The inaugural All Stars Classic 2009 commenced a day after the Milo Junior All Stars ended. Top three winners from both the Boys and Girls Open Divisions were granted automatic entry into the Classic Finals roll off.

The tournament saw many bowlers who were overaged for the Junior All Stars making attempts at qualifying to make the cut for the top 48. Youths who were not successful at the Juniors Finals also took a final shot at the RM30,000 Champion prize money on offer.

After six games, the field was cut to 24 bowlers who had to bowl another six games to qualify for the top 6 stepladder playoff.

The All Stars Classic is a handicapped tournament. Men Open-0; Ladies Open-8; Men Graded-5 pins. The top 6 finalists bowl on scratch scores to determine the Champion.

Results Top 24-Masters

1. Siti Safiyah (Malaysia)

2. Tannya Roumimper (Indonesia)

3. Jeon Eun Hee (Korea)

4. Aloysius Goh (Singapore)

5. Kang Bo Long (Malaysia)

6. Kim Ju Young (Korea)

In the first stepladder match between bowlers 4,5,6, Kang Bo Long triumphed on 209 to earn the right to play bowlers 2 and 3. Bo Long’s climb was halted when Jeon Eun Hee shot a 265 game to proceed to play topseed Siti Safiyah of Malaysia.

In the finals, Eun Hee continued her fine run with another high game of 255-187 win against Siti Safiyah, forcing a sudden death game shootout between the two. This time Siti was able to get her act together when Malaysia’s Head coach, Holloway Cheah was seen asking her to make changes. She fired a 215-180 win to lay claim to the first All Stars Classic 2009 title.

Final Results

Champion - Siti Safiyah

2. Jeon Eun Hee

3. Kang Bo Long

4. Tannya Roumimper

5. Aloysius Goh

6. Kim Ju Young

After a failure to add another win to her two previous ones (2004/2006) at the Junior All Stars, Siti Safiyah, a member of Malaysia’s Elite Squad, won some consolation with her RM30,000 pocket money. The 19-yr old bowler was the country’s representative at the 45th QubicaAMF World Cup held in Malaysia where she finished third.

Jeon Eun Hee who had finished tenth in the Junior All Stars settled for RM15,000. Kang Bo Long earned himself a RM10,000 Christmas present. Tannya pocketed RM7,000. Aloysius won himself RM5,000 and Kim pocketed RM3,000 for his sixth overall position.

Stay tuned for the 37th Penang Pesta results.

Jonathan

The 10th Edition of the MILO International Junior All-Stars saw perfect games from 8 youths aged 23 and under. There were many near misses.

Six of the perfect games were achieved during the Masters Qualifyings (MQs) and two were achieved during the Masters Finals. While the MQs only awarded a daily prize reward of RM1000, the first bowler to achieve a 300 game during the Masters Finals would be rewarded with a cool RM50,000 to take home.

Malaysian youths who bagged the daily 300-High Game awards were Kang Bo Long (Elite Back-Up), Esther Cheah (Elite Squad), and Khoo Beng Khai (National Youth).

Others were Korean youth Woo Sang Young, 18-yrs old Australian Sam Cooley, and 17-yrs old Singaporean Gregory Gan.

18-yrs old Malaysian National Youth member, Aris Ardila, must be the biggest winner in the whole tournament. His 300 game was shot in Game 8 of the Masters Finals. He pocketed RM50,000 for his efforts. Korean youth Jang Hong Jun’s 300 game came a bit too late. He achieved it on Game 9, and so he ended up empty handed.

Two notable near misses came from Kim Sun Woo of Korea who had a day earlier shot a 299 game in the Boys Graded Masters and Malaysian youth Syimir Abd Razak who also shot a 299 game in Game 4 of the Boys Open Finals.

Check out the Tale of the Lucky and Not-So-Lucky bowler.

Better luck next time. Have a great day!

Jonathan