26th May, Hong Kong: For the first time in ten years Malaysia ended the 11th Asian Schools Tenpin Bowling Championship without a gold medal as Misaki Mukotani of Japan and Lim Dong Sung of Korea emerged as Masters champions.

Hurul Ainul Abu Razak, who was the only female in the Masters finals, and Mohd Aziem Azemi both finished 10th after the second eight games block on Tuesday. Hurul of SMK Puteri Seremban and a Team Gold medalist in this year's National Interstate Championship, posted a total of 3379.

The national youth amassed 1669 and winning sixth of yesterday's eight games while the 17-year-old could only win two and posted a lower 1630 today.

Singles and All Events gold medalist, Misaki Mukotani won her third gold medal after she topseed, Sim Ui Jin of Korea 461-430 over the two-game total pinfalls title stepladder match. The Japanese youth edged Sim 242-224 in the first match and 219-206 in the second to give Japan their sixth gold medal of the championship to emerge as overall champion.

The second-seed had easily defeated third-seed Rebecca Whiting of Australia, 211-181 in the the first match to take on the Korean.

Meanwhile, Mohd Aziem Azemi also finished tenth with 3461 from 1715 in the first block and 1686 in the second. Aziem won a total of six matches over the two blocks finals. Perfect gamer, Muhd Amirrul Afif finished 11th with 3364 and Bong Kihow 12th with 3318.

Malaysia sent only one team of 4 boys and 4 girls through Majlis Sukan Sekolah Malaysia (MSSM) where the players were selected through a roll-off. For the past ten years, the Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress has always send a team from their pool of national youths.

But this year, MTBC failed to get the budget approved from the National Sports Council and has therefore opted out on the championship.

Lim Dong Sung of Korea's second team outclassed fellow-compatriot and topseed, Park Jong Woo, 440-354 in the all-Korean title stepladder finals to win the Boy's Masters gold and Korea their second in the championship.

Lim, who was seeded third ousted Team gold medalist, Daisuke Yoshida of Japan 243-235 in the closely fought first match. The champion totaled 3741 in the 16-games Masters finals over two days to advance into the stepladder finals.

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. For detailed scores, click Girl's Stepladder and Boy's Stepladder.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Hong Kong.

25th May, Hong Kong: Team silver medalist, Mohd Aziem Azemi, Bong Kihow and Muhd Amirrul Afif of Malaysia made little headway in the first block Masters finals of the 11th Asian Schools Tenpin Bowling Championship on Monday.

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.

Two aweful games of 166 and 177 saw the Malaysian falling down the field as Lim surged ahead into the lead with another superb 257 and 233 with compatriot, Park Jong Woo in close company. As Muhd Amirrul failed to recover, team-mate Mohd Aziem Azemi did well to take up fourth at the halfway mark.

Two sizzling games of 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 while Mohd Aziem also suffered a set back to slid down the field.

The final two games witnesses the Korean duo battling for the lead. Park ended with a strong 269 to top the first block with 1975. Lim gave Korea a 1-2 finish in second with 1967, just 8 pins separating them.

Yoshida finished third with 1901 with Mohd Aziem turning out as the best Malaysian finalist in ninth with 1745. Bong Kihow, who started off poorly, found his line towards the end to finish 12th ahead of Muhd Amirrul in 13th position.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's sole female in the finals, Hurul Ainul Abu Razak did better than her male counterpart taking up seventh position with 1729. 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.

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. For detailed scores, click Boy's Blk1 Masters and Girl's 1stBlk Masters.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Hong Kong.

24th May, Hong Kong: Malaysia finally landed their first medal at the 11th Asian Schools Tenpin Bowling Championship after Teh Lit Qing, Bong Kihow, Mohd Aziem Azemi and Muhd Amirrul Afif won the Boy's Team silver medal.

The Malaysian quartet had finished third behind leader, Japan and Philippines after the first block of 3 games were played in the morning. Japan's Daisuke Yoshida, Takahito Fukuda, Hiroki Takada and Shusaku Asato topped the block with 2734, 103 pins ahead of Philippines.

The Japanese broke the one-game record of 933 set by their compatriots in 2004 with a sizzling 1003 to stretch their lead to a massive 274 with the Filipino quartet in second and Malaysia third.

A poor 760 by Philippines allowed Malaysia to grab second spot after the latter shot 882 with Japan pulling away with a comfortable margin of 265 pins and looking set to win the gold medal without any threat.

Malaysia finished stronger to end with 881 and sealed the silver medal with 5196 while Japan claimed the gold with 5529. Philippines settled for the bronze medal with 5105 as Australia's last bid fell by the wayside to end in fourth.

"We are playing on very high scoring lanes and any slight mistake can cost you," explained the 17-year-old Sarawakian, Bong Kihow. "After two fourth placings, I'm glad to finally win a medal."

"I knew I had taken over the lead in the All Events after the fourth game by 4 pins and then 2 pins after the fifth game," said Muhd Amirrul Afif of Kuala Lumpur. "I made a small mistake in the sixth frame by trying too hard. I could see that the Japanese were stringing a lot os strikes."

"I was only making sure that I don't make more mistakes and try to finish at least second or third but I'm still happy to win a bronze in the All Events," added Muhd Amirrul. Muhd Amirrul, Bong Kihow and Mohd Aziem made the top 16 Masters finals except Lit Qing who finished 30th position.

Meanwhile, Australia upstaged the favourites Japan and Korea to win their first gold medal in the Girl's Team event with 5114. Leader after the fifth game, Korea posted a poor final game to drop out of the top 3.

Japan settled for second and the silver medal with 5099 while Philippines finished strongly to claim the bronze medal with 5048 with Korea ended up fourth on a total of 5040. Malaysia's Nurafidza, Siti Nur Nadia, Siti Aishajan and Hurul Ainul finished seventh with 4693.

Singles gold medalist, Misaki Mukotani won the Girl's All Events gold with 4263 followed by Sim Ui Jin and Kim Ji Yeon (B) settling for the silver and bronze medals with 4098 and 3995 respectively.

Hurul Ainul is the only who made the Masters finals in 16th position with 3613 while Siti Aishjan finished 20th, Nurafidza Amran 29th and Siti Nur Nadia 33rd position. The Roun-Robin Masters finals will be staged over two days on Monday and Tuesday. For detailed scores, click Boy's Team 2ndBlk and Girl's Team 2ndBlk, Boy's All Events and Girl's All Events.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Hong Kong.

23rd May, Hong Kong: Malaysia's Muhd Amirrul Afif shot the tournament's first perfect game but missed the podium to finish fourth in the Boy's Doubles at the 11th Asian Schools Tenpin Bowling Championship with partner, Bong Kihow.

Muhd Amirrul blitzed the lanes with the championship's first perfect 300 and Bong Kihow posted a sizzling 278 to set a new one-game record of 578 en-route to taking the lead as 30 pairs started their second event.

But their 90 pin cushion was immediately reduced to just 1 pin after Japan's Daisuke Yoshida and Takahiro Fukuda posted a superb 497 in the second game. Muhd Amirrul and Bong bounced back with another high game of 488 to stretch their lead back to 61 pins at the halfway mark.

Despite knocking down just 412 in the fourth game, the Malaysian pair still held a decent 28 pins cushion after the fourth game. But lady luck was simply not on their side as the duo suffered a major set back managing only 352.

The poor fifth game saw the pair tumbling down to sixth as Yoshida and Fukuda surged ahead for the lead followed by Japan's second pair of Hiroki Takada and Shusaku Asato in second, 4 pins separating the two pairs.

Muhd Amirrul and Bong fought on galantly to reel in 501 in their final game in the hope of landing at least a medal with 2739 as the second Japanese pair finished strongly to end the 6 games with 2761 and snatching the victory.

Kuwait's Dhari Al-Bishi and Ali Salem also finished strongly to clinch the silver with 2747 while Yoshida and Fukuda managed to pip the Malaysian pair for the bronze medal with 2745.

"We were unlucky to come across a pair of lanes where both of us struggled and unable to cover each other," said national youth, Muhd Amirrul. "The way we started, we thought we would at least win a medal."

"I had to cancel my tickets to Australia for the Arafura Games after being selected for this championship and I had trained very hard," said the Sarawakian Bong Kihow. "I missed a medal yesterday and I missed one today again.

The other pair of Teh Lit Qing and Mohd Aziem Azemi, who after the fifth game was third but a poor ending of 378 in the final game dropped the pair into sixth position with a score of 2660.

Meanwhile, Malaysian girls continued their below par performances with Hurul Ainul Abu Razak and Nurafidza Amran managing only to finish 11th with 2342 in a field of 21 Doubles pairs. Siti Nur Nadia and Siti Aishajan took 13th position with 2327.

Singles silver medalist, Kim Ji Yeon (B) and bronze medalist, Sim Ui Jin of Korea, made no mistake this time to claim the Doubles gold medal with 2756. Philippines' Kimberly Lao and Dyan Coronacion clinched the silver with 2657.

The other Korean first team's Kim Yeo Jin and Kim Ji Yeon (A) snatched the bronze medal with 2582 ahead of Japan's Haruna Nojima and Singles gold medalist, Misaki Mukotani in fourth with 2557.

Hurul Ainul occupied last and 16th spot in the All Events after 12 games contested. Masaki Mukotani topped the table with 2844 followed by Kim Ji Yeon (B) and Sim Ui Jin second and third with 2768 and 2716.

Malaysia's boys are in a better position with Bong Kihow (tie 5th), Muhd Amirrul Afif (7th) and Mohd Aziem Azemi (11th) in the top 16. Teh Lit Qing is 19th and only 50 pins from the 16th.

Korea's Choi Tae Seung led the boy's standings with 2762 followed by Shusaku Asato of Japan and another Korean, Lim Dong Sung second and third with 2757 and 2752 respectively.

Competition will resume with the Team of Four tomorrow over played two blocks of 3 games each. The top 16 boys and top 16 girls based on the 24-game total in the All Events, will qualify for the Round-Robin Masters finals on Monday and Tuesday. For detailed scores, click Boy's Doubles and Girl's Doubles.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Hong Kong.

22nd May, Hong Kong: Championship debutant, Bong Kihow of Malaysia missed the podium by 35 pins finishing fourth in the Boy's Singles event of the 11th Asian Schools Tenpin Bowling Championship underway at Hong Kong Bowling City.

Despite a good start in the opening game with 225, Bong Kihow found himself in 13th position as Japan's Daisuke Yoshida set the pace with 259. Bong's team-mate, Teh Lit Qing posted a 244 and had to tie in seventh in a high-scoring condition.

Bong continued with 233 and 201 in his next two game, the Sarawakian dropped out of the top 10 as Hong Kong's 14-year-old Tony Wong surged into the lead with Filipino, Jomar Jumapao in second, 35 pins adrift.

The Malaysian had two splits in the fourth game but managed to strike home for a superb 221 which gave Bong the confidence to reel in two strong games of 241 and 247 and ended the Singles with 1368.

However, the strong finish yeilded nothing as Bong only took fourth spot as Jumapao stormed home to take victory with 1466 to win his first gold medal after five previous attempts with Japan's Takahito Fukuda taking the silver with 1409.

Singapore's debutant, Paul Yap HenZhong, who led after the fourth game, fizzled off to settle for the bronze medal with 1403. Malaysia's Muhammad Amirrul Afif bowled above average but ended up in eighth with 1342.

Teh Lit Qing slid down to 12th position with 1307 while Mohd Aziem Azemi bowling his his second championship, performed below par to finish 24th place with 1256.

Meanwhile, Malaysian girls drew blank in the SIngles contested in the morning. National youth, Hurul Ainul Abu Razak was Malaysia's best female finishing 20th with 1181 in a field of 43 competitors.

Nurafidza Amran tied 21st position with 1160 while Siti Nur Nadia and Siti Aishajan took 36th and 37th positions respectively. Japan's Misaki Mukotani snatched the gold medal with 1413, just two pins ahead of pace-setter, Kim Ji Yeon of Korea, who settled for the silver with 1411.

Another Korean, Sim Ui Jin claimed the bronze medal with 1317 ahead of two Filipinas, Kimberly Lao and Krizziah Tabora making up the top 5 with 1293 and 1287.

The boys will resume competition with the Doubles in the morning squad

while the girls will contest their Doubles in the afternoon. For detailed scores, click Boy's Singles and Girl's Singles.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Hong Kong.

21st May, Hong Kong: Malaysia will be represented by one team comprising of four boys and four girls in the 11th Asian Schools Tenpin Bowling Championship which will kick off Friday at Hong Kong Bowling City in Kowloon Bay.

Malaysia has in the past, fielded two teams - one from the Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) and the other from Majlis Sukan Sekolah Malaysia (MSSM) and has garnered 32 gold, 22 silver and 23 bronze medals since 1998 and leading the medal tally thus far.

At the previous meet, also in Hong Kong in 2007, Zaid Izlan and Muhd Nur Aiman captured the gold and silver in the opening boy's singles event while Sin Li Jane took the silver in the girl's singles.

Both the boys and girls won the Team bronze medals and Wan Nur Atiqqa and Zatil Iman dominated the girl's masters finals winning the gold and silver medals. With only one team from MSSM participating in this year's championship, Malaysia may be faced with stiffer competition.

Ten countries, which are fielding 15 boys team and 10 girls team, comprised of Australia, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and host Hong Kong.

Korea, which joined the championship in 2007, has two full teams and are the strong favourites for medals. At the last meet, they won 4 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze medals to emerge overall champion with Malaysia in second with 2-2-1.

The final position in the medal tally are judged from the first team nominated by the participating countries and in the past, Malaysia's first team are those fielded by MTBC which consisted of bowlers from the national youth squad.

Only three from Malaysia's team are from the national squad, the rest were selected through a roll-off conducted by MSSM at the end of April and had just two weeks to prepare for the championship.

The boys are Bong Kihow, Mohd Aziem Azemi, Muhd Amirrul Afif, Teh Lit Qing and the girls are Hurul Ainul, Nurafidza Amran, Siti Aishajan Hussin and Siti Nur Nadia. Encik Norhanim Mohd Akhir is the team manager assisted by En. Wan Norazman and coach Samson Shahibol.

With the majority of the Malaysian youths making their debut, it will not be easy for them to win honours but if they do, it will be quite an achievement given the stiff competition from countries like Australia, Singapore and host Hong Kong apart from Korea.

The team paraded with the rest of the countries during a colourful and traditional ceremony today during the official opening. Official practice was held earlier in the day in which all teams had a chance to gauge the lane conditions.

The championship kicks off tomorrow, 22nd May with the Singles event for both the boys and girls divisions divided into two squads (groups of players). The championship consists of Singles (individual), Doubles (team of 2) and the Team of 5 events. A total of 5 gold medals for each division will be contested.

The championship will end on the 26th May with the prestigious Stepladder Grand Finals after the two blocks of Masters Finals (8 games each block) are contested on 25th and 26th May.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Hong Kong.