Second U-15 title for Singapore youth
26th May, Singapore: Nu’Aim Syukri Bin Yusri clinched his second Youth Boys Under-15 Masters title at the 45th Singapore International Open and Charlene Lim snatched her maiden title after winning the Youth Girls Under-15 Masters crown. Nu’Aim Syukri, who won the same title a year ago as a student at the Singapore Sports School but today bowling under PBC, got off to a cracking start with 212 in his opening game to lead Cai Ming En by 12 pins.
A lowly 170 in the second saw the 15-year-old youngster slipped behind Max Peh Wei Jie in second but only 1 pin adrift. But Keith Tan Wei An rolled a big game of 212 to take over the running after the third game.
Nu’Aim Syukri bounced back with a brilliant 220 to regain the lead only to see his lead snatched away again by Max Peh after another poor game of 163 in the fifth. There was very little separating the trio as they went into the sixth game.
Except for game 7 which saw Basil Ng Jui Chang taking over the lead briefly, all three finished strongly.
Nu’Aim ended with 222 to clinch the title for the second time with 1532. Keith Tan settled for second with 1520, 12 pins off Nu’Aim Syukri despite a good 208 in his final game. Max Peh took third spot with 1507 after ending with 222 as well.
The champion had barely made the finals after numerous attempts and only made the finals in his last attempt late last night.
Similarly in the Youth Girls Under-15 Masters finals, Charlene Lim Jia Yi, who had trailed front-runner, Debbie Sim Pei throughout the finals, snatched her maiden victory with a strong final game of 214.
Charlene was 11 pins behind Debbie going into the final game and her strong finish gave her the title with 1420 pinfalls. Debbie Sim had to settle for second with 1364 after two poor games of 143 and 147 in games 7 and 8.
Natalene Yuen Hui Shan finished third with 1358 while Daphne Oh and Nur Aqidah rounded up the top 5 with 1351 and 1318. 16 boys and 8 girls contested the Youth Under-15 Masters finals this morning.
The next masters finals will be contested by the Youth Boys and Girls Under-18 tomorrow at 9.00am as qualifying continues for the rest of the divisions.
Photos by Paul Chua.