14th December, Seberang Prai: Penang bowlers celebrated a double joy after Melissa Khong and Mohamad Faiz lifted the Women's Graded and Men's Grade A Masters titles of 46th Penang Pesta International Bowling Championships at Megamall Bowling Centre.

Korea's Lee Young Jin and Jeonnam's Park Jun Se set a blistering pace with 289 and 262 in their opening games to take a one-two lead with Singapore's Rick Tan amd Sabah's Mohd Sufyan Omar sharing third spot with 246.

Lee kept the lead with 214 as Mohamad Faiz, who started off in fifth with 233, added 223 in his second game to move into second position and Park slipping down to third. Mohamad Faiz posted a sizzling game of 278 to take over the running after the third game.

With another strong game of 238 in the fourth, the Penangnite remained in the lead but stumbled to a low 158 in the sixth. Lee also faded off as Yu Hyeon In of Jeonnam and Azriq Izam of Sunway Megalanes crawled up the field.

Yu finished second with 2136, 50 pind adrift while Azriq clinched third spot with 2131, just three pins of Choi Myeong Seok of Jeonnam in fourth with 2128. Sabah's Tan Chien Nan snatched fifth spot with 2113.

Meanwhile in the Women's Graded division, last year's Youth Girls Under-16 champion, Melissa Khong gave Penang their doble joy when the 17-yer-old led from start to finish to win her first international title with 1660.

Farissa Najihah of Kedah took second spot with 1638, 22 pins behind Khong. Chinese Taipei's Chang Yao Chien finished third with 1619. Nabilah Binti Kassim missed the podium after finishing fourth with 1593 while Fadhlin Arisya rounded out the top five with 1587.

Mr Fred Tan, Director of Majlis Sukan Negeri Pinang gave the top prize of RM10,000 and a trophy to Mohamad Faiz. Yu picked up RM6,000 and Azriq RM4,000 as first and second runners-up. Khong won RM2,000 as Women's Graded champion with Farissa and Chang taking home RM1,000 and RM900 respectively.