19th April, Petaling Jaya: Nguyen Phuc Gia Dang of Vietnam and ex-national youth, Nurul Ayunni of Sabah, Malaysia captured the Men's and Women's Graded Masters titles of the 43rd Malaysian International Open Bowling Championships on Saturday evening.

Malaysia's Adam Azza set a cracking pace with 267 and 226 in his two opening games to lead Nurakamal Ramli of Fexie Bowl by 19 pins. Abang Afiq Yazid of Sunway Megalanes, who rolled 217 and 246, added 236 in the third game to take over the running.

A poor 185 in the fourth game allowed Adam Azza to regain the lead after the latter shot 207. Abang Afiq trailed in second, 28 pins adrift. Adam continued to lead the next two games but Nguyen shot three big games to move into the lead.

The Vietnamese ended the block with 210 and 197 to seal victory with 1728. Wan Muhammad Naqib stormed home to snatch second position with 1713 while Abang Afiq settled for third with 1707. Adam fizzled off with two low games to slip out of the top five.

In the women's division, Nassmitaa A/P Ravichandran of Negeri Sembilan took an early lead with an opening game of 232 but immediately lost her lead to Nur Amira Abdul Rahim of Kuala Lumpur after the second game. Nur Amira led for the next three games but stumbled to two back-to-back low games.

Nurul Ayunni took the opportunity to move into the lead after two big games of 238 and 254. The Sabahan bowled consistently in her last three games to win with 1621. Nursyarafana Auni of Negeri Sembilan finished second with 1584, 37 pins adrift.

Ex-Thai national, Natthida Sertluecha rolled three consecutive games of 222 to clinch third position with 1575 while Nur Nais Falilnesa of Malaysia and Felinda Grzybowska of Philippines rounded out the top five with 1551 and 1544 respectively.

Nguyen pocketed the top prize of RM20,000 (approx. US$4,500) as champion with Wan Muhammad Naqib and Abang Afiq taking home RM10,000 and RM8,000 respectively as first and second runners-up. Nurul Ayunni earned RM5,000 for her effort and Nursyarafana Auni and Natthida Sertluecha settling for RM2,000 and RM1,000.