16th December, Seberang Prai: 29th South-East Asian Games Team silver medallist and topseed, Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia needed two games to beat challenger, Callum Borck of Australia to win the 45th MMBC Penang Pesta International Bowling Championships Men's Open title.

In the first game of the championship round, Lalisang stumbled to three splits while his challenger, Borck only had one opened frame but rolled four consecutive strikes to take the first game, 210-183 forcing the Indonesian to a second decider.

Lalisang recovered in the second game with four strikes-in-a-row as the 17-year Aussie encountered a split in the fourth frame.

Although the Indonesian could not add more strikes, Borck continued to struggle and was dealt with another split in the seventh frame.

Borck had a lucky break in the semi-finals against compatriot and third-seed, Sam Cooley of Australia after Cooley rolled a 6-pin split in his final frame to hand the match to Borck, 200-201. Borck earned RM20,000 as first runner-up while Cooley settled for RM15,000 as second runner-up.

In the earlier Round 2 finals, Lalisang and Borck had traded the lead most of the way but it was Lalisang who ended with a big game of 258 to top the round with 1849, 44 pins ahead of Borck with 1805. Cooley also ended with a high game of 237 to edge overnight leader, Christopher Tiong of Sarawak, Malaysia by 12 pins to clinch third spot with 1784.

Nadia Pramanik of Indonesia was the top women finisher in tenth position hence picked up the Women's crown and RM10,000. Alisha Nabila, who earned RM5,000, gave Indonesia a one-two finish when she finished in 16th position.

National youth and MILO Junior All-Stars Girl's Open first runner-up and Malaysian national youth, Ameerahusna Dato' Aznel finished 17th to take home RM4,000 as second runner-up. Prizes were awarded to all the Round 2 finalists while the top 10 women were awarded prizes.

Cik Roliah Harun, acting secretary general of Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress and Dr Ong Shaw Feng, Deputy President of PTBPP were on hand to present the prizes to the winners.

The 45th MMBC Penang Pesta Bowling Championships, with title sponsor, Megamall Bowling Center, a subsidiary of MBI, is sanctioned by World Bowling and Asian Bowling Federation. It is one of the most popular tournament in the month of December which attracts some 400 to 450 participants from East and West Asia.

There were a total of seven divisions, namely Youth Under-12, Youth Under-16, Youth Open, Women's Grade, Men's Grade A and B and Open (mixed gender). Paricipants bowl for two best 3-games unlimited qualifying series to make their respectively grades Masters finals.

15th December, Seberang Prai: Muhammad Fazrin Khairul Faizi of SIBA, Malaysia ended the Men's Grade A Masters finals with the first 300 of the 45th MMBC Penang Pesta International Bowling Championships to take victory while Tengku Emanina Laily captured the Women's Graded crown.

The pace was set by Dylan Ooi of Sunway Megalanes for the first half of the 10-games finals but soon the tussle for the lead was largely between Muhammad Fazrin, Muhammad Bakri of Aman Bowl and Dylan Ooi.

It had look like Muhammad Fazrin had lost the fight when he stumbled to a low game of 157 in the eighth game, but he bounced back with 205 in the ninth before reeling in 12 consecutive strikes in his tenth and final game to seal his victory with 2071.

Muhammad Bakri settled for second position with 2019, 52 pins adrift while Megat Zaqrul Haqal of Penang finished third with 1961.

Meanwhile, top qualifier Tengku Emanina Laily of Kedah crusied to an easy victory in the Women's Graded Masters with an 8-game total of 1602. Afiqah Nurhabreyah of PBM/MBMB finished second with 1539 and Nor Atteya Zainal Abidin of Perak took third spot with 1523.

Early front runner-up, Nurin Nabila ended in fourth position with 1510 and Durriyah Ibrahim completed the top five with 1506. Muhammad Fazrin pocketed RM15,000 as Men's Grade A champion with the first and second runners-up taking home RM10,000 and RM6,000 respectively.

Tengku Emanina was richer by RM3,000 with the first and second runners-up earning RM2,000 and RM1,000. The Mixed Open Round 2 finals will be contested tomorrow, December 16 concluding the 10-day competition at the 50-lane Megamall Bowling Centre.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Seberang Prai, Malaysia.

15th December, Seberang Prai: MILO Junior All-Stars Youth Boy's Open fourth runner-up, Christopher Tiong of Sarawak won the Mixed Open Round 1 Masters of the 45th MMBC Penang Pesta International Bowling Championships on Friday.

Wan Syahmi Razin of MBPJ/UITM set a cracking pace with 253 in his open game to lead Tiong by 15 pins as Mohd Faiz Shahruddin of Penang, Ryan Burton of Australia and Malaysian national bowler, Alex Liew all shot good games to stay with the leaders.

The leader was on a roll adding 227 and 225 in his next two games to stretch his lead to 47 pins. Mohd Faiz moved into second after posting 205 and 220 with Kang Bo Long of MBPJ, Selangor improving to take up third spot.

Wan Syahmi struggled on a 188 in the fourth game allowing Kang to close the gap to 17 pins. With another low game of 178 from Wan Syahmi in the fifth, Kang took the opportunity to take over the running.

The Sarawakian ended the strongest with 245 and 279 in his final two games to win the round with 1838. The Indonesian finished in a distant second with 1751, 87 pins adrift. Malaysian national youth, Nur Syazwani Sahar stormed home to snatch third spot with 1744.

Blayne Fletcher of Australia and 2017 Asian Youth Singles gold medallist, Tun Hakim rounded out the top five with 1730 and 1710 respectively. Pace-setters, Cooley and Kang ended in seventh and eighth positions with 1705 and 1704.

The cut in 18th position went to Korean pro, Gu Yong Jin with 1638 (averraging 204.8). The top 18 advanced to Round 2 finals joined by the top 3 local and top 3 overseas seeded qualifiers for another 8 games in Round 2 finals tomorrow.

The top 3 at the end of Round 2 finals will proceed to the Stepladder shootout finals with the semi-finals between the second and third-seeds. The winner of the semi-finals will meet the topseed over a beat-twice format to determine this year's champion.

14th December, Seberang Prai: 2017 Asian School Doubles gold medallist, Callum Borck of Australia and Alisha Nabila of Indonesia earned a bye after making the top bracket of the Mixed Open Masters qualifying table at the 45th MMBC Penang Pesta International Bowling Championships.

The 17-year-old from Perth, Western Australia and competing here in Penang for the third consecutive year, only made two attempts in the Mixed Open division after securing his place in the Youth Boy's Open Masters finals.

Borck took to the lanes at 1.00pm squad yesterday and posted 234, 203 and 247 to register his first 3-game series of 684. At the following 2.30pm squad, the Aussie blazed the lanes with a cracking first game of 268, 215 in the second and a superb 242 in the third for a sizzling 725 series.

Early leader, James Lui of Hong Kong completed the top five with 1364. The cut for the overseas pool in 13th position went to Oscar of Indonesia with 1305. Nadia Pramanik of Indonesia headed the mixed pool with 1301 and the cut at 25th position went to Jimmy Cheung of Hong Kong with 1224 (averaging 204).

Chong Jun Foo of Sarawak, Malaysia and Johnathan Chan of Sunway Megalanes remained in first and second in the local pool with 1438 and 1424 respectively. National kegler, Syafiq Ridhwan joined the duo in third with 1409.

The cut for the local pool in 13th position went to Mohd Zul Fauzi of XMMC, Malaysia with 1264 (averaging 210.67). Qualifying will end late tonight. Qualifiers positioned 4 - 13 (10) from the local pool, qualifiers positioned 4 - 13 (10) from the overseas pool and qualifiers positioned 1 - 25 (25) together with the defending champion (total 46) will contest Round 1 finals tomorrow morning.

14th December, Seberang Prai: Malaysian dominated the MILO Youth Masters finals at the 45th MMBC Penang Pesta International Bowling Championships after Sushanor Sihanor of MSN, Sabah and Nur Dayana Bte Zuhdi of Negeri Sembilan triumphed in the Boy's and Girl's divisions.

Chong Yuet Hoong of Perak set a cracking pace with an opening game of 246 to lead National youth, Adam Azza of Wilayah Persekutuan by 20 pins. Youth Boy's Under-16 Masters champion Joyan Khoo of Singapore kept pace with 221 in third.

Chong's lead lasted only one game as Sherman Goh of SPB, Singapore shot into the lead with a sizzling 245 following his first game of 192. Khoo added 212 to move into second spot as Chong and Adam stumbled to low games.

Goh was on a roll adding 235 in the third game extending his lead from four to 12 pins. 18th MILO Junior All-Stars Boy's Open second runner-up, Blayne Fletcher of Australia moved into second with 238.

Wan Syahmin and Hafiz shared the lead as Sushanor trailed in second. The lead was hotly contested amongst the front runners but it was Sushanor who prevailed to end the finals with two superb games of 237 and 214 to clinch the title with 1683.

Wan Syahmin, who also ended with two good games of 226 and 204, settled for second with 1657. Hafiz finished third with 1654 while the recovering Fletcher and Khoo rounded out the top five with 1625 and 1611 respectively.

The champion pocketed RM5,000 for his triumph while the first and second runners-up took home RM3,000 and RM2,000.

In the girl's division, Nur Dayana Bte Zuhdi Negeri Sembilan, clinched the crown just by a single pin with 1561. Her compatriot, Nur 'Ain Mustaffa and national youth, Nor Lyana Natasia, who were tussling for the lead, finished second and third with 1560 and 1557.

13th December, Seberang Prai: Indonesian bowlers rules the lanes at Megamall Penang after Billy Muhammad Islam took over the lead of the Mixed Open division overseas pool qualifying standings at the 45th MMBC Penang Pesta Bowling Championships.

2017 South East Asian Games Team silver medallist, Ryan Lalisang had topped the standings with 1330 but lost the lead to Hong Kong's James Lui after the national bowler posted a 6-game aggregate of 1333. Billy Muhammad Islam, who had 665 and 557 series, improved with a stunning 771 series to haul himself up from 12th position to pole with 1436.

Overnight leader, James Lui of Hong Kong slipped down to second despite improving his 6-game tally to 1364. Two-time ABF Tour winner, Sam Cooley of Australia also improved his total of 1287 to 1350 to take up third position. The top 3 would automatically advance to Round 2 finals.

Four Indonesians, Hardy Rachmadian, Ryan Lalisang, Oscar and Nadia Pramanik finished fourth and seventh positions with 1346, 1330, 1305 and 1301 respectively.

Alisha Nabila of Indonesia headed the mixed pool with 1260 and the cut at 25th position with one more day remain for qualifying, went to Mahmood Alhadidi of Oman with 1138 (averaging 189.67).

Qualifiers positioned 1 to 3 in the local pool and overseas pools earn a bye and will automatically advance to Round 2 finals. Qualifiers positioned 4 to 13 in the local and overseas pools together with qualifiers positioned 1 to 25 in the mixed pool will contest the 8-game Round 1 finals on December 15.

The top 18 finishers in Round 1 will be joined by the top 3 local and top 3 overseas seeded qualifiers for another 8 games in Round 2 finals on December 16. The top 3 finishers at the end of Round 2 finals will proceed to the Stepladder shootout finals.

The 45th MMBC Penang Pesta Bowling Championships, with title sponsor, Megamall Bowling Center, is sanctioned by World Bowling and Asian Bowling Federation.

13th December, Seberang Prai: Rahim Kassim of Team Syntech, Singapore captured the Senior Masters title of the 45th MMBC Penang Pesta International Bowling Championships while Mohammad Yaacob of Green Adventures, Malaysia took the Men's Grade B Masters crown.

60-year-old Azizan Bin Hanif got off the block with a sizzling 222 to lead Rahim by 14 pins as Lee Heng Ping of Team Syntech, Tan Hock Beng of Singapore and Ng Seen Moi of Malaysia followed closely behind, all registering 200 games.

Rahim and Ng shared the lead after the second game as Azizan trailed the leading duo, albeit just by a single pin. Rahim was on a hot streak reeling in 223, 221 and 211 to pull away from the pack and building up a comfortable margin of 55 pins.

Defending champion and seasoned campaigner, Rosnani Ramli of Malaysia, bowling with a handicap of 15 pins per game, shot a superb game of 236 in the fourth to take up second spot.

Azizan settled for third position with 1607 while Hong Kong Very Proshop's Bobby Ho and Hui completed the top five with 1606 and 1579 respectively. Rahim picked up RM5,000 as champion with first and second runners-up taking home RM3,000 and RM2,000 for their effort.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Yaacob won the Men's Grade B Masters crown with an 8-game total of 1613. The Malaysian rolled 201, 169, 243, 201, 217, 223, 179 and 180 for the victory. Wan Zuwar B Wan Mohd Zain finished second with 1548, 65 pins adrift.

Sunway Megalanes' Ooi Hong Keong took third position with 1542, just six pins away. Ooi's team-mate, Azriq Izam and Ahmer Abbas Saldera of Pakistan completed the top five with 1535 and 1489 respectively.

The champion earned RM5,000 and a trophy while the first and second runners-up pocketed RM3,000 and RM2,000 respectively. Third and fourth runners-up took home RM1,000 and RM900.

12th December, Seberang Prai: Hong Kong national kegler, James Lui set the qualifying pace of the Mixed Open division at the 45th MMBC Penang Pesta International Bowling Championships underway at Megamall Bowling Centre.

Lui, on his first two attempts bowled yesterday, registered 726 and 607 series to go atop the overseas pool table with a six-game total 1333. Early leader and 2017 South East Asian Games Trios bronze and Team silver medallist, Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia settled for second with 1290.

Lalisang's team-mate, Diwan Rezaldy occupied third spot with 1283. The top 3 qualifiers in the overseas pool will earn a bye and advance automatically to Round 2 finals. 2017 ABF Tour Hong Kong winner and top female qualifier, Nadia Pramanik of Indonesia finished fourth with 1251.

Qualifiers positioned 4 to 13 in the overseas pool will have to contest Round 1 finals on Decemver 15. In the local pool, 2015 Asian Youth Singles gold medallist, Chong Jun Foo of Sarawak, Malaysia topped the standings with 1438 with 761 and 677 series.

Ex-national youth, Tengku Emanina Laily of Kedah, Malaysia finished fourth with 1153. Qualifiers positioned 4 to 13 in the local pool will contest Round 1 finals on December 15.

Indonesia's Fachri Ibnu Askar headed the mixed pool with 1206. Qualifiers position 1 to 40 in the mixed pool will contest Round 1 finals together with the ten from the local pool and ten from the overseas pool.

The 46 Round 1 finalists will bowl 8 games in the finals and the top 18 at the end of the finals will be joined by the top 3 local and top 3 overseas seeded qualifiers for another 8 games in Round 2 finals. The top 3 at the end of Round 2 will proceed to the stepladder shootout finals on December 16.

The champion stand to pick up a whopping RM45,000 (approx. US$11,000) as top prize with the first runner-up taking home RM20,000 and second runner-up RM15,000.

12th December, Seberang Prai: Sukma Penang squad member, Melissa Khong of Malaysia and Agape Bowling Academy prodigee, Joyan Khoo of Singapore shared glory at the 45th MMBC Penang Pesta International Bowling Championships with victory in the Girl's and Boy's Under-16 Masters Finals.

Khong, 16 of SMK Bukit Jambul got off to a good start to lead Alyaa Addini of Perak, Malaysia by 8 pins but soon lost the lead when Alyaa took over the running after the second game. Alyaa remained in the lead for another game before Singapore's Kimberly Tan shot into the front of the pack after the fourth game.

Alyaa fought back to regain the lead after the fifth game albeit only three pins ahead of the Singapore youth. Khong, who had dropped off the leading trio, bounced back with two stunning games of 230 and 212 to take over the lead and building up a massive gap of 56 pins.

Meanwhile, Joyan Khoo literally lead from start to finish to win the Boy's Under-16 Masters title with a total of 1636. Khoo took the early lead with a sizzling 246 and shared the lead after the second game with Muhammad Fareez Aiman of MSN Kedah.

Although Muhammad Fareez took over the lead after the third game, the Singapore youth was on fire reeling in 216, 200, 178, 191 and 212 to take a convincing victory, 67 pins ahead of Muhammad Hariz Adlan of MBI, Malaysia in second with 1569.

Alfaiz Zainal of PTBPP, Malaysia stormed home with two brilliant games of 212 and 201 to snatch third spot with 1521. George Yin Xu of Singapore Sport School, finished fourth with 1510 while Muhammad Fareez rounded out the top five with 1504.

Khoo pocketed RM3,000 as champion with Muhammad Hariz and Alfaiz taking home RM2,000 and RM1,000 respectively. Khong earned RM1,500 as Girl's Under-16 champion with Alyaa and Kimberly Tan settling for RM1,000 and RM700.