27th April, Petaling Jaya: Muhammad Lutfil Hadi Bin Mohd Bukri of MSN Perlis and Khairina Fatiha Binti Abdul Latif of ABAS captured the Youth Boys and Youth Girls Graded Masters titles of the 42nd Malaysian International Open 2024 at Sunway Megalanes.

Abdul Azizul Dazmeen of Megalanes Junior got off to a cracking start with an opening game of 254 to lead Muhammad Haziq Hakim of Johor by 6 pins. Debutant, Jerry Zhu of Hao Bowling, China was third with 234. Abdul Azizul remained in the lead despite posting a decent game of 210.

Muhammad Haziq managed only 198 and dropped off quickly. Chong Yew Jin of Perak added 235 to his 228 opener to move into second, just one pin behind. Chong took over the lead after adding 200 in his third game. Muhd Nor Azrie of ABCA, Malaysia moved into second to trail Chong by 17 pins.

The lead changed hands again when Norhajim Nasrullah B Norhafiz of Johor took over the running past the halfway mark. Chong slipped behind the leader by 16 pins. There was a keen tussle between Norhajim and Muhammad Lutfil in the next three games but Muhammad Lutfil prevailed to clinch the title with 1718.

Norhajim settled for second with 1692, 26 pins adrift while Muhd Nor Azrie claimed the final podium spot finishing third with 1660.

Meanwhile in the Youth Girls Graded division, Khairina Fatiha Binti Abdul Latif captured the title with an 8-game total of 1574 pinfalls. The champion had led the field after the second game for 3 games but was over taken by Mayra Khayreena of PTBPP/MMBC after the fourth game.

But Khairina bounced back to cruise to a convincing victory. Nur Farah Adila of Negeri Sembilan stormed home to snatch second position with 1536 while Mayra Khayreena settled for third with 1529. Muhammad Lutfil picked up RM2,500 as Boys champion and Khairina Fatiha took home RM1,500 for her effort.

Qualifying rounds for other divisions will continue for another day for Youth Open and Senior divisions. They will contest their Masters finals April 28. There will be 5 additional days of qualifying from April 29 to May 3 before the Masters finals for the Graded and Open divisions will be staged.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.