Syafiq Aiman takes pole position in the Boys Graded category

(Story by Tony Lim)

Syafiq Aiman Johari of Selangor snatched the lead from Amirul Farhan bin Abdul Halim of Kuala Lumpur to take the pole position in the first block of 8 games in the Boys Graded event with a total of 1655 pinfalls to average 206, only 1 pin more than Amirul Farhan.

Syafiq Aiman had 245 and 268 on the fourth and fifth game to move up to the top position and from there he stave off the challenge from Amirul who also had 262 and 224 but a poor last game of 171 allowed Syafiq to remain in the top spot.
Emir Hazim bin Rozaimee of Kuala Lumpur who almost hit a perfect game yesterday had to contend with third placing with 1640 pinfalls but he can still made amends when they face off in the second block where the top 48 bowlers will battle it out over the next 6 games to gain a place in the top 8 for the finals which will be held on Sunday.

Newcomer Ivan Ong had a good outing when he held his nerves to bowl consistently and had some good breaks to score games of 243, 225 and 204 for a total of 1632 pinfalls to be in fifth place. The short 36 feet oiling distance had a lot of oil transition as most of the bowlers were playing between the 2nd and 3rd arrow and was scoring well in the early stages. However when the lanes started drying up, bowlers were slow to make the necessary changes to address the depletion of oil on that area where traffic was the heaviest.

Perhaps now is the time to observe and learn about the oil transition when play is in progress and the depletion of oil on the track is inevitable and bowlers must be fast to change lines or the surface of the bowling ball to stay in contention. After all the SportExcel Junior Circuit is all about learning and discovering which is what the experience is all about.

Besides providing a platform for the bowlers to be discovered, the objectives of the SportExcel Junior Circuit this year is all about learning new things like oiling distance and patterns, ball selections and most of all making changes to the lines. With this objective, it is hoped that the youth bowlers will be better prepared when they play in international youth tournaments where the premium is all about making the fastest decision to play the different lane conditions.