8th July, Tamuning: Yannaphon Larpapharat of Thailand defeated Jason Belmonte of Australia 415-392 total pinfall in the Boy's Stepladder finals to win the Masters crown while Jennifer Petrick defeated teammate, Stephanie L. Nation of USA for the Girl's crown.

The 21-year-old 2002 World Youth Singles Gold medalist, a 65-pin lead over top-seed, Jason Belmonte of Australia, with 235-170 in the first of a two-game total pinfall final stepladder match.

Despite scoring a strong 222 in the second game, the Aussie could not topple the Thai as he scored 180 for a total of 415 against Belmonte's 392 for the coveted Master's crown. The champion had earlier narrowly ousted third-seed, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong, 224-219 in the first stepladder match before meeting Belmonte.

Yannaphon gave Thailand their only medal in the competition with the win while the top-seed and favourite, settled for the Silver medal. Wu also took home Hong Kong's only medal in the competition with the Bronze medal for finishing third.

Belmonte had earlier led from start to finish in the second block of the Boy's Masters finals with a total pinfall of 3612 plus bonus, for a comfortable 78-pin lead over the champion, Yannaphon in second on 3534 followed by Wu Siu Hong in third spot with 3505.

Two Americans, Clay Herrbach and Patrick J. Haggerty finished fourth and fifth with 3466 and 3457 respectively. First block leader, Mikael Kanold struggled in the second block to end up in seventh with 3373.

Meanwhile, first block leader and top-seed, Jennifer Petrick defeated teammate and second-seed, Stephanie L. Nation 414-404 over the two-game total pinfall to clinch her first individual Gold medal of the Girl's division.

Petrick took the first match 224-190 and despite only managing 190 in the second while Nation came back strongly with a 214, a total of 414 was sufficient to give the American a well deserved win.

Nation settled for the Silver medal to give USA a 1-2 finish after she defeated third-seed, Kang Hyun-Jin of Korea 213-194 in the first stepladder match earlier. Kang, the Singles Gold medalist, took home the Bronze.

In the earlier second block round-robin finals, Kang had taken over the lead from Petrick from game 9 onwards, but lost the lead to the champion after game 14. Petrick had topped the field with a total pinfall of 3423, 40 pins ahead of teammate, Stephanie L. Nation, who totalled 3383 while Kang dropped to third with 3372.

All Events Gold medalist, Minna Makela of Finland missed the cut for the stepladder finals finishing fourth with 3313 ahead of USA's Anita Manns in fifth spot with 3298.

Australia topped the Boy's Medal tally with 2 Gold and 1 Silver on 13 points with USA in second with 3 Silver medals and two fourth placings for 11 points. Sweden took third spot with 1 Gold, 1 Bronze medal and one fourth placing on 8 points.

USA was a runaway winner in the Girl's Medal table with 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze medal and 1 fourth placing on 19 points ahead of Korea with 1 Gold, 1 Bronze and two fourth placings on 9 points. Mexico finished third with 1 Gold and 1 Silver on 8 points.

USA emerged the Overall Champion with a total of 2 Gold, 5 Silver, 1 Bronze and 3 fourth placings on 30 points. Australia took second spot with 2 Gold and 2 Silver medals on 16 points with Finland in third with 2 Gold, 1 Bronze medal and a fourth placing for 13 points.

Photos courtesy of Mr B.C. Cheah, MTBC.

7th August, Tamuning: Team Gold medalist, Jennifer Petrick of USA took the lead of the Girl's Masters Finals first block in the 8th World Youth Tenpin Bowling from two Koreans, Kang Hyun-Jin and Hwang Sun-Ok in second and third.

Petrick, who was unlucky when she and her partner, Stephanie L. Nation, were beaten by the Mexicans in the Doubles, was determined to win her first individual Gold by leading the first block on Short oil condition with a score of 1776.

The American won seven of the 8-games round-robin finals to lead by 29 pins from Singles Gold medalist, Kang Hyun-Jin of Korea in second on 1747. Another Korean, Hwang Sun-Ok finished strongly to take third spot with 1686.

Stephanie L. Nation took fourth spot just 5 pins from Hwang with 1681, one pin ahead of All Events Gold medalist, Minna Makela of Finland in fifth spot with 1680.

Mihoro Kawamura (JPN-1653), Caroline Lagrange (CAN-1615), Anita Manns (USA-1595), Cheche Abrantes (PHI-1550) and Olivia D. Sandham (USA-1550) completed the top 10 from 6th to 10 positions respectively.

The girls will contest their second block of 8 games on Long oil condition tomorrow (8th August). At the end of second block, the top 3 will proceed to the stepladder finals to detemine the medal winners.

Photos courtesy of Mr B.C. Cheah, MTBC.

7th August, Tamuning: Doubles Gold medalist, Mikael Kanold of Sweden claimed pole position in the Boy's Masters Finals first block of the 8th World Youth Tenpin Bowling on Short oil at Central Lanes this morning.

Kanold, who was trailing the leader, Yannaphon Larpapharat by 24 pins, claimed pole position with a total of 1830. The Swede started off poorly with a low game of 153 but got into top gear with subsequent games of 183, 254, 262, 239, 218, 235 and 226, winning 6 out of the 8-games round-robin finals for the lead.

Thailand's Yannaphon, who took over the lead from Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong from game 5 onwards, could only manage a 190 in his eight game to settle for second with a total of 1808. Asian Ranked No. 1, Wu Siu Hong finished third, a further 21 pins adrift on 1777 while Mark Buffa of Canada and Isao Yamamoto of Japan finished fourth and fifth with 1774 and 1768.

Two Gold medalist, Jason Belmonte of Australia, who took the lead after the first game, fizzled out to finish sixth with 1757.

Clay Herrbach (USA-1711), David R O'Sullivan (USA-1669), Wu Hao-Ming (TPE-1656), Robert Andersson (SWE-1655) made up the top 10 in seventh to tenth positions respectively.

The girls will be commencing their first block after the lane maintenance shortly while the boys will contest their second block of 8 games on Long oil condition tomorrow (8th August). At the end of second block, the top 3 will proceed to the stepladder finals to detemine the medal winners.

Photos courtesy of Mr B.C. Cheah, MTBC.

6th August, Tamuning: Jason Belmonte of Australia, won his second Gold medal in the 8th World Youth Tenpin Bowling Championship after topping the Boy's All Events table as Finland emerged as champion in the Boys's Team event.

While Malaysia and Finland were fighting for the Gold medal in the Team event, Singles Gold medalist, Jason Belmonte started off moderately well with a 207 in the fourth game but ran into problems with two back-to-back low games of 174 and 166 to end up with 1255.

But fortunately, the 21-year-old had a cushion of 79 pins before the start of the second block and hung on to clinch his second Gold medal by 21 pins on a total of 3852.

David R O'Sullivan of USA improved one rung to claim the Silver with 3831 ahead Mikko Ylitalo of Finland, who settled for the Bronze with 3080. Robert Andersson of Sweden and Malaysia's Zulmazran Zulkifli finished fourth and fifth positions with 3736 and 3717 respectively.

Malaysia started well in the Boy's Team second block to take over the lead from Finland by 15 pins, but the Finns fought back strongly to regain the lead by a comfortable 104 pins after the fifth game.

Sami Tolonen, Joonas Houlman, Mikko Ylitalo and Osku Palermaa almost handed the Gold medal to their opponents as they struggled with a team total of 712 in final game but Malaysia did not take advantage of the Finn's poor showing and could only manage a 807.

Zulmazran Zulkifli, Aaron Kong, Mohd Nadri and Adrian Ang took home the Silver with 4973, 6 pins short of Finland's 4979. Sweden's Mikael Kanold, Joakim Biehl, Jouni Kemppainen and Robert Andersson settled for the Bronze, 105 pins behind the Malaysians on 4858. Thirty-six pins further away

came the Americans, who could only manage a fourth place finish with 4822.

Australia and USA shares pole position in the Boy's Medal tally with 10 points each. Jason Belmonte's two Gold contributed Australia's medal total while the Americans were three times second for 3 Silver medals and a 4th placing. Sweden is third with 1 Gold, 1 Bronze medal and a 4th placing for 8 points.

USA tops the Overall Medal standings with 1 Gold, 4 Silver, 1 Bronze and two 4th placings on 21 points. Australia is second with 2 Gold, 1 Bronze medal on 13 points followed by Finland with 2 Gold and 1 Broze medal on 12 points. The top 16 boys in the All Events table have qualified for the prestigious Masters Finals to be played over two blocks of 8 games commencing with Short oil tomorrow (7th August) and Long oil on Sunday, 8th August.

Photos courtesy of Mr B.C. Cheah, MTBC.

6th August, Tamuning: Minna Makela of Finland clinched the Girl's All Events Gold medal of the 8th World Youth Tenpin Bowling Championship by two pins as Team USA captured their first Gold at end of the Team event this morning.

While Team USA was running away with lead in the Girl's Team event in the second block, the 22-year-old Makela, who was trailing the leader, Jennifer Petrick of USA by 18 pins and just one pin ahead of Doubles Gold medalist, Sandra Gongoro of Mexico, scored 199 in her final game to cliinch the All Events Gold medal with 3693.

Gongoro downed 198 to settle for the Silver with 3691 with the American, Petrick slipping down to take the Bronze on 3662 after a disastrous 157 in the last game.

Singles Silver medalist, Tay Hui Yiang of Singapore stayed with the leaders throughtout the second block but could only manage to finish fourth with 3571.

Jennifer Petrick had a consolation though as she anchored her team to a comfortable win to capture USA's first Gold medal of the championship. Anita Manns, Olivia D. Sandham, Stephanie L. Nation and Petrick, who led the first block on Long oil by 40 pins, accummulated a total of 4787 to win easily by 208 pins from the strong finishing of Australia in second.

Aussies, Cassie Staudinger, Michelle Halprin, Jayde Flanagan and Clair Johnston totalled 4578 to take the Silver followed by England's quartet of Laura Ivory, Holly Towersey, Joanne Allsebrook and Jemma Smith with a score of 4568 to win the Bronze medal.

Fourteen pins behind the English were the Koreans, who finished fourth with 4554. Minna Makela became the third bowler in the competition to pass the

1300-mark after she scored 1332 in the six-games team event. Apple Posadas of the Philippines scored 1361 and Sandra Gongoro of Mexico had 1315 both in the Doubles event.

While the top 16 celebrated by making the Masters finals, the Boys will complete their second block of the Team event over the Short oil condition shortly after lane maintenance.

Photos courtesy of Mr B.C. Cheah, MTBC.

5th August, Tamuning: Team USA took the lead of the Girl's Team of 4 first block in the 8th World Youth Tenpin Bowling Championship on Long oil condition this afternoon while Finland secured pole position in the Boy's division earlier in the morning.

The American quartet, comprising of Olivia D. Sandham, Anita Manns and Doubles Silver medalist, Stephanie L. Nation and Jennifer Petrick, scored 801 in the third game to snatch the lead from Korea with a first block total of 2328.

Malaysia's Esther Cheah, Elaine Lam, Zandra Aziela and Choy Poh Lai, who led after the first game, did well finish second with 2288, 40 pins away. Third spot went to the Japanese quartet of Kazumi Satoh, Mihoro Kawamura, Rie Totsuka and Mia Inoue on a total score of 2281.

Korea, who took over the lead from Malaysia in the second game, dropped to fourth after a poor 708 in the third game on a total of 2270. Only less than 60 pins separates the top 4 teams after the first block was completed on Long oil condition and the contest is far from over.

Jennifer Petrick of USA continues to lead the Girl's All Events after 15 games with a total of 3072 followed by Doubles Gold medalist, Sandra Gongoro of Mexico in second with 3066, just 6 pins adrift. Finland's Minna Makela took third spot with 3052, a further 14 pins away.

Earlier in the morning, 27 teams contested the Boy's Team of 4 event which saw Finland taking over the lead from early pace-setter, Venezuela. Sami Tolonen, Joonas Houlman, Mikko Ylitalo and Osku Palermaa performed superbly to amassed 2597 for a 47 pins lead over Venezuela's Rafael Medina, Cesar Rodriguez, Jorge Guedez Diomede and Jose Ferreira, who totalled 2550.

Malaysia's Zulmazran Zulkifli, Aaron Kong, Mohd Nadri and Adrian Ang tayed with the leaders throughout the first block to finish third with 2544, 53 pins from the Finns. Sweden came home fourth with 2494 while Canada rounded up the top 5 in fifth position with 2485.

Singles Gold medalist, Jason Belmonte stretched his lead in the Boy's All Events standings with another superb performance scoring 708 in the Team

event to bring his total to 3305. Mikko Ylitalo of Finland trails the Aussie by 79 pins on 3226 ahead of American, David R O'Sullivan in third spot with 3197.

Both the divisions will continue their second block of 3 games tomorrow (6th August) over Short oil condition to determine the winners. The top 16 from both division in the final All Events standings will make the cut for the prestigious Masters finals which will be played o the 7th and 8th August.

Photos courtesy of Mr B.C. Cheah, MTBC.

4th August, Tamuning: Sandra Gongoro and Iliana Lomeli pipped the American pair and Squad A leader, Jennifer Petrick and Stephanie Nation to snatch the Girl's Doubles Gold medal of the 8th World Youth Tenpin Bowling Championship.

Gongoro started her doubles campaign with a bang in Squad B, when she recorded 215, 224 and 243 while her partner, Lomeli knocked down 213, 199 and 180 for a combined total of 1274 to overtake Squad A leader, Jennifer Petrick and Stephanie Nation of USA, who totalled 1250 at the half-way mark in the earlier squad.

By the time the Mexican pair reached the fifth game, all they needed was to score 363 or more to stand a chance of snatching the lead and the Gold medal from the Americans. Gongoro was again awesome with 236 in her final game whilst her teammate, Lomeli could only manage 177. But a 413 was enough for the Mexicans to secure the win on a final total of 2466.

Petrick and Nation settled for Silver, 50 pins adrift on 2416. Esther Alvarez and Olga Vanessa Arandia of Venezuela, who were lying in second spot in

Squad A, finished third to take the Bronze with 2346. The other American pair of Anita Manns and Olivia Sandham finished fourth with 2338.

Filipinas, Apple Posadas scored the highest six-games series with 1361 but her partner, K-Ann Lopez could only manage 956 for eighth position on a total of 2317.

After two events, Jennifer Petrick of USA shot to the lead in the Girl's All Events standings with a 12-game total of 2486 followed by Doubles Gold medalist, Sandra Gongoro in second with 2468 while Singles Gold medalist, Korea's Kang Hyun-Jin dropped to third with 2433. Singles Silver medalist, Tay Hui Yiang of Singapore finished fourth on 2407 with Apple Posadas storming into fifth spot with 2403.

Korea continues to lead the Girl's Medal tally despite not winning any medals today with 6 points with Singapore, USA and Mexico tieing for second with 5 points each.

USA leads the Overall Medal standings with 3 Silver medals and one 4th placing on 10 points followed by Korea with 1 Gold and a 4th placing on 6 points. Australia, Singapore, Sweden and Mexico tied in third with 5 points each.

The Team of 4 event will be contested tomorrow (5th August) over two blocks of 3 games each. The first block will be played under Long oil condition while the second block will be finished on Short oil. The top 16 boys and girls from the All Events table will make the cut for the Masters finals on Saturday, 7th August.

Photos courtesy of Mr B.C. Cheah, MTBC.

3rd August, Bangkok: Squad A leader, Robert Andersson, Mikael Kanold of Sweden bagged the Boy's Doubles Gold medal of the 8th World Youth Tenpin Bowling Championship with USA taking the Silver and Japan the Bronze over the Long oil condition.

The Swedes set a blistering pace in Squad A of the Boy's Doubles this morning. Robert Andersson contributed the pair's total score of 2599 with lines of 234, 192, 219, 287, 217 and 237 for a score of 1386 while his partner, Mikael Kanold knocked down 228, 163, 221, 191, 213 and 197 for a 1213 total.

The American pair of Clay Herrbach and Patrick J Haggerty was only 21 pins adrift the Swedes at the fifth-game mark and needed only 405 or more pins to snatch the Gold medal in the final game. But a low game of 169 from Haggerty handed the golden opportunity to the Swedes despite Herrbach scoring 235 for a total of 404 and settling for the Silver.

Asian Youth Masters Gold medalist, Isao Yamamoto and Toshihiko Takahashi of Japan, who were second in Squad A, came home third to clinch the Bronze medal with a total of 2495.

Leon Devlin and Stuart Williams finished fourth to earn 1 point for England with a total score of 2484. Singles Gold medalist, Jason Belmonte of Australia partnering Jarrod Lean could only manage 2456 to end up in seventh position.

After two events, Robert Andersson of Sweden take over the lead in the Boy's All Events with 2602 over 12 games ahead of Jason Belmonte in second with 2597 while third spot went to David O'Sullivan of USA with 2544.

USA leads the Boy's Medal tally with 2 Silver medal on 6 points followed by Australia and Sweden tieing in second with 1 Gold medal each on 5 points. USA tie with Korea in the Overall Medal standings with 6 points each.

Photos courtesy of Mr B.C. Cheah, MTBC.

2nd August, Tamuning: Kang Hyun-Jin of Korea clinched the Girl's Singles Gold medal of the 8th World Youth Tenpin Bowling Championship with Singapore's pair of Tay Hui Yiang and Squad A leader Michelle Kwang taking the Silver and Bronze medals.

World Youth debutant, Kang Hyun-Jin scored a moderate 1242 over the 6-games Girl's Singles on Short Oil condition to clinch Korea's first Gold medal. Kang, who had amassed 1050 from the first 5 games, only needed 161 or more to beat Squad A leader, Michelle Kwang to assure herself a medal.

She scored 192 to give her a total of 1242 for the Gold from the strong finishing of Singapore's Tay Hui Yiang to pip teammate, Kwang by 17 pins for the Silver medal and 14 pins behind Kang.

Kwang settled for the Bronze medal with 1211 scored in Squad A this morning while Korea's Hwang Sun-Ok missed the medal by just 3 pins on 1208 to finish fourth.

A total of 67 girls contested the Singles event over the newly introduced Short Oil condition. The girls will continue the championship with the Doubles event over the Long Oil condition, split ito two squads tomorrow (3rd August).

Photos courtesy of Mr B.C. Cheah, MTBC.

1st Aug, Tamuning: Squad A leader, Jason Belmonte of Australia struck the first Gold medal of the 8th World Youth Tenpin Bowling Championship at Central Lanes Bowling Centre to win the Boy's Singles event.

The World Tenpin Team Cup Bronze medalist and a Masters finalist at the 2003 World Championship, won the first Gold medal for Australia in the Boy's Singles event after he amassed a total pinfall of 1317 on Short Oil condition.

Belmonte, who celebrated his 21st birthday three days ago, had lines of 212, 269, 181, 228, 168 and 258 to take the lead in Squad A this morning from David O'Sullivan of USA, who scored 1247. Paul Stott of Ireland, who led in Squad B with a score of 1246 could only manage to take home the Bronze medal, just one pin from O'Sullivan in second.

Belmonte was the only bowler in the field of 87 bowlers to reach the 1300-mark over the 6-games Short Oil condition introduced for the first time in this championship.

Four Gold medalist in last month's 18th Asian Championship in Bangkok, Wu Hao-Ming of Chinese Taipei came home fourth with a total of 1236 ahead of Mikko Ylitalo of Finland in fifth spot with 1231.

The girls will contest their Singles event tomorrow (2nd August) split into two squads.

Photos courtesy of Kubasov Vladimir, www.Bowlclub.ru.

31st July, Tamuning: An extravagant Opening Ceremony held at the Agana Shopping Centre atrium this evening kicking off the 8th World Youth Tenpin Bowling Championship.

The world's best youth bowlers have arrived on Guam -- excited and prepared to do their best to win a medal for their respective homelands in the upcoming 8th WTBA World Tenpin Bowling Youth Championships.

Twenty-eight countries and 182 bowlers under the age of 23 will begin play in the world's top youth tournament tomorrow at the Central Lanes in Tamuning.

Players and coaches from the participating nations were treated to an extravagant opening ceremony at the Agana Shopping Center yesterday that began with the traditional parade of nations and ended in a festive conga line to the sounds of local Natibu Cultural Dance Group.

"This kind of opening ceremony has normally always been in the bowling centers but this was a very good place to hold it because it allowed for audience participation -- it was very informal and very entertaining," World Tenpin Bowling Association Heikki Sarso said after the ceremony.

"The organization and the work that has been done by Joey (Miranda) and the Guam Bowling Congress has been very good."

Miranda credits the efforts of the Guam Visitors Bureau and Guam Bowling Congress President and Guam National Olympic Committee Vice President Gordon Chu in helping Guam win its 2001 bid to play host to the tournament this year. The championship, which is played every two years and was last held in Thailand, promises to be a good show for bowling enthusiasts, said Stuart Williams, a member of England's bowling team.

"Well, these are the best players in the world, so it should be good and hopefully we can have some wins," said the 23-year-old Brit, who was a member of England's youth team in the 2002 tournament.

The tournament also will have PBA pedigree as former professional bowlers Purvis Granger and Kendra Gaines are coaches for the Philippines and United States teams, respectively. Both referred to the tournament as the toughest youth competition in the world. Venezuela's Vanessa Arandia said that she, like many other players in the tournament, has found Guam to be a lovely island with friendly people.

"I have been going around the island since we arrived here on Wednesday and it is beautiful," the 22-year-old said through her coach Ruben Ghiragossian's translation. "As for the tournament, I feel I am prepared to do reasonably well."

Qatar's Mohammed Al Mannai, 19, said his team has been preparing for several months in hopes of medaling.

"It will be hard to win, but we will do our best," the young bowler said.

Ghiragossian said that the tournament is about friendship and bringing people of various cultures together -- yet it is very much a competition.

Story and photos courtesy of Guam Pacific Daily News.