Youngster Jason keeps knocking at the pins!

Jason Syow Huay Tik was in the limelight again yesterday evening at the Sunway Pyramid Mega Lanes, when he won the High Game Award for the day in the Malaysian National Bowling Championship’ Masters qualifying stages.

The 13-year-old lad from Melaka was bowling in the Boys Open category when in his second game he fired a 289, in the Boys Open Masters qualifier.

He had ten strikes in a row, but in the eleventh saw a pin standing before he spared it for 289.

 Jason who only took up the sports two years ago and is seen a bright talent for the future, first rose to prominence on Monday when he won the Boys Singles in the Interstate championship when competing in the Under-21 category.

En route to his singles gold, Jason in his third game had 11 strikes in a row before in the final a stubborn single pin refused to fall and he had to settle for 299.

Jason, then went on to pick up a medal in all the remaining three events – a silver in the doubles partnering M Syafiq Hashim and a bronze each in the Team and All-events.

On Sunday after the opening ceremony of the Interstate championship, Jason had also won the Peter Yap Memorial Boys singles title for Under-14.

“I am still chasing my first ever 300,” said Jason who was naturally disappointed.

“It was so near and yet eluded me. But I am sure I will achieve it. Maybe I will be third time lucky” said the Form Two High School student

“I am still young and maybe not experienced enough to calm my nerves at crucial moments like this. But I am learning and hope to get better with each competition,” said Jason who won a Canon Powershot Digital camera for the Day’s Hi Game.

Jason is currently placed 12^th in Boys Open Category with his total of 907. The top 17 qualify for the Masters final in this category.

The camera sponsored by Canon has been available since Monday for the National championship qualifying rounds.

The previous days winners are, Mohammad Ozzer (the All-Events winner) from Sabah with his Hi-Game of 279 on Monday, Kuala Lumpur’s Syimir Abdul Razak who has won it twice, first on Tuesday with his 278 and yesterday for his 279 and Ooi Chin Bing from Labuan on Wednesday with his Hi-game of 277.

The qualifiers for the Boys and Girls Graded Masters ended last night and the finals will be this morning.

As for the Men’s Open, Women’s Open, Men’s Graded and Women’s Graded, qualifiers will go on until tomorrow night and the finals on Saturday.

Defending champions of the Men and Women Open – Muhd Syafiq Ridhwan and Siti Safiyah Amriah qualify automatically for the Masters final, while the Interstate All-events men and women’s gold medalist also get an automatic berth.

While Zulmazran Zulkifli qualifies for the men’s winner, Siti Safiyah who won the women’s All-Events who had already qualified as the defending champion, will see her place taken up by the will the eleventh qualifier.

A total 16 men bowlers will bowl in the Men’s Masters – the defending champion,. All-events winner and 14 qualifiers – while for the Women’s category, 10 will compete – the defending champion, All-Events winner and 10 qualifiers.

All-events champions of the Boys and Girls Open will also gain automatic spots and 17 and 11 qualifiers respectively. The All-events winners are Sabah’s Ozzer Othaman and Nur Diana Hussin from KL.

Current Leaders (Top 5):

Men’s Open:

1. Mat Salleh (Ole-Ole Superbowl) 1006; 2. Muhd Nur Aiman (Joh) – 964; 3. Syimir Abdul Razak (Nat Youth) – 939; 4. Fahmi Bahri Sulaiman (Nat Youth) – 924; 5. Aaron Kong (National) – 924

Boy’s Open:

1. Syimir Abdul Razak (Nat Youth) – 973; 2. Chong Jun Foo (Swak) – 921; 3. Qalif Adnor Adam (KL) – 920; 4. Tan Chien Nan (Sab) – 920; 5. Johnathan Ding (Swak) – 918

Men’s Graded:

1. Mohd Shafiq (Mel) – 968; Azidi Ameran (Sel) – 954; 3. Adrian Charles Dragon (Pen) – 882; 4. Mohd Riduan Saidin – 881; 5. Michael Ooi – 863

Boy’s Graded:

1. Daniel Tan (Swak) – 944; 2. Tan Chye Chern – 875; 3. Nazrim Noordin – 866; 4. Mohamad Danial Mohd Azhar (Pen) – 863; 5. Julian Yan (SMK Seafield) – 846

Ladies Open:

1. Fatin Syazliana (Nat back-up) – 987; 2. Sharon Koh (Nat) – 977; 3. Zandra Aziela (Nat) – 918; 4. Zatil Iman (Nat) – 870; 5. Sin Li Jane (Back-up) 866

Girls Open:

1.Hee Kar Yen (Nat Youth) – 894;  2. Jacqueline Jenelee (NY) – 872; 3. Dayang Khairuniza (Swak) – 852; 4. Nurafidza Amran (Swak)– 844; 5. Lim Hsu Zen (NS) – 830

Girls Graded:

1.Nurafida Amran (Swak) – 900; 2. Nur Amira Irdeena (Joh) – 855; 3. Nur Amirah Auni Azman (Pen) – 817; 4. Jackelyn Ng (Swak) – 817; 5. Dayang Aida (Swak) 807

Ladies Graded:

1.Nur Hidayah Mohd Nurdin (NS) – 809; 2. Caroline Chien Chin Yi (Swak) – 792; 3. Wong Mei Yuan (KL) – 797; 4. Nadiah Wagiman (Swak) – 774; 5. Nurfadeena Aznel (Ked) – 773.

Zulmazran on song again

Selangor’s Zulmazran Zulkifli bounced back after a poor outing on Tuesday, to end the Interstate championship on a high note when he won the Men’s All-events and Team event at the Sunway Mega Lanes and help his State maintain their supremacy.

The two gold medals yesterday brought his personal tally to three our four possible gold medals, having won the singles in sizzling form on Monday.

On Monday, he had high 1617 for six games, but had a poor 1217, which cost him a medal in the doubles, but yesterday bounced back for 1450 total and a grand total of 4284 for an average of 238.

In the team event, Zulmazaran partnered Zaid Izlan, Kelvin Keong (the duo won the doubles gold) and Alex Liew for the victory. Winning the silver was Penang’s lineup of Aaron Kong, Mohd Afiq Wafiy, Khoo Beng Khai and Adrian Ang.

Adrian also won the All-Events silver medal with his total of 4051 – 233 pins behind Zulmazran. Kelvin won another medal for Selangor when he bagged the bronze with his total 4018.

Bronze medalist in the team event was Johor’s team of Muhd Nur Aiman, Muhd Haikal Downs, Fahmi Bahri Sulaiman and Kang Bo Long with their 4713.

“I was back on the left side of the house where I had done well on Monday and everything fell in place today. Yesterday (Tuesday), I was bowling on right side of the house where the lanes were drier and I had difficulties,” said Zulmazran.

“I am glad that I bounced back and am happy to have won three gold medals, although I would have been happier if I had bagged all four.”

In the women’s category, Selangor’s Zandra Aziela Ibrahim Hakimi, failed to match Zulmazran’s feat when she had to settle for silver medals in the team and All-events.

It was Kuala Lumpur’s team of Hee Kar Yen, Cheryl Pui Yee, Wendy Chai and Sahron Koh with 5174.

Zandra and her teammates of Illi Syazana, Zatil Iman and Siti Safiyah Amirah won the silver with their total of 4781, while Johor picked up the bronze medal with their team of Siti Shazwani, Sh. Nurfatimah, Wan Nur Atiqqa and Nur Syakirah Yeoh with their total of 4694.

While Zandra failed to win the gold in the All-Events, Selangor were still smiling as Siti Safiyah bagged it with her grand 3980.

Zandra who was behind Siti with one game left in the team event, saw Kuala Lumpur and fellow national teammate Sharon Koh pip her to win the silver with a total of 3924 as compared to Zandra’s 3897.

“It was so close yet so far. It was there for my taking to bag four and at worst three gold medals, but it was not to be,” sighed Zandra.

“I did badly in the doubles, but today I did better, but was not good enough to catch up with Siti Safiyah who had pulled away.

“In any case, it has been a good start to the year for me and I hope to continue to improve and do better than my overall performance last year where I did not win any titles at all.”

Selangor continued to dominate the Interstate championship with their total of seven gold medals, two silver and four bronze, while KL settled for four gold, four silver and four bronze.

Sabah, thanks to their youth bowlers, finished third with 3 gold, one silver and one bronze medal.
But it was Sarawak who won four silver and four bronze medals and had four fourth placings who finished third ahead of Johor based on merits points given for the top four placings of 1,2,3 and 4 points.
Sarawak had 20 points as opposed to Sabah's 20 which saw them finish fourth in the overall standing.

MEDAL TALLY

                                 G            S          B

Selangor                  7             4          4                     

Kuala Lumpur         4             3          4

Sabah                       3             1          1

Melaka                    1             1          2

Johor                        1             0          2

Sarawak                   0             4         4

Kedah                       0            1          0

Negri Sembilan        0            1          0

Penang                      0           2          1

The Land Below The Wind Rises

Sabah Tenpin Bowling Association’s (STBA) emphasis on development saw them emerge as the new force among youth bowling in the Interstate Bowling championship which ended yesterday.

Yesterday, Sabah bagged another two gold medals in the Youth category for a total of three – the highest achieved in the championship.

Sabah’s toast of the day was Ozzer Othaman, who won his second gold medal when he emerged, tops in the Boys All-events with his 3783 from three events and 12 games for an average of 210.

Selangor’s Mud Amirul was second with his total of 3686. Singles gold medalist and rising talent from Melaka, 13-year-old, Jason Syow Huay Tik, was the bronze medalist with his total of 3633.

Ozzer who had turned 19 on Jan 9, had on Tuesday won his first gold medal in the doubles event partnering Tan Chien Nan.

Ozzer a Form Five student of SMK Sanzac in Kota Kinabalu, had also won the silver medal in the singles.

Sabah’s third gold medal came yesterday from their Girls team comprising Steffira Greater, Alexandria Edith Joh, Eva Lee Ming who had a total of 4609.

Sabah's Golden Girls: (from left to right) Steffira Greater, Alexandria, Siti Farahain and Eva Lee Ming

Steffira, also won her second medal yesterday, when she won the bronze in the Girls All-events with her 3583.

Kuala Lumpur finished 1-2 in the Girls All-Events with their aces Nur Diana Hussin and Nur Umirah Raduan winning the gold and silver respectively with their totals of 3652 and 3632.

For Nur Diana it was her third gold medal after having won the singles and doubles earlier. She missed out a fourth, when the Selangor team finished fourth in the team event.

Youth All Events champions: Sabah's Ozzer Othaman and Kuala Lumpur's Nur Diana Hussin


For Nur Umirah on the other hand, it was her second gold medal after having partnered Diana to win the doubles gold.

STBA secretary and Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress Vice-President, Maradona Chok said that Sabah’s achievement did not come over night.

 Maradona Chok before presenting prizes to the winners of the Peter Yap Memorial Cup on Sunday

“It was a five-year development programme started when the new team of management took over STBA in 2006 under the leadership of Mohd Ayub Dahlan (below),” said Chok.

“The Sukan Teras programme together with A development programme (beginners programme for Under-12), kicked off our development programme.

“Sadly the A development programme was discontinued because of lack of funds after the second year. The girls team who won the team event today are all from that programme.

“But we continued with the Youth Development under coach Ricky Loh despite funds for the Sukan Teras also cut after the second year.”

Chok said that Mohd Ayub had set a target of 2010 for Sabah to make their mark, but they had already started to make waves in the 2008 Sukma Games in Terengganu where they were overall champions with a haul of five gold, two silver and two bronze.

“And today, the performance of our boys and girls in the Interstate is the best ever in the history of the competition.”

Without doubt, Sabah will once again the force to be reckoned in the coming Sukma Games in Melaka.

The dedication of the STBA is unquestionable for president, Mohd Ayub, the assistant director of Sabah’s Public Services Department and newly elected vice-president Abdul Rahim Abdul Hussein, have been with the team from day one from morning till the last ball is thrown by their bowlers late at night.

Chok said that Mohd Ayub in his five years term has made it a point to be present at every championship Sabah competes.

“He is avid bowler who bowls every night and supports the game with passion. His dedication has certainly been a key factor for Sabah’s rise.”

Sarawak is another team to be noted for the development programme and their rise in the sports. 

Former national bowler, Jackson Ting, handles the development in Sarawak and he is certainly make waves.

Although Sarawak did not win a gold medal in the championship, they won three silvers and three bronze medals. They will indeed be a State to lookout for.

In the Boys Team event, there was another surprise in the Johor team winning the gold with their team comprising Chan Wei Siang, Syed Mohd Hafiz, Mohd Faizal Rahmat and Mohd Haziq Shali with their total of 4943.

Johor's Golden Boys: (from left) Mohd Faizal, Mohd Haziq, Syed Mohd Hafiz and Chan Wei Siang

Sarawak won  the silver with a total of 4800, while Melaka won the bronze.

The rise of teams like Sabah, Sarawak, Melaka and Johor in the youth category to outshine perennial strong holders Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, certainly augurs well for the game.

How about some money for MSSM Sir?

RM10 million was given by the Government to set up a national soccer development fund a short while ago.
The fund was kicked off by none other than the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, himself.
Well and good for soccer. Finally, the powers to be are taking a serious view of soccer development in the country.
But would it not have been better if RM5 million was given to the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM), whose annual budget has been slashed from RM6 million to RM1.5 million?
The Youth and Sports Minister, Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek, was the primer mover of setting up this national fund for soccer development after the national Under-23's Sea Games gold medal winning effort.
Now would the Datuk Ahmad Shabery and his Ministry look magnanimous,  if they had only considered the financial woes of the Ministry of Education and decided to give RM 5 million to them.
Is schools sports not development?
Would assisting 24 sports, look more fair, than just soccer?
Is not the Ministry of Youth and Sports and Ministry of Education, suppose to work hand in hand for the development of sports?

MSSM's annual budget cut this year has resulted from the annual 24 sports organised at national level for the Under-12, Under-15 and Under-18, to 11 sports being dropped.
The 13 sports which will be organised are  artistic gymnastics, gymrama, golf, swimming, athletics, badminton, netball, basketball, volleyball, sepak takraw, football, tennis and hockey. On top of that, all the sports, except for artistic gymnastics, gimrama, swimming and athletics, will not have the Under-15 age group.   
The eleven sports given the axe include key sports in Malaysia -bowling, squash and archery. 
The others axed are table tennis, rugby, cricket, sailing, softball, handball, cross country and chess.
The problem does not just mean that many national schools meets are not organised because funding to the State Sports Councils, will also be effected.
If the State Sports Councils suffer, so will the districts organisers in each States and the schools themselves.
All of which will result is sports in schools nationwide merely being suffocated.
It is a sad situation and unless something is done urgently to rectify the situation, we might as well forget about sports in this country!

Form guides go haywire in Men's Doubles

Form guides were turn upside down last night in the Men’s doubles when national back-up bowlers from Selangor, Zaid Izlan Ibrahim Hakimi and Kelvin Keong won the gold medal upstaging the national bowlers.

Zaid Izlan (left), the younger brother of Zandra Aziela, and Kelvin (right), amassed a total of 2,742 to win the gold.
 The silver and bronze medal too saw surprises as national youth bowler from Sarawak Aris Ardila Santosoh and Chong Jun Foo with their total  of 2595 and Kuala Lumpur’s Yusuf Raos and Kua Jian Wen with 2546, picked up the medals respectively.

National bowlers from Penang, Adrian Ang and Aaron Kong, led from the start of the six games till the fifth, but dropped to sixth for the final, when Aaron had a disastrous 140 in that game as compared to Adrian’s 223.

Aaron picked up himself for the final game with a 213 while Adrian fired 223, but their grand total of 2546, could only see them finish fourth.

Another national pair, from Selangor – Zulmazran Zulklfi and Alex Liew – were also expected to do well, especially after the former was in sizzling form when he won the singles gold medal on Monday.

But Zulmazran who fired a high total of 1617 in the singles, could only muster 1217 last night. Together with Alex’s total of 1192, their total of 2409, could only place them seventh.

However, the consolation for Selangor was that while Zulmazran and Alex could not deliver, their other pair – Zaid and Kelvin – delivered and put them on top of the medal tally with four gold medals from eight events in the last two days.

As for Zulmazaran, his consolation was that he was still the leader in the All-Events with his total of 2843, closely tailed by Adrian (2745) and national bowler from KL Syafiq Ridhwan in third spot with his total of 2699.

A keen tussle for the overall champion is expected in the final day of the Interstate championship today, as teams’ battle in the team events and All-Events. Kuala Lumpur, who have three gold medals, are expected to give their neighbours a run for their money.

MEDAL TALLY

                                 G            S          B

Selangor                  4             2         3                     

Kuala Lumpur         3             2         3

Melaka                    1            1          0

Sabah                       1            0          0

Sarawak                   0            3          3

Kedah                      0            1          0

Negri Sembilan       0            1          0

Penang                     0            0         1

(Footnote: Earlier in women’s doubles, Zandra Aziela and Siti Safiyah had set a new record with their total of 2673 surpassing the previous record of 2526 set by Lydia Kwah and Sarah Yap from Selangor in 1996.

In the Boys Doubles, Tan Chien Nan and Ozzer Othaman from Sabah also have set a new record with their score of 2647 to surpass the previous record of 2572 set by Mazri Affendi and Mustafa Yassin of Selangor in 1999.)

Zandra set to create a record

Selangor’s national bowler, Zandra Aziela Ibrahim Hakimi could well be setting a record of sorts to become the first women bowler to win all four medals at stake in the Interstate Bowling Championship.

Yesterday morning,  the 23-year-old bowler won her second gold medal in the championship partnering fellow national teammate, Siti Sayifah Amirah Abdul Rahman (left), in the women’s doubles.

Zandra, who won the singles gold medal on Monday, posted a 1366 score for six games, while Siti Safiyah had 1307 for a combined total of 2673 to win the gold medal.

Two other national bowlers, Sharon Koh and Wendy Chai representing Kuala Lumpur won the silver medal with their combined total of 2531, while the second pair from KL – Hee Kar Yen and Cheryl Cheong Pui Yee – won the bronze medal with their total of 2509.

Zandra, currently also leads in the All-events with her total of 2748 from her singles and doubles event, while Siti Safiyah is second 69 pins behind Zandra. In third spot is Hee with 2612.

Today in the team event, if Zandra picks up her third gold medal, the All Events gold medal will be purely academic. Zandra will be teaming up with Siti, Zatil Iman and Illi Syazana had a good chance to bag the gold medal.

Zatil and Illi who finished sixth in the doubles yesterday, are placed seventh and eighth, in the All Events.

However, Zatil and her teammates will have to overcome the strong challenge from the KL team of Sharon, Wendy, Hee and Cheryl.

National coach, Holloway Cheah said that Zandra is indeed bowling well.

“She is now bowling at a faster pace and that has helped her a great deal. If she keeps up her form, I will not surprised if she bags all four gold medals,” said Holloway.

However, Holloway hoped that Zandra will not take her early success in the year for granted.

“My only concern is that Zandra might get complacent after her performance here. I hope she will take this performance to further motivate herself to do better.”

Meanwhile, trying emulate Zandra, in the Youth category is Kuala Lumpur national youth bowler, Nur Diana Husin (right).

Just like Zandra, the 19-year-old college student, bagged her second gold medal when she won the Girls Doubles partnering Nur Umirah Raduan (left)( with a total score of  2,514.

Selangor’s pair of Dina Nurnadia and Nor Amila had a total of 2419 to win the silver, while the bronze medal was won by Sarawak’s duo of Jackelyn Ng and Nurafidza Mohd Amran with their 2404.

 Nur Diana, also leads in the All-Events with a total of 2517, while her teammate, Nur Umirah is second with 2466 and Sabah’s Steffira Greater is third with her total of 2426.

Nur Diana and Nur Umirah will partner Radin Nur Najwa and Hanan Fateha in the team event and will certainly start as favourties against the more fancied Selangor.  Radin and Hanan are placed 5^th and 6^th in the All-Events, while Selangor’s highest placed is Nor Amilia who is in 7^th spot.

In the Boys doubles, Sabah’s Ozzer Othaman (right) had sweet revenge over Melaka’s young talent, Jason Syow, when the former went to win the gold medal teaming up with Tan Chien Nan (left).

Jason, who had won the singles gold medal, had to settle for the silver pairing with M. Syafiq Hashim.
Infact, the Melaka pair had to make a concerted effort to move from their third spot with a game to go, to win the silver, when Jason scored 212 and Syafiq had 247. That pushed Selangor’s pair of Tg Muhd Yasser and Muhd Amirul who had fired a 204 and 209 in the final game, to settle for the bronze.

 The winning pair from Sabah had 2647 to win their first medal, while the Melaka duo had 2520 and Selangor totaled 2469.

Ozzer also leads in the Boys All-Events with a total of 2698, while Jason is second with his total of 2586. Selangor’s Mud Amirul is in third spot with his 2550.

The team events today, will end the Interstate championship.  A battle keen is on the cards, with Kuala Lumpur looking set to upstage the perennial champions, Selangor.

MEDAL TALLY

                                   G          S          B

Selangor                    3           2          3                     

Kuala Lumpur          3            2          2

Melaka                     1           1          0

Sabah                        1           0          0

Sarawak                    0           2          3

Kedah                        0          1          0

Negri Sembilan        0            1         0

Penang                      0           0         1

The plot thickens!

..........But having said all that, I still believe there is a hidden agenda behind the full-time national team.

And for the Sports Minister to be firm about a full-time national team, there is somebody in the background who has promised a big plan.

The question is, at what price. Who is this person? All things point to a foreigner. Is he someone who had dealings with the Sports Ministry and is full-time national team plan, part of settlement deal?

I really do not know. I am just throwing questions.

These are excerpts of what I had written in my Jan 6th posting under the heading: It is truly a soccer agenda? (read here)

 An hour ago, S.S. Dhaliwal in his blog under the heading: AT WHAT PRICE SIR, had some answers.

He caught up with Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek, the Youth and Sports Minister, just as he was about to get into his car after the press conference to announce the change of name of the Malaysian Tennis Classic 2010 to the Malaysian Open 2010 at One World Hotel this morning.

Dhaliwal fired away some questions pertaining to the national Under-23 soccer team's proposed stint in England and Europe.
 
Read here, what was Datuk Ahmad Shabery's reaction and answers