team 2ndBlk.

Photos by Cheah Ban Cheng, MTBC and Bowl.com.

22nd July, Orlando: Malaysia boys rebounded after two lack-luster days of performance to lead the first block of the team event at the 10th World Youth Championships while the girls finished second to Canada on Tuesday.

The girls were leading Canada by 44 pins and could have given Malaysia a great day but were pipped for the lead by 23 pins. Overall Malaysia has plenty to be proud of after rebounding a weak showing in the past two days.

Malaysia finished with 2595 in the four-player event, good enough for a minuscule one-pin lead over the host United States. Finland was third with 2514 and Norway fourth at 2480.

Muhd Nur Aiman led the Malaysian boys with a 666 series followed by Syafiq Ridhwan (664), Aaron Kong (649) and Adrian Ang (616). Kong threw three strikes in the last frame to edge the United States by a pin.

"After I threw the first two strikes in the last frame, my manager told me I needed one more," said Kong, Malaysia's anchor bowler. "I didn't know how important it was, but I knew if he said I needed a strike that we must be close. It makes us feel good because we fought hard today. Whether we are the leaders by one pin or 10 pins, it boosts our confidence for the next day."

Malaysian girls started off well with 828 to trail Puerto Rico and the Netherlands in the first game. Another 820 in the second game saw the quartet taking over the lead ahead of the Puerto Ricans by 28 pins.

Canada soared into the girls lead in the final game, shooting 880 to overtake Malaysia with a total of 2484. Malaysia finished in second at 2461, Germany was third at 2455 and Singapore fourth with 2435.

Our girls rebounded after disappointing performances in singles and doubles. They were led by Zandra Aziela with a 679 series and she was followed by Sharon Koh (633), Zatil Iman (585) and Esther Cheah (564).

In the Girl's All Events, Zatil dropped to 17th on 3042. Rocio Restrepo of Colombia used a 607 series in team event to keep hold of the lead with 3247. Indonesia's Tannya Roumimper is second with 3217, and Mexico's Sandra Gongora is just behind her at 3206.

Aaron Kong is hovering at 16th on 3136. England's Dominic Barrett maintained his lead in Boy's All Events by shooting a 642 series in team event. His 15-game total of 3465 has put him on the cusp of securing the gold medal in the event as he leads Mads Sandbaekken of Norway by 171 pins with just three games remaining.

The top 16 players in all-events after the conclusion of singles, doubles and team will advance to the best-of-five, single-elimination Masters competition on Thursday.

The team event will conclude Wednesday with the final three games of the preliminaries before the field is cut to the top four boys teams and four girls teams for the semifinals. Detailed scores: Boy's Team 1stBlk and Girl's Team 1stBlk.

Photos by Cheah Ban Cheng, MTBC.

21st July, Orlando: Malaysia drew blank on Day 3 of the 10th World Youth Championship on Monday at Boardwalk Bowl despite its best pair of Adrian And and Aaron Kong managing an 18th place finish in the boys doubles event.

Adrian Ang and Aaron Kong started off modestly with 216 and 199 respectively. After an identical 227 score line in the second game, Aaron fired a 247 high game and Adrian responded with a 228 which escalated our pair to sixth position after the third game.

Despite delivering solid 1-3 pocket shots, pin 10s stood repeatedly much to the agony of the Malaysian pair. Aaron went on to register lines of 206, 173 and 204 for a 1273 total, averaging 212.2 while Adrian reeled 185, 224 and 199 for a 1262 total, averaging 210.3

The pair aggregated a creditable 2537 team total but was not good enough to make the top 4 cut for the semi-finals, thus ended on ninth position in the second Squad and 18th overall.

Our rookie duo of Muhd Nur Aiman and Syafiq Ridhwan gave a decent account of their performances. Nur Aiman shot 205, 188, 177, 168, 222 and 168 for a 1128 total whilst Syafiq bowled 189, 211, 198, 201, 213 and 235 for a commendable 1247 total. The duo's combined 2377 total earned them a 48th place.

Second-seed, Kim Bolleby and James Gruffman of Sweden defeated favourite, Matt Hann and singles gold medalist, Dominic Barrett of England, 417-399 to snatch the gold medal. The Swedes ousted Singapore's Gregory Gan and Mark Wong, 414-366 in the semi to reach the finals.

The English pair eliminated fourth-seed, Iceland to advance to the title match only to lose to Bolleby and Gruffman. Aaron is currently 25th in the All Events standings with Adrian a further 10 places adrift in 35th.

Barrett is dominating the field with a 2823 total for 12 games, an average of better than 235. The next closest competitor is Fredrik Thjernes of Norway, who has 2657. Fellow Norwegian Mads Sandbaekken is third with 2648.

The top 16 players in all-events after the conclusion of singles, doubles and team will advance to the Masters competition on Thursday.

Action at the World Youth Championships next shifts to boys and girls four-player team events, which begins at 8.00am. Eastern on Tuesday. Each team will bowl three games on Monday and complete the six-game set on Wednesday. Detailed scores: Boy's Doubles Semi & Finals and Boy's Doubles Combined.

Photos by Cheah Ban Cheng, MTBC.

20th July, Orlando: Doubles defending champion, Zandra Aziela and Esther Cheah failed to defend the Doubles title after a lack-luster performance on Day 2 of the 10th World Youth Championship finishing 21st position.

Zandra and Esther got off on the wrong foot when the duo shot 187 and 179 respectively in their first game. They rekindled their title defense with a respectable 461 and 433 total in their second and third games.

At this half way mark, our duo was placed tenth but was only 49 pins adrift of the fourth placed team and a chance of making the cut for the top 4 semi-finals. In the fourth game, Esther chalked up 254 but Zandra encountered a disastrous game with 4 splits for a horrendous 146 game.

Esther followed up with 189 and 194 to end her series on a creditable 1308 total while Zandra completed her games with 192 and 186 resulting in a below par 1113 total. The duo's combined total of 2421 earned them a 21st placing.

The southpaw pair of Singles bronze medalist, Zatil Iman and Sharon Koh gave a listless display and showed a lack of fighting spirit when the chip was down. Zatil could not repeat her Singles' courageous performance as she had the lines 183, 161, 218, 221, 183 and 183 for a 1194 total.

Sharon Koh was lost in the wilderness as she registered the lines of 180, 202, 172, 176, 196 and 156 for a 1082 total. Their combined aggregate of 2231 total languished themselves in 38th place.

Germany's Tina Hulsch and Birgit Poppler, who finished fourth, defeated topseed, Sandra Gongora and Daniela Alvarado of Mexico, 442-389 to advance into the finals. The Germans beat winner of the other semi-final match, Colombia, 464-393 to win the gold medal.

Laura Fonnegra and Singles silver medalist, Rocio Restrpo settled for the silver medal despite ousting second-seed, Lee Hye-Mi and Lee Yeon-Ji of Korea, 418-413 in semi.

Our Malaysian Boys would be in action in the Doubles event at 12.30pm tomorrow with Aaron Kong partnering Adrian Ang and Muhd Nur Aiman partnering Syafiq Ridhwan. Detailed scores: Girl's Doubles Semi & Finals and Girl's Doubles.

Photos by Cheah Ban Cheng, MTBC.

19th July, Orlando: Malaysia kicked off its 10th World Youth Championship campaign with debutant, Zatil Iman winning the Girl's Singles bronze medal while the boys put up a below par performance at Broadwalk Bowl on Saturday.

Malaysia's southpaw, Zatil Iman led the field from start to finish in the Girl's Singles event after reeling off 201, 269, 227, 196, 226 and 189 for a 1308 total to advance to the one-game knockout semifinals.

Playing for the first time using an irrational competition format, Zatil bowled against fourth seed, Rocio Restrepo of Colombia and was elimnated 170-208 to settle for the bronze.

Zandra Aziela who was fourth before the sixth anf final game, encountered four stinging splits to end with a poor 157 game and had to be contented with a 13th place finish. Sharon Koh finished on 18th with 1196 total while Esther Cheah only managed 1156 for finishing 40th.

Second-seed, Park Mi Ran of Korea bagged the gold by defeating Restrpo, 244-206 in the gold-medal final match. Park had earlier edged third-seed, Jasmine Yeong-Nathan of Singapore, 197-167 to move into the finals.

Earlier in the morning, our Malaysian boys weathered the stormy conditions in the opening Singles event and suffered the bruises with a below par performance. Newly-crowned Asian Championship Masters' Gold medalist, Adrian Ang gave a glimpse of hope when he fired a high 255 first game but withered out to end up 22nd position on 1199.

Rookie, Muhd Nur Aiman was Malaysia's best performer as he registered 200, 195 183, 174, 246 and 224 for a 1222 total to finish 14th place. Team-mate, Aaron Kong finished 15th place with 1214 total while Syafiq Ridhwan was placed 46th with 1151 total.

Dominic Barrett of England took home the gold medal beating topseed, Fredrik Tjernes of Norway, 211-191 in the title match. Barrett knocked out second-seed, Jaime Eduardo Gonzalez of Colombia, 244-206 in the semi earlier.

Tjernes ousted fourth-seed, Ildemaro of Venezuela, 194-151 in the other semi but had to settle for the silver medal losing to Barrett in the finals. The Girl's Doubles event is scheduled at 11.00am tomorrow and the Malaysian line up are Zandra Aziela-Esther Cheah and Zatil Iman-Sharon Koh. Detailed scores: Girl's Singles Semi & Finals, Boy's SinglesSemi & Finals, Girl's Singles and Boy's Singles Combined.

Photos by Cheah Ban Cheng, MTBC.

18th July, Orlando: The World Youth Championships 2008 got underway with the Team Managers' meeting held last night and the official practice conducted today at Boardwalk Entertainment Centre, Orlando.

At the final count, 55 countries showed up while teams from Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia had to pull out in the last minute due to visa entry problems. 350 youths representing 55 countries - an increase from the 48 competed in the 2006 and 29 that were represented in 2000.

Team Malaysia took to the lanes and coach, Foong Tak Meng and his assistant, Jackson Ting were pretty satisfied with their charges' performances after the 2 hours official practice sessions. Foong expressed his confidence that our Malaysian athletes would rise to the occasion for podium finishes in the championships.

After teams completed their official practice sessions, the ceremonies opened with the Parade of Nations as bowlers marched out the 48-side of the 80-lane center, proudly displaying their country flags as well as bright smiles.

Team USA and international star Diandra Asbaty, who serves as the United States Bowling Congress Youth spokesperson, addressed the competitors and shared her experiences at the World Youth Championships, where she won the Masters gold medal plus three other medals in 2000.

"The Percustodians," an Orlando-based "STOMP" group, entertained the gathering with its upbeat, trash can-based drum session - and even made it interactive for a few spectators before Asbaty closed the ceremonies by rolling out the first ball.

The Singles event commenced tomorrow with Adrian Ang/Muhd Nur Aiman and Aaron Kong/Syafiq Ridhwan lined up for the 8.00am Squad 1 while Sharon Koh/Zatil Iman and Zandra Aziela/Esther Cheah lined up for the 5.00pm squad.

Photos by Cheah Ban Cheng, MTBC and Matt Stroshane/Getty Images.

16th July, Orlando: The second batch of bowlers and officials of Team Malaysia, who arrived Orlando yesterday were gearing up for the 10th World Youth Bowling Championship which will kick off this Saturday.

Following a long haul flight, the bowlers led by newly-crowned Asian Championship Masters gold medalist, Adrian Ang joined by Aaron Kong, Muhd Nur Aiman and Mohd Syafiq Ridhwan to form the boy's team. The girls led by Asian Championship Doubles gold medalist, Esther Cheah with Zandra Aziela, Sharon Koh and Zatil Iman.

The bowlers tested out the lanes at Broadwalk Entertainment Center in the morning and with the hurricane warning and wet showers expected in the afternoon, the team did some physical exercies in the vicinity of the hotel followed by a workout session at the gym.

The team will had 2 hour unofficial practice at the 80-lane center and will continue with another 2 sessions to acclimatize themselved with the competition atmosphere. The official practice is scheduled for July 18 and the opening event, Singles shall commence on Jul 19.

At the last meet, Malaysia emerged as the overall champions with 4 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals. The 4 gold came from Sharon Koh (Masters), Esther Cheah-Zandra Aziela (Doubles), Esther Cheah and Zulmazran Zulkifli (All Events - girls and boys).

Asian Championship Team gold medalist, Muhd Nur Aiman, PBAP Classic Champion, Mohd Syafiq Ridhwan and 2007 Singapore Open champion, Zatil Iman are making their debut in this championship.

Photos by Cheah Ban Cheng, MTBC.