Hwang Yeon-Ju (pictured left) of South Korea defeated top seeded Jacqueline Sijore (right) of Malaysia, 226-215, to claim the coveted Girls Masters title at the 12th World Youth Championships Tuesday afternoon at Blu-O Paragon Bowling Center in Bangkok, Thailand.

It was third gold medal of the championships for Hwang, who also won the titles in Doubles (with Kim Seon-Jeong) and in All Events. As in the 2010 WYC in Finland, the Korean girls captured four out of five gold medals. Their only defeat came in the four-player Team event, where the U.S. girls took the title.

In the semifinals, Sijore, the reigning adult World Champion in Singles, ousted Bernice Lim (left) of Singapore, 228-171 and Hwang eliminated Sijore's teammate Dayang Khairuniza (right), 223-181.

Sijore earned the silver medal while Khairuniza and Lim shared the bronze medal. In all four disciplines in which the winner was decided in playoffs (Singles, Doubles, Team and Masters), the top seeded player failed to win the gold medal.

The second day of the Masters finals started this morning with the round robin match play portion of the top eight players, who advanced from the Round of 24 yesterday. The 24-game total was carried forward.

Sijore averaged 214.14 and won five of her seven matches (20 pins bonus for each win) to leap one spot and to earn the No. 1 seed for the playoffs with 6647 pinfall total including 100 pins bonus.

Hwang, who averaged 215.06 for 18 games on her way to the All Events title, seemed to do her utmost to avoid the top seeded position. Starting the day in first lace with a 48-pin cushion over Sijore, The Korean averaged only 192.29 and won just two matches to finish in second place with 6491 total.

Khairuniza had the field-best 218.14 average in match play including a 4-3 won-lost record to jump from sixth to third place with 6489. After 31 games Singapore's New Hui Fen and Bernice Lim were deadlocked for fourth and last place to advance with 6421 including bonus pins.

Lim, who rolled the first 300 game of the 2012 event and just the second by girl in the history of World Youth Championships in the Round of 24 on Monday, defeated her compatriot, 8-7, in a one-ball roll-off.

12th World Youth Championships took place at Blu-O Paragon Bowling Center in Bangkok, Thailand, from June 22 - July 3, 2012.

274 girls and boys from record 48 countries, who must not have reached their 21st birthday on January 1, 2012, competed for gold, silver and bronze medals in Singles, Doubles, four-player Team event, All Events and Masters in the ten-day event.

The WTBA patterns "Mexico City" and "Atlanta" were used in Bangkok. The 45-foot Mexico City pattern is the second-longest of the twelve WTBA certified lane pattern (four short, four medium and four long). With a length of 38 feet, the Atlanta pattern is the shortest of the four medium pattern.

Singles was played on "Mexico City" and Doubles was contested on "Atlanta", while the Team event featured both oil patterns (3 games on each pattern).

The Masters was staged on dual lane condition (one lane dressed with the medium pattern and the other lane dressed with the long pattern).

Photos courtesy of Thai Tenpin Bowling Association (TTBA).

 

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2012 World Youth Championships - Girls Medal Tally