14th January, P.Jaya: Selangor retained the overall champion's title as their men and women claimed the Team Gold medals of the 19th Malaysian Interstate Bowling Championships which concluded this evening at Pyramid Mega Lanes.

The champion retained the title with a seven Gold haul out of the 16 gold medals on offer in addition to 3 Silver, 5 Bronze medals and six 4th placings for a massive 59.5 points. Selangor again, underlined their prowess by winning three more gold medals from the team events.

Only Pahang were able to break their dominance by picking up the gold in the boy's team event. Ironically, Selangor did not pick up any gold medals from the All Events but Penang, Sarawak, Negeri Sembilan and Kuala Lumpur won one gold each on the final day.

Penang, comprising of Aaron Kong, Adrian Ang, Eric Ang and Kelvin Tan tied with Kedah's Mohd Zul Fauzi, Tengku Ariff, Iskandar Adon and Nor Amdia with 3324 at the fifth game, 85 pins ahead of Selangor.

At the end, it was the experience of the national bowlers that pull them through to post 827 in the final game over Penang's 758 and Kedah's 753 that gave Selangor the win with a team total of 4895. Penang settled for the Silver with 4872 while Kedah took the Bronze with 4844.

While the men just managed to snatch the win, the Selangor women were simply too good for the field as they cruised to a comfortable win with 207 pins buffer. Wendy Chai, Siti Khadijah, Siti Safiyah and Zandra Aziela amassed 4812 to give Selangor their seventh and final Gold medal.

Sarawak's Tang Joh SIx, Nadia Wagiman, Dyg Khairuniza and Caroline Chien finished second to settle for the Silver medal with 4605 ahead of Penang's quartet of Syawaliza Rosli, Joyce Ong, Voon Kim Ling and Irene Lee in third with 4124.

The Men's All Events Gold went to Doubles Gold medalist, Adrian Ang totalling 3978 over 18 games from the Singles, Doubles and Team events. Negeri Sembilan picked up the Silver with Syafiq Ridhwan finishing second and Selangor the Bronze with Zulmazran Zulkifli third.

The surprise of the day was ex-national, Tang Joh Six of Sarawak winning the Women's All Events Gold ahead of four Selangor women. Tang amassed 3698 to pip Siti Safiyah by 32 pins for the Gold with Siti settling for the Silver on 3666. Triple Gold medalist, Zandra Aziela took home the Bronze with 3468.

Negeri Sembilan's Nor Afizal Azizan and Kuala Lumpur's Sharon Koh won the Boy's and Girl's All Events, ending Selangor's stronghold. Kuala Lumpur also claimed the Girl's division champion with 3 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze and a 4th placing for 21 points.

Selangor won their Boy's division champion with 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze and a 4th placing for 13 points. Selangor won convincingly the Women's division title with 3 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze medal and a 4th placing for 24 points.

Penang took the Men's division title, traditionally dominated by Selangor with 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze and two 4th placings on 19 points. However, Selangor was able to retain the title after accummulating a total of 59.5 points from all the four divisions to win the all-new Challenge Trophy kindly donated by Mega Lanes.

The top 3 from each of the division have wildcard entries into the respective Masters finals. The top 3 boys and top 3 girls from the All Events will contest the Milo Youth Masters finals. The 3 men and 3 women will contest in the Open Masters finals which will be played over two blocks on Sunday and Monday.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.

14th January, P.Jaya: Pahang won their first-ever Gold medal in the history of the Interstate Bowling Championships when Mohd Hanif B Mohd Bakri, Jonathan Chan, Rodson Tong and Syed Muzzaffar triumphed in Boy's Team event.

Penang's team of Tajul Aswad, Mohd Hafizi, Jason Yam and Adrian Charles Dragon set the pace at the start of the 6-game team of 4 event in the first block of three games this morning but soon found themselves trailing the champion, Pahang after the second game.

Mohd Hanif B Mohd Bakri, Jonathan Chan, Rodson Tong and anchored by Syed Muzzaffar put up a superb display of determination to string together high games consistently to take a comfortable lead of 120 pins after the fourth game.

The foursome hung on with a further 776 and 761 in the fifth and final game for a total of 4612 to win Pahang's first-ever Gold medal in the 19 year history of the championship to the delight of their Deputy President, Mr Kenny Yap.

"I'm extremely proud of our boys especially their fighting spirit shown throughout the 6 games," said Mr Yap. "It is very satisfying to note that all the youth development efforts put in by both our state adminstrators and coaches are now reeping results.

Penang settled for the Silver medal, 35 pins adrift on 4577 while favourites, Selangor comprising of Zaid Izlan, Kelvin Keong, Tg Muhd Yasser and Jonathan Lim Chee Weng again disappointed and could only manage a third place finish for the Bronze medal with 4559.

However, Selangor bounched back to win the Girl's Team Gold and the girl's first in the championship so far. Amalyna Kelana, Leong Hui Ping, Christyn Chew and Nor Amilia amassed a total of 4684 for a comfortable win over Johor's Siti Shazwani, Dhira Bte Marzuki, Wan Nur Atiqqa and Nur Syakira Yeoh of Johor.

Johor settled for the Silver medal with 4487 while Kuala Lumpur's Sharon Koh, Yap Pui Yee, Low Xin Pin and Noorhanizah Abu Bakar finished third to take home the Bronze with 4461. Negeri Sembilan again finished an unlucky fourth but picked up 1 point.

Undoubtedly, the star of the championship is the newly-crowned Milo International Junior All Starts champion, Sharon Koh. The 17-year-old pickup her third Gold medal by topping the Girl's All Events standings

with 3664 from 18 games. Nur Syakira Yeoh of Johor won the Silver with 3567 with Selangor's Christyn Chew settled for theBronze with 3468.

The Boy's All Events Gold medal went to another rising star and national youth squad member, Nor Afizal Azizan of Negeri Sembilan after he totaled 3843. National bowler, Zaid Izlan took the Silver while Kedah's Tengku Afnan claimed the Bronze medal.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.

13th January, P.Jaya: National bowlers and Asian Youth championship-bound, Aaron Kong and Adrian Ang struck Gold for Penang in the men's doubles event of the 19th Malaysian Interstate Bowling Championship at the end of Day 2 at Pyramid Mega Lanes.

Newly-crowned ABF Tour TOC champion, Daniel Lim and Zulmazran Zulkifli set a blistering pace when the duo posted 483 in the first game but lost the lead to Kedah's Tengku Ariff and Iskandar Adon knocked down the highest single game of the event with 491 in the second game.

Meanwhile, Penang's Aaron Kong and Adrian Ang kept close to the leaders with 487 and 478 in game 2 and 3. The field was wide open at the halfway mark with Syafiq Ridhwan and Singles Silver medalist, Mohd Zahar staking a claim to the title.

Penang's high games 433 and 450 in the fourth anf fifth game gave the pair a slight lead over their opponents and a 397 in the final game proved sufficient to seal the win the the Gold medal with a combined total of 2619.

Syafiq Ridhwan and Mohd Zahar also posted high games of 472 and 426 in the last two games to win the Silver medal with 2585 while Penang's other pair of Eric Anf and Kelvin Tan stormed home in the final hurdle to claim the Bronze with 2493.

Pace-setter and favourites, Selangor disappointed by finishing fourth with a total of 2457 while Kedah also fizzled out and dropped to fifth with 2446.

National bowler, Syafiq Ridhwan's superb 1415 series in the doubles has moved him up to the top of the Men's All Events standings with 2644 after two events. Adrian Ang and Singles Gold medalist, Zulmazran Zulkifli tie for second with 2547.

Penang heads the Men's medal tally but the overall lead went to Selangor with 4 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze and three 4th placings on 27.5 points. Kuala Lumpur is second with 2 Gold and 1 Silver medal on 13 points.

The Team of 4 events will be contest on Saturday, 14th January with four more Gold medals at stake. The top 3 from the All Events standings in all the four divisions will be awarded medals and a wildcard entry to the Masters Finals of the National Championships on Sunday and Monday.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.

13th January, P.Jaya: Squad A leader, Kuala Lumpur kept their lead to captured their second Gold medal in the Girl's Doubles event of the 19th Malaysian Interstate Bowling Championship while Selangor won their fourth consecutive Gold in the Boy's Doubles event.

Kuala Lumpur won their second Gold medal when Singles Gold and Silver medalist, Sharon Koh and Noorhanizah Abu Bakar teamed up to post 2317 in the Girl's doubles event. The duo lead in the morning's squad with Pahang and Sabah in second and third respectively.

When Squad B contested the 6-game event, newly recruited national bowlers, Wan Nur Atiqqa and Nur Syakira Yeoh of Johor led the field and need 396 in their final game to topple the leaders. But Nur SYakira and Nur Atiqqa could only manage 384 to settle for the Silver medal with 2277.

Perak's Nazrinnah Abdul Kamil and Nor Atteya Zainal Abidin manage to better Pahang and Sabah to finish third for the Bronze medal with 2256. Favourites, Christyn Chew and Nor Amilia disappointed to end up in fourth with 2248.

There was a keen tussle for the lead between Sarawak and Johor when the boys took to the lanes at Pyramid Mega Lanes. Aris Ardila and newly recruited national bowler, Isaac Russell Paul set the pace but soon handed the lead to Johor.

National youth, Fahmi Bahri and another newly recruited national bowler, Muhd Nur Aiman of Johor kept the lead for another two games before Sleanogr stormed into contention towards the end of the 6-game event to win the Gold with a total score of 2536.

Sarawak duo of Aris Ardila and Isaac Russell settled for the Silver, just 26 pins adrift on 2510. Fahmi and Nur Aiman won the Bronze medal with 2481. National youth, Tengku Afnan Mahmood shot the second perfect game in the Interstate championships and the fourth so far when he knocked down 300 during the second game but failed to finish amongst the top 3.

After two events, Fahmi Bahri toped the Boy's All Events standings with 2584 followed by Jonathan Lim Chee Weng in second with 2580 and Tengku Afnan in third with 2567. Two Gold medalist, Sharon Koh leads the Girl's standings with 2384 ahead of teammate, Noorhanizah Abu Bakar second and Nur Syakira Yeoh third with 2340 and 2337 repectively.

Defending champion, Selangor look set to retain the Overall Champions title after having amassed 4 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze medal and two 4th placings for a 27 points total. Kuala Lumpur is second with 2 Gold and 1 Silver on 13 points. Sarawak is third with 2 Silver and 2 Bronze medals on 10 points.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.

13th January, P.Jaya: Selangor bagged their third Gold medal in a row after Siti Safiyah and Singles Gold medalist, Zandra Aziela topped the Women's Doubles of the 19th Malaysian Interstate Bowling Championship this morning at Pyramid Mega Lanes.

The pair of Women Bowler of the Year 2005, Wendy Chai and Siti Khadijah set a blistering pace at the start of the 6-gamem event but soon found Selangor's other pair of Siti Safiyah and Singles Gold medalist, Zandra Aziela just to strong to handle the the duo took over the lead at the halfway mark.

Siti Safiyah and Zandra claim the Gold after they amassed a total of 2450 pinfalls with Siti posting the highest 6-games series of 1346 while Zandra only managing 1104. Chai and Siti Khadijah gave Selangor a 1-2 finish and settled for the Silver medal with a total of 2418.

"We didn't have a good start and was trailing our teammates but not by much," said Asian Youth-bound, Siti Safiyah. "We only were able to get close to Wendy and Siti after the fourth game and from then on, we keep pushing each other," said Zandra.

Penang's Voon Kim Ling and Malaysian Women's Games Girls Singles Gold medalist, Irene Lee finished third to claim the Bronze medal of 2311, 139 pins adrift the champion. Nik Rosli Ismail and Fuzaimah Awang did well to finish fourth to win 1 point for Kelantan.

Meanwhile, half of the 28 Girl's Doubles team bowled their 6 games in Squad A and the lead went to Singles Gold and Silver medalists, Sharon Koh and Noorhanizah Abu Bakar of Kuala Lumpur.

The lead also went to their teammates, Low Xin Pin and Yap Pui Yee at one stage, but the pair could not sustain the pace and dropped out of contention. Sharon and Noorhanizah posted a total of 2317 with Sharon knocking down 1180 and Noorhaizah 1137.

"We don't think our score is good eneough for a gold but we're hoping at least for the silver or bronze," said Sharon. Added Sharon: "Noorhanizah and my bowling has improved so much after being trained by Holloway Cheah, the national youth coach.

Squad B of the Girl's Doubles will be completed after lane maintenance together with the complete 28 Boy's Doubles team. The Men's Doubles will commence at 4.30pm later today.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.

12th January, P.Jaya: National bowler, Zulmazran Zulkifli won the second Gold medal for defending champion, Selangor at the end of day 1 of the 19th Malaysian Interstate Bowling Championship at Pyramid Mega Lanes.

Zulmazran set a cracking pace with a superb 258 in the first game of the 6-game Men's Singles event. The champion continued to lead the field of 56 bowlers without any threat from his opponents. The nearest was Sarawak's Peter Pu when he narrowed the gap to 52 pins before the final game.

A 191 in the final game from Zulmazran was enough to secure his first individual Gold medal and Selangor's second with a total of 1308. Mohd Azahar Mohd Nor of Negeri Sembilan stormed home with a final 224 game to snatch the Silver medal with 1243, 9 pins ahead of Peter Pu winning the Bronze with 1232.

"After shooting a perfect game during my first qualifying attempt for the National championship this morning, I knew that there was a good line to tackle the lanes," said the 22-year-old bound for the 13th Asian Youth Championship in February in Perth.

Mohd Taufik of Sabah chalked up two high games to tie with national bowler, Syafiq Ridhwan of Negeri Sembilan, for fourth with 1229.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.

12th January, P.Jaya: Defending champion, Selangor struck their first Gold when national bowler, Zandra Aziela snatched the Women's Singles title of the 19th Malaysian Interstate Bowling Championship this afternoon at Pyramid Mega Lanes.

Zandra, who bagged one Gold and two Silver and one Bronze medals in last month's SEA Games in Manila, was on a roll at the crucial stage of the 6-game Women's Singles event. The champion was trailing pace-setter, Caroline Chien of Sarawak by only 7 pins after the fourth game. But superb 221 and 204 in the final two games saw Zandra snatching the win.

"I knew I was not very far from the leader after the fourth game and I could sense that I have a chance to win the Gold," said the 17-year-old KDU student from Kajang. "And when my coach told me that Caroline had a poor game in the fifth, I felt more confident.

Caroline Chien was also over taken by the fast finishing, Tang Joh Six from Sarawak. Tang posted 213 and 223 in her final two games to pip teammate, Caroline by 7 pins to win the Silver medal while Caroline settled for the Bronze medal with 1195.

Tay Li Neo of Negeri Sembilan also posted high games in the final two games to edge Penang's Voon Kim Ling for fourth position by 1 pin on 1132 and scored 1 point for her state. Ex-national, Voon completed the top 5 with 1131.

Meanwhile, Squad B of the Boy's division completed their event which witnessed scores soaring. Perak's Abdul Muhaimin created a mild upset to outclass the strong group of national youths to capture the Gold medal with a reacord breaking score of 1417.

The 18-year-old erased the old record of 1390 set by Aaron Chin of Sarawak in 2000. National youth, Tengku Afnan Tengku Mahmood did well to edge Squad A leader, Jonathan Lim Chee Weng of Selangor for the Silver medal with 1298.

The 15-year-old Jonathan settled for the Bronze medal with 1296, just two pins adrift. Early pace-setter in Squad A, dropped to fourth with 1293 but contributed 1 point to his state, Johor.

The men will contest their singles event at the end of the which a medal presentation will be held for the winners. The contestants will tkae on the lanes for their doubles event 13th January before wrapping up the championship with the Team event on 14th January.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.

12th January, P.Jaya: Kuala Lumpur had a great start when Sharon Koh and Noorhanizah Abu Bakar finished 1-2 to claim the Gold and Silver medals in the 19th Malaysian Interstate Bowling CHampionship which commenced this morning.

Sharon, 17 who was crowned the Milo International Junior All Stars champions just last month, pipped teammate, Noorhanizah Abu Bakar by 1 pin to claim the first Gold medal for Kuala Lumpur. The newly recruited National Squad bowler, was second most of the way having trailed another new national squad recruit, Nur Syakira Yeoh of Johor.

The gold medalist then picked up her pace with 221, 211 and 210 in her next three games to take over the lead the Noorhanizah by 39 pins. Noorhanizah only needed a good pin count on her bonus frame but only manage 6 pins while the leader posted 197 and enough to secure the win with 1204 total.

"I didn't know that I took over the lead after I saw the score sheets being distributed and as soon as I knew that, I told myself to take it easy and focus on making good shots and maintain my lead," said the beaming champion.

"I'm still happy that I've won the silver especially when I know my teammate has won the Gold," said Noorhanizah, who was last year Junior Circuit GP Finals champion. Nur Syakirah took the Bronze medal with a total of 1163.

Ex-national, Elaine Lam of Perak missed the medal finishing fourth with 1120 while Women's Games Team Gold medalist and Milo International Junior All Stars first runner-up, Christyn Chew made up the top 5 in fifth with 1116.

Meanwhile, Selangor's Jonathan Lim Chee Weng leads the Boy's Singles with 1296 after half of the field of 56 bowlers completed their 6-game Singles in Squad A with another 28 bowlers to complete in Squad B later this morning.

Johor's Fahmi Bahri, who set a cracking pace at the start of the boy's singles, dropped to second with a score of 1293. Penang's Adrian Charles Dragon took third spot with 1278. The results will only be known when the remaining 28 bowlers completed their block.

Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.