Singapore dominates Youth finals

31st March, K.Lumpur: Singapore youths dominated the opening Masters event this morning by capturing the MILO International Youth Boy's Open Masters and finishing 1-2 in the Girl's Open division of the 29th Malaysian International Open. 2004 Singapore National champion and Manila SEA Games Masters Silver medalist, Jazreel Tan set the lanes ablaze to romp home a comfortable winner on 2172, 68 pins ahead of teammate, Geraldine Ng in second with 2084.

Malaysian National youth, Nazrinnah Abdul Kamil of Perak, set the early pace but was soon overtaken by ex-national, Voon Kim Ling from the third game. A strong game in the fourth by Jazreel, saw the champion building up a lead of 19 pins.

"When I scored high games in the sixth and seventh game and knew I had a comfortable lead, I was able to keep a good momentum," said the two-time Singapore Open youth champion. "Although I'm disappointed not to make the Ladies' Open finals, I'm happy knowing that I have acheived the target I set out before this championship.   In the boy's open division, Singapore celebrated a good outing here with a fine win by Derek Chan. The 20-year-old tok the victory with 2210 pinfalls over the 10-game finals, 49 pins ahead of his nearest opponent, Jonathan Lim Chee Weng of Selangor in second with 2207.

"I got hook into the game after following my parents to the bowling centre when they compete in their weekly leagues," said Chan, who won the Natinal Age Group Under-22 Masters finals. "My whole family bowl and being the youngest, I naturally followed them.

Malaysian National youth member, Adrian Charles Dragon, who was leading at one stage, fizzled out to settle for third spot with 2140 while reigning Malaysian National Youth champion and Asian Schools bound, Noor Afizal Azizan and runei's Bahzi Damit round out the top 5 in fourth and fifth spots.   The Ladies' Open Masters first block of 8 games will commence shortly while the Men's Open Masters finals will be held at 4.00pm. Both the ladies and men will continue their second block on Saturday, 1st April from 9.30am.

  Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.