14th June, Kuching: Third-seed, Muhammad Hafiz Darwisy Bin Azhlan of MMBC, Penang bagged the Youth 25 and Under Masters title of the Sarawak International Open Bowling Championships 2024 after defeating topseed, Tsen Fan Yew of MTBC, Malaysia twice in the Stepladder Finals.

Tsen started off the title match with three strikes-in-a-row but the challenger, Muhammad Hafiz responded with a spare in his opening frame and a double strike in the second and third frames. Thereafter, the 17-year-old Muhammad Hafiz went on to reel in eight consecutive strikes for a runway win, 289-225 and forcing a sudden-death decider.

An early opened frame in the first frame from Tsen again put the topseed on his backfoot. Muhammad Hafiz also stumbled to a split in his second frame which he failed to convert into a spare. Whilst Tsen continued to struggle, the Penangnite brought home more strikes than his opponent, winning the second match, 201-181 to take a deserving victory.

But the champion was competing under tremendous grief after learning that his father had just passed away last night in Penang. Although he was devasted, he had dedicated the victory to his beloved father. Muhammad Hafiz had earlier edged second-seed, Nabil Aiman Bin Mantaib of Sabah, 217-210 to advance to the title match.

Muhammad Hafiz earned RM8,000 as champion with Tsen picking up RM4,000 and Nabil Aiman taking home RM2,000 as first and second runners-up. In the earlier 8-game roll-off, Tsen led from the third game after rolling a sizzling 268.

The Malaysian National youth squad member topped the finals with 1893. Nabil Aiman finished second with 1884 and Muhammad Hafiz third with 1873. Jason Lai Yan Jun of Singapore missed the stepladder finals by 16 pins after finishing fourth with 1857.

The top 60 qualifiers will contest their 8-game Classified Masters finals later today. A final ninth and position-round game will determine the top 3 winners of this division. The top 60 qualifiers will contest their 8-game Open Masters finals tomorrow at 9.00 am local time.

The top 4 at the end of the finals will proceed to the 'Last Man Standing' Stepladder Shootout to determine this year's champion and for a top prize of RM20,000 (approx. US$4,250).

Photos by Terence Yaw in Kuching, Sarawak.