22nd December, P.Jaya: Topseeds, Adrian Ang of Malaysia and Lee Young Im of Uiduk, Korea had to work doubly hard to win the Boy's and Girl's Open Masters titles of the 8th Milo International Junior All Stars Bowling Championship just concluded at Pyramid Mega Lanes.

Malaysian National Elite squad member, Adrian Ang, who topped the 10-game Masters roll-off earlier, had to work doubly hard when he was forced into the second deciding match after the 19-year-old lost the first match to challenger, Wu Siu Hong, 200-235.

But Adrian got his composure back in the decider to cruise to a comfortable victory over second-seed, Wu, 246-202 to win the coveted All Stars title for the second time. Adrian's first title came in 2003 when he became the youngest-ever Malaysia to capture the title at the age of 15.

Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong, settled for second despite knocking out Malaysian national youth and third-seed, Rodson Tong and Daegu's Youn Dae In, 225-146-215 to face the top seed. Youn finished third for the final podium while Rodson dropped to fourth.

Meanwhile, Korean girls totally dominated the Girl's Open Masters finals when they occupied the top 8 positions with Lee Young Im of Uiduk topping the 10-game roll-off with 2252 followed by Hong Su Yeon of Bell, Korea second with 2232 and Choi Ji Hae third and Jeon Gwi Ae fourth.

Despite the topseed, Lee shooting a 256 in the first match against challenger, Hong Su Yeon forced Lee into the sudden-death match with 269. Lee prevailed in the decider to win her first international title with 233-204.

Hong, who ousted third-seed, Choi Ji Hae and fourth-seed, Jeon Gwi Ae, 224-188-206 in the first match before going down to the champion and had to settle for second place. Jeon, who won the Girl's Graded Masters crown yesterday, finished third while Choi was relegated to fourth.

Top qualifier, Zandra Aziela was Malaysia's best finisher in the girl's division in 9th position followed by national youth, Christyn Chew and national bowler, Sin Li Jane 10th and 11th.

Photos by Michelle Wong, Pyramid Mega Lanes.

21st December, P.Jaya: Singapore Open Youth Under-16 champion, Chong Jun Foo of Sukan Teras Sarawak, was denied a victory when Jo Yeon Sic of Daegu, Korea took the Boy's Under-15 Masters title of the 8th Milo International Junior All Stars on Friday morning.

Chong, who did not have the best of start, managed to crawl his way up the field to stay in contention. The 15-year-old, who was third at the halfway mark of the 8-game finals, posted 231 and 227 in the sixth and seventh games.

A high score in the final game could give the Sarawakian youngster the victory but he only managed a 184 despite the leader, Jo Yeon Sic scoring only 180. Jo took the title with 1764 as Chong settled for second, 46 pins adrift on 1718.

Chong's teammate, Jonathan Ding finished third with 1692 ahead of Singapore Sports School's Justin Lim Chun Liang and Mike Loh Xian Yan tieing in fifth spot with 1687. Boy's Under-12 champion, Muhd Syafiq had a great start but fizzled off to end up in 10th.

In the Girl's Under-15 division, Jessica Florencia of Medan, Indonesia, finally captured her first international title when she finished 57 pins ahead of two Singapore Sports School girls on a total of 1556.

The 14-year-old, who finished second in the same event last year, tied with Anthea Soh after the first two games but was able to keep consistent scores throughout the 8-game final. Jessica stretched her lead after the sixth game and went on to cruise to a comfortable victory.

Anthea Soh settled for second with 1499 followed by her teammate, Tan Yan Ling, who shot 210 to snatch third spot from Korea's Hong Hae Ni with 1491. Hong finished fourth with 1485 with Malaysia's Hanan Fateha in fifth with 1482.

Photos by Michelle Wong, Pyramid Mega Lanes.

20th December, P.Jaya: Newly promoted into the the Malaysian National Elite squad, Syafiq Ridhwan scorched the lanes at Pyramid Mega Lanes to take up second in the Boy's Open local qualifying pool of the 8th Milo International Junior All Stars.

Syafiq Ridhwan, who has been in the national backup squad for the past two years, finally earned his place in the Elite squad after good performannces in his recent outings. Syafiq surprised a strong field to bag the PBAP Bevida-Storm International Classic title in November.

Debuting in the recent SEA Games in Bangkok, Syafiq gave a good account for himself finishing seventh in the Singles and fourth in the Doubles. He also made the Masters finals but ended up in 13th.

Syafiq shot 762 to move into second spot, just 9 pins behind leader, Jonathan Lim. Ziad Izlan dropped one spot to third on his score of 748. Singapore's Gregory Gan remained in top spot with 764 with Daegu's Na Seong Won of Korea taking up second with 747.

Korean youths made continued to make an impression in the championship with Park Jong Woo occupying third in the overseas pool with 732 while Hong Hae Sol, SEA Games Doubles gold medalist, Annop Aromsaranon of Storm Thailand and Mak Cheuk Yin of Hong Kong tieing in fourth with 714.

There were no changes in the Girl's local pool with national Elite member, Zandra Aziela, Pelapis member Norhanizah Abu Bakar and national youth Christyn Chew occupying the top 3 spots.

Singapore's Geralding Ng stormed into the lead with a superb 732 dislodging teammate, Cherie Tan into second on her 717 posted yesterday. Korea's Kwon Hye Mi moved up to third with 712.

Netherlands' AMF Bowling World Cup representative and top European bowler, Ghislaine van der Tol, did well to post 644 in her first-ever appearance in a championship in Asia. She is not used to the tough qualifying rounds practised here in Asia and will soon adapt to it in no time.

The Boy's and Girl's Under-15 Masters finals will be contested tomorrow morning as qualifying for the Open and Graded division will end on Friday, December 21. Their Masters finals will be held on Saturday, December 22.

Photos by Cheah Ban Cheng and Terence Yaw.

20th December, P.Jaya: Odds-on favourite, Muhd Syafiq Sazeli of Sukan Teras Sarawak, took his maiden win after the Sarawakian youth captured the Boy's Under-12 Masters title of the 8th Milo International All Stars.

Muhd Syafiq set a blistering pace with 233, 209 and 201 in the first half of the 6-game Boy's Under-12 Masters finals this morning to build up a commanding lead of 95 pins. The talented 12-year-old was simply too good for the field of 12 finalists as he cruised to a convincing victory with 1261.

Fellow teammate, Ariss Alexander also of Sukan Teras Sarawak, finished second, 173 pins adrift on a total of 1008 while Singapore Sports School's Jason Lim settled for third position with 1087.

"I'm enjoying my bowling here," said the chubby Standard Six pupil of Sekolah Menanga Ong Tiang Swee at Kuching, who also qualified for the Under-15 finals tomorrow morning.

"I just follow what I've learned and focused on the line my coach told me to play. I'll do my best tomorrow in the Under-15 finals and hope I'll have a good result bowling with bowlers elder than me.

Sukan Teras Perak member, Ainaa Khairina took the Girl's Under-12 crown when she knocked down 1010 total in the 6-game final. Indonesia's Nadia Pramanik finished second with 977 while another Sukan Teras bowler from Selangor, Victoria Chin shot 965 to take up third place.

The Boy's and Girl's Under-15 Masters finals will be contested tomorrow morning as qualifying for the Open and Graded division will end on Friday, December 21. Their Masters finals will be held on Saturday, December 22.

Photos by Sidney Tung.

18th December, P.Jaya: National bowlers dominated the qualifying rounds of the 8th Milo International Junior All Stars Bowling Championship underway at Pyramid Mega Lanes as Jonathan Lim and Zandra Aziela topped the Boy's and Girl's Open divisions.

National Pelapis squad member, Jonathan Lim posted an incredible 771 and an average of 257 over the 3-game qualifying round to top the Boy's Open division. The 23-year-old Jonathan, who will be competing in his last junior championship, was a meber of the winning team in the 2003 World Tenpin Team Cup.

Jonathan almost became the first bowler to hit a perfect game as he reeled in 11 consecutive strikes during his second game but only managed 8 pins in his final throw to end with a high game of 298. The Sarawakian knocked down lines of 195, 298 and 278 for the pole position.

Asian Schools gold medalist, Zaid Izlan amassed a 3-game total of 748 with lines of 255, 236 and 257 to take up second spot while national

youth, Rodson Tong finished third with 741. Another Pelapis squad member, Isaac Russell and national youth, Tengku Afnan rounded the top 5 tieing with 737.

Meanwhile, Zandra Aziela, who had a disappointing outing at the recent SEA Games in Bangkok without a medal, stamped her mark by topping the Girl's Open division in her first attempt with 716.

Newly-crowned Pahang Open champion, Norhanizah Abu Bakar stepped on her recent good form to take up second spot with 706 while Chinese Taipei Youth champion and national youth, Christyn Chew also did well to finish third with 699.

Triple gold medalist and the ever-improving Zatil Iman put up another impressive performance with 698 to occupy fourth position as early leader and national youth, Dayang Khairuniza Dhiaya rounded up the top 5 in fifth position with 695.

Sarawak has always been known to produce stars at a very young age as Muhd Syafiq of Sukan Teras Sarawak stole the limelight when the 12-year-old Sekolah Kebangsaan Ong Tian Swee posted lines of 259, 223 and 213 to grab the lead in the Boy's Under-12 division with 696.

Singapore Sports School's Basil Low and Ng Chiew Pang took up second and third with 684 and 669 respectively with Mike Loh Xian Yan fourth with 656 and Singapore Open Boy's Under-15 champion, Chong Jun Foo fifth on 647.

GP Finals Girl's Under-15 champion, Hee Kar Yen again proved she is a future star, topped the Girl's Graded division with 633 followed Siti Nur Fairuz of Selangor in second with 621 and Singapore's Krishna Darshini third with 615.

Qualifying continues through to Friday, December 21 and the Masters finals for the Under-12 will be staged on Thursday, the Under-15 and Graded divisions on Friday whilst the Open divisions on December 22.

Photos by Terence Yaw and Sidney Tung.

12th December, P.Jaya: A star-studded field of youths from 10 countries will converge at Pyramid Mega Lanes for the 8th Milo International Junior All Stars Bowling Championship which will kick off December 13.

This was disclosed at the press conference held this afternoon at Pyramid Mega Lanes in which Mr Ng Ping Loong, Marketing & Promotions Manager of Nestle Products (M) Sdn Bhd, the main sponsor, Mr Kevin Tan, General Manager of Marketing & Leasing of Sunway Pyramid, the co-sponsor and Mr Sidney Tung, Executive Director & Secretary General of MTBC.

"The Milo International Junior All Stars is one of the top junior championship in this region and is often very keenly competed by youths bowlers from all over the world," said Mr Sidney Tung when addressing members of the press media.

"We have been asked so often when the championship will be held each year from many of the youths we meet during our international outings," added Mr Tung. "Of course MTBC supports the championship

each year with participation from our national team who are under the age of 23 and the national youth squads.

He added that the Sukan Teras unit of the National Sports Council has also approved each state sending 4 girls and 4 boys to participate in this year's event and for those wh are not selected by the states, most of the youths will compete on their own.

"We are indeed honoured to be associated with such a prestigious championship as the main sponsor for the 8th year running," said Mr Ng Ping Loong at the press conference. "It is championship like the Milo Junior All Stars where new talents can be unearthed.

"Milo is always in the forefront of promoting healthy sporting activities amongst the youths and our involvement with tenpin bowling dates back quite a long way," added Mr Ng.

Mr Kevin Tan of Sunway Pyramid presented a sponsorship mock cheque worth RM15,000 while Mr Ng presented the Nestle Products main sponsorship mock cheque which included cash and products in kind towards the championship.

A total prize fund of a whopping RM100,000 awaits participants to the championship. In addition, a RM50,000 cash will also awarded to the first bolwler to score a perfect game during the Masters finals.

A much as 10 countries have confirmed that they will be sending teams to this year's championship which included Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and of course, Malaysia.

Qualifying rounds starts December 13 and will run through to December 21. The prize funds have increased substantially with the top prize of RM28,000 to the Boy's Masters champion. The cost of qualifying remained unchanged but will now comprise of 3 games instead of the usual 4 games.

Photos by Terence Yaw.