28th June, Kuching, Sarawak: Five 2025 Asian Junior gold medalists, Qurratu'Ain Izdihar of Malaysia took the lead of the Girl's Singles qualifying Squad 1 of the 2026 IBF World Youth Bowling Championships ahead of Hazel Tan Wei Ning of Singapore in second and Samantha Clifton of Australia third.

Clifton started her Singles qualifying rounds with a superb 227 to lead Mao Kondah of Japan and Jung Miteum of Korea sharing second spot with 223. Qurrat'Ain, who started with 211, added 224 to take over the lead. Gianna Brandolino of USA moved up to second after 209 and 220.

Another strong game from Qurrat'Ain allowed the Malaysian to remain in the lead albeit, just eight pins ahead of the Aussie, who shot a sizzling 257. Hazel Tan stayed close to the leading duo in third. Despite a 194 in the fourth game, Qurratu'Ain continued to lead and stretching her gap to 39 pins.

The leader went on to end the block with 205 and 203 to take top spot of the squad with 1290. Tan ended strongly with 219 to seal second position with 1256.

Clifton finished third with 1232 while two Americans, Brandolino and Erin Klemencic completed the top five with 1226 and 1222 respectively. Early contenders, Kondoh and Jung Miteum managed to finish 12th and 14th respectively.

The second girl's squad will take to the lanes at 9:00am local time for their Singles qualifying rounds. The top 16 after both squads are combined, will qualify for the head-to-head Matchplay Round-Robin style matches with 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss in two groups. The top two with the highest points from each group will proceed to the Singles Semi-finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Kuching, Sarawak.