KUCHING: Sarawak juniors put up a strong showing at the 18th Milo International Junior All-Stars Bowling Championship which ended at Sunway Megalanes in Petaling Jaya, Selangor on Saturday.
The main and final event for the annual Under-21 Championship was the Boys and Girls Open Division.
With approximately 400 to 500 youths from around Asia to as far as the US, no doubt it was the most intensely contested division of all.
Qualifying for the Open Finals was already an achievement itself as scores were high even though lane conditions were tricky and unforgiving.
Putting the icing on the cake on this long 10-day but fruitful outing with the first runner-up finish in the Girls Under-12 by Lavinia Kho Jia Jie, Milo Cup champion and second runner-up finish in the Boys Under-15 by Mohd Nur Syafiq Mohd Amran, was 14-year-old Nur Hazirah Ramli who qualified for the Girls Open Final.
The form two student from SMK Green Road ensured that Sarawak will feature till the last day of competition.
Her 646 score in qualifying earned her place in the Finals among more experienced bowlers from Korea, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines and the Malaysian national youth team.
It was an achievement in itself for Hazirah as she failed to qualify for any finals in last year’s edition but after much hard work and preparation, she qualified for all three finals that she was eligible to take part which were the Girls Under-15, Graded and Open.
Joining Hazirah in the Girls Open 10-Game Final will be fellow Sarawakian Nerosha Keligit Thiagarajan who will be competing in the national colours.
The state team are heading back to Kuching yesterday for a week’s worth of preparation for the SportExcel-Milo-NSC-MTBC National Junior Circuit Grand Finals before flying back again to Sunway Megalanes.
The 11 Grand Prix qualifiers from Sarawak are Lavinia Kho Jia Jie (Girls Under-12), Mohd Hanif Irfan Sulhie (Boys Under-12), Nur Hazirah Ramli and Nur Haziqah Ramli (Girls Graded), Tsen Fan Yew and Abdul Khadir Ramli (Boys Graded), Gillian Lim Siew Giok and Nur Aina Kamalia Abdul Ayub (Girls Open), Mohd Nur Syafiq Mohd Amran, Muhd Zuhayr Redza Noor Azrul and Abg Afiq Yazid Abg Azman (Boys Open).