28th December, P.Jaya: Malaysian young guns stole the limelight at the concluding 9th MILO World Junior All Stars Bowling Championship with Adrian Ang Hsien Loong successfully defending the Boy's title while Sin Li Jane clinched her first international crown in the Girl's division.

Despite successfully defending the Boy's title, Adrian Ang was forced into a sudden-death decider by challenger, Aaron Kong after Adrian lost the first match, 180-244. But the 20-year-old member of the national elite squad bounched back with a convincing 257-175 victory over Aaron in the second game.

Ang, who topped the 10-game finals earlier by a comfortable margin of 149 pins to advance into the stepladder finals as topseed.

"I was a bit too anxious to get the game over with in one game and I made some bad shots," said the Adrian, who have won the Junior All-Stars title for the third time. "In the second game, I just made sure I hit the pocket and hope that all ten pins will fall.

The champion walked away with a whopping top rpize of RM30,000 for his effort. Aaron, who was seeded fourth, took home RM12,000. The runnerup reached the finals after he dispatched, second seed and national youth, Kang Bo Long and Singapore's Mark Wong, 248-202-192 in the first stepladder match.

Meanwhile, IV Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championship two gold medalist, Sin Li Jane stole the limelight when she defeated her more illustrious team-mate, Esther Cheah, 222-183 to win her first international crown.

Jane had also topped the earlier finals with 2176, 40 pins ahead of Esther in second. Esther edged third-seed, Geraline Ng of Singapore and fourth-seed, Raniia Nugroho of Indonesia, 256-244-215 in a closely fought first stepladder encounter to set up an all-Malaysia finals.

"I knew Esther is much stronger than me but I wasn't feeling nervous at all," said the 16-year-old champion. "In fact I didn't even notice that she missed a single pin. I just kept my concentration throughout the match.

Asked what her goals was after her victory, Jane replied that she will be very happy to continue to get opportunities to compete in more international tournaments. And if I'm selected for next year's Asian Youth, I'll be very happy.

Jane walked away with RM17,000 for winning the Girl's Open Masters title while Esther settled for RM8,000. Second and third runners-up, Geraldine Ng and Raniia Nugroho won RM4,000 and RM1,500 respectively.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

27th December, P.Jaya: Selangor's Muhd Aizudeen Mustaqim clinched his first major title when he triumphed in the Boy's Graded Masters finals of the 9th MILO World Junior All-Stars on Saturday morning.

Muhd Aizudeen Mustaqim, who missed the podium with a fourth place finish in the Boy's Under-15 Masters finals yesterday, surprised many of his more experienced seniors by capturing the Boy's Graded title with a total of 2163.

The 13-year-old Form 1 student from SMK Section 9 in Petaling Jaya got off the block with a superb 226 but trailed Ahmad Aidil of Kuala Lumpur by 29 pins. Despite following it up with 178, 219, 202 and 176 in his first five games, Aizudeen was only inside the top 10 of 32 finalists.

As Perak's Muhd Zakwan and Singapore's Nicholas Lim were tussling for the lead, Aizudeen fired 221 and 288 in his next two games to take a 17 pin lead over Nicholas at the seventh game. The Selangor youth ended the last two games stronger with 238 and 224 to clinch his first major title.

"When I hit the high game of 288 in the seventh game, I knew if I can keep my concentration and momentum, I'd have a chance of winning," said Muhd Aizudeen, who won the Piala Shalin 2007 Under-12 and 2008 Under-15 titles. "I'm really glad to win today after missing in yesterday's finals."

Nicholas Lim, who shot the tournament's first perfect game, settled for second with 2134 while Singapore's Sports School's Howard Saw finished third with 2063. Perak's Shin Chern Yew and Singapore's Loke Chor rounded up the top 5.

Meanwhile, Jessica Florencia of Medan Mandiri, Indonesia took a convincing victory in the Girl's Graded division with a total of 2039. Jessica led from the second game onwards stretching her lead from 2 pins to 102 pins at the end of the 10-game finals.

Terengganu's Nur Hidayah Adam took second spot with a total of 1937 followed by KL's Nur Diana Husin in third with 1913. Nur Amira Irdeena from Johor and first-game leader, Celine Mok of Singapore completed the top 5 with 1889 and 1862.

Muhd Aizudeen Mustaqim won for himself a whopping RM10,000 cash voucher for his effort as Nicholas Lim and Howard Saw took home RM4,000 and RM2,000 respectively. Jessica won RM4,000 with Nur Hidayah and Nur Diana settling for RM2,000 and RM1,000.

The qualifying for the Open division will end late tonight where the top 40 boys and top 30 girls will contest the finals on Sunday, December 28 at the end of which the top 4 will advance to the stepladder finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

26th December, P.Jaya: Malaysian national youth, Mohammed Zaim Zulfadhlie Said grabbed the lead of the Boy's Open Masters local qualifying pool of the 9th MILO World All-Stars while Singapore's New Hui Fen shot the tournament's foruth perfect game.

Mohammed Zaim, who recently won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event and a silver in the Masters finals of the Asean University Games a week ago, is relishing the same conditions at the same center to post 737 to take over the lead of the Boy's Open Masters local pool.

Fellow national youth teammate, Kang Bo Long from Johor, dropped to second with 723 followed by national backup squad member, Zaid Izlan third with 715. Newly-crowned Penang Pesta Youth champion, Aris Ardila Santosh from Sarawak, led some of the best Malaysian youths, all posting the 700-mark three game qualifying scorelines in the rest of the table.

Doha Asian Games Doubles gold medalist, Bader Al-Shaikh was still the only bowler to surpass the 800-mark with a 816 scorcher on Christmas Eve. The 21-year-old student attached to a Brisbane university shot 269, 279 and 268 for the overall lead.

Hong Kong's Leo Tse and Singapore Sports School's Justin Lim Chun Liang tied in second in the overseas pool with 757. Youths who had thought they made the cut are dropping off like snow on a white Christmas day as the scores soar in the penultimate day of qualifying.

In the girl's division, Jaya Ancol Bowl's Raniia Nugroho of Indonesia, took over the lead after a tenth attempt. She started off with a cracking 266 followed it up with 243 and her pace dropped off a bit to end her third game with 217 for an incredible 717 total.

"I'm not sure what happened but the lane condition was just ideal and I didn't leave a lot of pin 10s like in my previous MQs," said the delighted Raniia. "I'll take a rest now for the finals. I was very tired after so many MQs the past few days.

This year's Malaysian Open champion and two-time Singapore national champion, Jazreel Tan is second with 707 behind Raniia with New Hui Fen of Singapore Sports Schools third with 704. Earlier, Hui Fen also posted the tournament's fourth perfect game during her singles which she scored 701

Fatin Syazliana will lead Malaysia's charge in the Masters finals with a top score of 738. Two-time World Champion, Esther Cheah staked her claim to the title with a superb 712 to finish second while Zatil Iman took third spot with 702.

Qualifying will end on tomorrow, December 27 while the Graded division will end today. The Open Masters finals will be staged on Sunday, December 28 with TV coverage from Astro Supersport.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

26th December, P.Jaya: Hong Kong's new wonder boy, Michael Mak does it again by capturing his second international youth title this year with a victory in the Youth Boy's Under-15 Masters finals of the 9th MILO World Junior All-Stars on Boxing Day while Celine Mok win the girl's crown.

Michael Mak didn't have the best of start but kept pace with the leaders during the first half of the 8-game Masters finals. Although Mak had led in the second and third games, the lead changed hands several times.

But by the sixth game, Mak picked up his pace to knock down 245, 203 and ending with 227 to take a comfortable victory with 1720, averaging an incredible 215 for a 14-year-old. Tay Kun Long of Singapore Sports School settled for second with 1622, 98 pins adrift.

"I started fairly well in the first three games but came to a pair where I just couldn't score," said the 14-year-old Mak, who won this year's PBAP Classic youth title in Manila. "I thought I had lost it but when I shot 245 and 203 in the sixth and seventh games, I knew the title was mine.

Pace-setter, Keith Saw, also of Singapore Sports School, took third sport with 1598 while Muhamad Ikmal Ismail of Kuala Lumpur, who led at the halfway mark managed only a fifth place finish behind Selangor's Muhd Aizudeen Mustakim in fourth.

Meanwhile, Singapore youths swept the top three podium places in the Girl's Under-15 Masters finals with Celine Mok clinching the title with 1600. Mok, who was in mid field in the early stages, finished strongly to snatch victory by 9 pins.

Singapore Sports School's Ilma Noor Jannah, who led after the fourth and fifth games, settled for second with 1591 ahead of team-mate, Tan Yan Ling in third with 1506. Last year's champion, Georgya Britton and Kwa Ai Teng rounded up the top 5.

"I didn't know I had taken the lead but after my coach, Billy (Choo) had told me, I was a bit anxious," said the CHIJ Toa Payoh Sec 3 student, whose only title so far was winning the Novice Upper secondary Masters title since taking up bowling 5 years ago.

The winners were awarded with trophies, a Brunswick bowling ball and bag each. Qualifying will continue for the next two days with the Graded Masters finals on Saturday and the Open Masters finals on Sunday, December 28.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

25th December, P.Jaya: Two-time World Champion, Esther Cheah staked her claim on the Girl's Open Masters title of the 9th MILO World Junior All-Stars with a superb 712 qualifying effort on Christmas day.

After arriving back from her studies break in the United States, national elite squad member and two time World Champion, immediately came to Sunway Mega Lanes to have a game or two to get tuned for her qualifying attempt.

Her first attempt yielded 665 which was good enough to put her sixth in the Girl's Open Masters local pool. Esther bowled her singles yesterday to record 719 where she found a good line.

After attending church this morning to celebrate Christmas, she came to the center in an attempt to improve the 665 she has in the table. She passed with flying colours as the Malaysian downed 712 to move up to second spot.

"The nearest I've come to winning the Junior All-Stars title was in 2004 where I finish second and it would be nice if I can go back to America with a victory," said the 22-year-old Esther, who is studying psychology at Nabraska University.

Still at the top of the table is national youth, Fatin Syazliana Nasution, whose 738 looked firm. Asean University Games Masters gold medalist, Zatil Iman finished third with 702 ahead of early leader, Yap Wi Yin fourth with 695.

IV Commonwealth Championship two gold medalist, Sin Li Jane notched up an improvement over her earlier attempt to take up fifth position with 691 followed by two-time Chinese Taipei Open and newly-crowned Penang Pesta Open champion, Sharon Koh sixth on 673.

Singapore girls dominated the overseas pool by occupying the top 3 positions with this year's Malaysian Open champion and two-time Singapore national champion, Jazreel Tan leading the pack with 707. Daphne Tan and New Hui Fen finished second and third with 705 and 704 respectively.

Meanwhile, Asean University Games Masters silver medalist and national youth, Mohammed Zaim Zulfadhlie Said took over the lead in the local pool with 737 from overnight leader, Kang Bo Long, who led yesterday with 723.

Doha Asian Games Doubles gold medalist, Bader Al-Shaikh of Saudi Arabia was in sizzling form when he became the first bowler surpass the 800-mark. The 21-year-old Saudi opened with 269 followed by 279 and a third game of 268 to take the overseas pool and overall lead.

Hong Kong's new wonder boy, Michael Mak and Singapore's Gregory Gan were pushed down to second and third by Bader's superb effort. Bader's compatriot, Yousef Akbar has also assured himself a spot in the finals in eighth with 684.

2004 champion, Aaron Kong has also made the cut in ninth position in the local pool. Adrian Ang, the defending champion, will be vying to capture the title for the third time after having won last year and in 2003.

Chinese Taipei's Cheng Hsing-Chao became the third bowler to score a perfect game in the tournament. Singapore's Nicholas Lim shot the first one on the second day of the championship while national youth, Adrian Charles Dragon achieved the perfect 300 on Tuesday evening.

Qualifying will end on Saturday December 27 while the Graded division will end tomorrow. The Under-15 category will end this evening. The Open Masters finals will be staged on December 28 with TV coverage from Astro Supersport.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

24th December, P.Jaya: Newly-crowned Penang Pesta Open Youth Boys champion, Aris Ardila Santosh was on a roll as the national youth posted a scintilating 712 to stake his claim on the 9th MILO World Junior All-Stars Boy's Open Masters title.

Fresh from a superb run in the Penang Pesta Open last week where he bagged the Youth Boy's Open title for the second consecutive year and finished second in the Men's Open Masters finals, Aris Ardila shot 223, 279 and 210 for a total of 712.

His effort gave him the lead in the Boy's Open Masters qualifying table but was short-lived as his teammate, Kang Bo Long knocked down 723 and national backup squad member, Zaid Izlan downed 715 to push Aris down to third.

"I had struggled a bit in my earlier attempts but my coach, Jackson really helped me a lot to line me up on a better line to bowl," said the 17-year-old Aris. "I need to do well here in the Masters finals so that my hope of making the backup squad next year will be better."

Early leaders, Mohammed Amirrul Afif of Kuala Lumpur and national youth, Syimir Abdul Razak were pushed further down to fourth and fifth position in the local pool. Singapore's Gregory Gan took the lead briefly in the overseas pool with a first attempt of 707.

Hong Kong's new wonder boy, Michael Mak made his presence felt as he shot 711 to take over the lead in the overseas pool. Mak, 14 who won the PBAP Classic Youth title also posted the highest four-game qualifying score with a sizzling 778 to top the Boy's Under-15 table.

Overnight leader, Adam Scott of England dropped to third on his 703 scoreline as another Singaporean youth, Justin Lim Chun Liang improved to fourth with 689. Penang's Adrian Charles Dragon shot the second perfect game of the championship in his singles late last night.

National youth, Fatin Syazliana Bte Nasution continued to lead the Girl's Open division with 738 posted on Tuesday. Asean University Games Masters gold medalist, Zatil Iman improved her score from 660 to 702 to land second spot.

Pyramid Youth's Yap Wi Yin took third spot after leading briefly while 2005 Junior All-Stars champion and newly-crowned Penang Pesta Open champion, Sharon Koh notched up a btter score of 673 to move up to fourth.

World Championship gold medalist, Esther Cheah, who arrived a day earlier from her studies break in the United States, took to the lanes for her qualifying rounds and posted a respectable 665 for fifth spot.

Singapore's Daphne Tan maintained her lead in the overseas pool with 705 followed by her elder sister and Asean University three gold medalist, Cherie Tan in second with 652. World Youth silver medalist, Tannya Roumimper from Bandung, Indonesia finished third with 624.

Qualifying continues through to December 27. The first of the Masters finals which will be held tomorrow (December 25) is the Under-12 division. The Under-15 division finals will be held on December 26 and the Graded division December 27.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

23rd December, P.Jaya: National youth, Fatin Syazliana Bte Nasution took over the lead in the Girl's Open Masters qualifying table in the 9th MILO World Junior All-Stars as former champion, Aaron Kong moved into joint second in the Boy's division.

Fatin, who laid off for 8 months recovering from a knee surgery, did well to finish third in the Youth Girl's Open masters finals last week in the Penang Pesta International Open. The 18-year-old scorched the lanes with lines of 265, 227 and 246 for a total of 723 to take over the lead in the qualifying leaderboard.

Pyramid Youth's Yap Wi Yin, who led briefly with 695, dropped to second ahead of two-time Junior All-Stars champion and overnight leader, Siti Safiyah Amirah and Asean University Games Masters gold medalist, Zatil Iman tieing in third with 660.

SingaporeBowling's Daphne Tan topped the overseas pool with a superb 705 dislodging her elder sister, Cherie Tan in to second spot with 652. Commonwealth Championship gold medalist, Jo Allsebrook of England took sixth spot with 580 first attempt and shooting the high game of 268.

Meanwhile, 2004 Junior All-Stars champion and member of the national elite squad, Aaron Kong moved into joint third with Yusuf Abdul Roaf after a superb 706. Kong's win in 2004 was his first international success and he will be aiming to end his drought with a victory.

National youth, Syimir Abdul Razak took over the lead with 708 pushing Sarawak's Bong Kihow into second spot on 707 while Asean University Games Singles gold medalist and two-time PBAP Classic champion, Syafiq Ridhwan finished third with 703.

Leo Tse of Hong Kong almost scored the second perfect game of the championship with 298. But his three-game effort of 648 put him only sixth in the overseas pool. Singapore's Nicolas Lim shot the first perfect 300 two days ago.

Australia's Keryn Delany, Sam Cooley and Wade Selwood, who were the first overseas participants to arrive Malaysia for the championship, occupied the top three spots in the overseas table with 684, 683 and 672.

The majority of the overseas world-class youths will be arriving today and will take to the lanes later today. DBU Junior Cup champion, Tina Hulsch of Germany and Ghislaine van der Tol of the Netherlands have bowled their singles before making their qualifying rounds.

Reigning AMF World Cup champion, Jasmine Yeong-Nathan of Singapore will also be trying out the lanes later today. SingaporeBowling's national youths have also arrive and will ultimately push the qualifying scores higher.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

22nd December, P.Jaya: Two-time champion and national elite squad member, Siti Safiyah Amirah is gunning to become the first Malaysian to win the Girl's Open Masters crown of the 9th MILO International Junior All-Stars underway at Sunway Mega Lanes.

Siti Safiyah, who just turned 18 last month, seem to have been in the bowling scene for a long long time. This is because she has countless titles to her name. Siti first raised many eyebrows when she won her first Junior All-Stars title in 2004 when she was only 14.

And many thought it was just a fluke when she managed to outshine many more experience Malaysians and international juniors for the title. But the following year, Siti Safiyah claimed her first major international title winning the prestigious 2005 Malaysian International Open.

She also created history by becoming the first Malaysian to win the title at the age of 14. Malaysia's bowling idol, Shalin Zulkifli was crowned national champion when she was 14.

Siti has since been promoted to the national elite squad after being in the backup squad for two years. In 2006, she regained the Junior All-Stars title and at the same time, won her back-to-back title after she clinched the 2006 Penang Pesta International Open a week later.

A victory in the on-going championship will make the first Malaysian to have won this prestigious crown for the third time. This victory would also put her in the frmae for a spot in this year's World Women's Championship in Las Vegas, USA in July.

Siti posted an impressive 660 to share the lead of the Girl's Open division. She had lines of 216, 216 and 228 in her three-game qualifying round yesterday. Asean University Games Masters gold medalist, Zatil Iman tied top spot with Siti on 660.

National Elite squad member, Zandra Aziela finished third with 656 ahead of backup squad member, Nur Syakira Yeoh and Negeri Sembilan's Hurul Ainul second and third with 633 and 596 respectively.

Asean University Games four gold medalist and this year's Singapore International Open champion, Cherie Tan of Singapore lead the overseas table with 652 followed by Australia's Kara Trivicio and Singapore's Kritel Oh third.

Meanwhile, Sarawak's Bong Kihow lead the Boy's Open division with a score of 707. Wilayah Persekutuan's Yusuf Abdul Roaf, who became the second bowler to score past the 700-mark, shot 706 to finish second to Bong in the table.

Asean University Games Singles gold medalist and two-time PBAP Classic champion, Syafiq Ridhwan took third spot with 703. Muhd Saman Mohd Shuib of Pahang and natoional youth, Syimir Abdul Razak rounded up the top 5.

Qualifying continues through to December 27. The Youth Under-12 finals will be held on December 25, the Youth Under-15 on December 26 and the Youth Graded finals December 27. The finals of the Open division will be on December 28.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

22nd December, P.Jaya: In conjuction with the 9th MILO International Junior All-Stars Bowling Championship, a special media games was held in which S.E.N. TV emerged as champion at Sunway Mega Lanes on Monday afternoon.

S.E.N. TV comprising of Affendy, 28 who works with the IT department, Sabhannur, 29 a despatch clerk and Jefferi, 32 a producer, amassed a total of 1628 over three games from each bowler to claim the champion's crown.

The champion posted 570 in their opening game followed by 499 and 559 to take the well-deserved victory. Team Sportunite comprising of Shameez, Terence Yaw and Shergar finished a distant second with a team total of 1497.

Team Sinar took third spot with a total of 1491. Adrian Low of New Straits Time Press won the high series award with a three-game total of 528 while SportUnite Executive Director, Dat' Dina Rizal won the high game ward.

Mr Ng Ping Loong, Marketing and Sponsorships Manager of Nestle (MILO) Products, who is the main sponsor of the 9th MILO International Junior All-Stars Bowling Championship was on hand to present exclusive MILO hampers to the winners.

The immensely popular Junior All-Stars, which has now earned world-class status in view of the participation from world renowed youth bowlers from all over the world, will run through to December 28 with the last day of qualifying for the Open division ending on December 27 and finals on December 28.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

15th December, P.Jaya: World-class stars will be assembled for the 9th MILO International Junior All-Stars Bowling Championship which will kick off on December 19 at the Sunway Mega Lanes, Sunway Lagoon Resorts.

This was disclosed at the simple press conference held yesterday in the presence of Mr Ng Ping Loong, Marketing & Sponsorship Manager of the title sponsor, Nestle (Milo) Products Sdn Bhd and Mr H.C. Chan, Senior Promotions Manager of Sunway Pyramid Shopping Centre and Mr Sidney Tung, secretary general of MTBC.

The stars assembled is headed by the newly-crowned AMF Bowling WOrld Cup champion, Jasmine Yeong-Nathan of Singapore. Jasmine made histroy when she became the first SIngaporean to win bowling's most prestigious title in Mexico last month.

She will be joined by Ghislaine Van Der Tol of the Netherlands, who won the San Marino Open this year. Another world champion is Tina Hulsh of Germany, who won the Doubles gold medal at the World Youth Championship in Orlando, USA.

Gold medalist of the recent IV Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championship, Jo Allsebrook of England will be making her debut at the junior meet and adding to this list is World Youth silver medalist, Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia.

Youth bowlers from fifteen countries have confirmed their participation for the most popular international junior championship in this year's calendar.

Leading the local challenge are the top Malaysian national elite and elite backup squad members. Tto-time champion, Adrian Ang will be the firm favourite after his recent success winning the 1st Ancol Open in Jakarta last month.

Former champion, Sharon Koh, Siti Safiyah Amirah and Zandra Aziela are all favourites for the girl's crown while the favourite for promotion to the elite squad is Sin Li Jane, who won the singles and masters gold medals at the IV Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championship in Belfast.

Apart from Adrian Ang, the likes of Muhd Nur Aiman, two gold medalist of the IV Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championship, two-time PBAP Classic champion, Syafiq Ridhwan and former champion, Aaron Kong are all stars on their own.

This year's top prize id a whopping RM30,000 making this the highest prize junior title in Asian. The girl's crown is also worth RM17,000 which will surely be intensely contested.

"The Milo Junior All-Stars initiated by our national chief coach, Holloway Cheah back in year 2000, has grown over the years as the most prestigious junior championship not only in this region, but in the world," said Sidney Tung at the press conference.

"It has also helped to provide a high-level platform for the Malaysian youth bowlers to showcase their talents and skills while at the same time, make friends with junior bowlers from all over the world."

Both Mr. Ng Ping Loong and Mr. H.C Chan expressed their appreciation to be associated as sponsors of this world class event and were very pleased and proud to be able to continue their support.

Photos courtesy of Sunway Mega Lanes.