2nd June, Kuala Lumpur: Khairul Diaz B Din of Johor and Lavinia Kho Jia Jie of Sarawak swept the Men's and Women's Graded Masters titles of the 41st Malaysian International Open 2023 at Sunway Megalanes on Friday evening.

Khairul, who had a moderate start with 205, was only 35 pins adrift early pace-setter, Lou Kin Ho of Hong Kong. Despite a poor 188 in his second game, Khairul bounced back in style to reel in 245, 226, 224, 228, 220 and 223 in his final game to clinch his first-ever international title with 1759.

Muhd Arash B Pakhrurrazi, who was also shooting consistent games throughout, shot a stunning 268 in the sixth which helped put him into second position with total of 1724.

Phanupong Permpimol of Thailand denied Malaysia a cleen sweep by snatching third position with a big game of 286 in the eighth and final game for a total of 1690. Muhammad Aiman Bin Azni and Muhammad Ihsan Fikri completed the top 5 with 1682 and 1667 respectively.

In the Women's division, Lavinia Kho of Sarawak, who finished third in the earlier Women's Open Round 1 finals over 8 games, contested another 8 games to claim the Graded title with 1646. Nurul Aisyah Bte Salleh of Malaysia stormed home to clinch second spot with 1631.

Nur Aleeya Syakirah completed Malaysia's sweep of the podium places with 1536. Faqlia Hafifa Roslam missed the podium by 18 pins to take up fourth position with 1518. Mr Robert Lu, Vice President of Amateur Bowling Association of Sarawak (ABAS) was on hand to give away the prizes to the winners.

Competition will conclude tomorrow with the Men's and Women's Open Round 2 finals in the morning. The top 3 men and top 3 women with the highest pinfalls in Round 3 will proceed to the stepladder finals to determine this year's champions.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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