28th August, Jakarta: Sole Filipino finalist, Royce Wayne Padua and Team gold medalist, Nura Salsabila Zulkifli of Singapore led the Boy's and Girl's first block Masters Finals of the 25th Asian Junior Bowling Championships on Friday afternoon.

Padua got off to a brilliant start with a win over Malaysia's Muhd Eikhsan Bin Mohd Erwan, 258-153 to take the early lead. All Events gold medalist, Dylan Lam Nok Him of Hong Kong A also won his opening match with 256 to trail the Filipino by two pins. Team gold medalist, Kaelan Lim of Singapore A was third.

The 14-year-old Padua went on a hot streak winning his next four consecutive matches. He narrowly lost his sixth game with 245 but bounced back with his sixth win on 222. Although Padua lost his eighth match, he topped the block with 1840. Dylan Lam, who had dropped down to third briefly, fought his way back up to second with 1792 from just five wins.

Jovi Ma Ka Yin, who had struggled mid-way through the block, recovered and then stormed home with three straight wins to leapfrog up to third with 1742 and also totaled five wins.

Meanwhile, Team gold medalist, Nura Salsabila Zulkifli led the girl's division with 1668 from six wins despite a moderate start. Singles silver medalist, Sharifa Askander of Kuwait, who was trailing the Singaporean most of the way, fizzled out to settle for third with 1576 from five wins.

Li Yi-Rou of Chinese Taipei A snatched second spot from the Kuwaiti with 1601 from six wins altogether. Two Malaysians, Doubles gold medalists, Nur Syahira Amani Bte Abdullah and All Events gold medalist, Helena Bte Jamal rounded out the top five with 1560 and 1550.

Nur Syahira managed four wins and a draw while Helena had six wins in this block. The finalists will resume with their second block of seven games and a position-round match tomorrow to determine the top 3 boys and top 3 girls advancing to the Masters Stepladder shootout finals.

In addition to the live streaming of the second block, the Stepladder finals will also be streamed live. Live scores are also available.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Jakarta, Indonesia.