The win is the highlight, to date, for the Australian girls – sisters Jayde and Bianca Flanagan from Carrara on the Gold Coast, Kate Murry from Townsville and Toni Woodcock from Perth. Malaysia’s Team A led until the fourth game but the Australian girls fought gallantly to level in the fifth game and stormed home to beat the Malaysians by 43 pins with a total score of 4302 to clinch Gold for the Team. Malaysia A finished on 4259 and Malaysia B took Bronze on 4093.

At the start of the Championships on Wednesday, just three pins stood between a medal performance in the Singles event by Toni Woodcock, who finished on a 1133 score after six games. Indonesia’s Sharon Limansantosa took Gold with 1211 and Malaysia’s Sharon Koh and Voon Kim Ling won Silver and Bronze with 1155 and 1136, just pipping the Perth teenager to her first medal at the Championships.

Matthew Sofia from Sydney was the highest placed Australian in the Boy’s Division of the Singles finishing in sixth place, just 40 pins behind the Bronze medallist. While medal placings again eluded the Aussie Boys, the duo of Jayde Flanagan and Toni Woodcock finished strongly to clinch the Silver medal in the Girls Doubles, with Malaysia securing both Gold and Bronze in this event.

Toni Woodcock’s consistent high scoring in the Singles, Doubles and Teams events delivered the Willetton teenager a second Silver medal in the All Events. Malaysia’s Yazliza Razlan bagged her second Gold in the outing with a combined score of 3469, just 25 pins ahead of Woodcock, while Malaysian team-mate Sharon Koh took the All Events Bronze on 3373. Doubles and Teams Gold medallist, Jonathan Lim from Malaysia put his stamp of supremacy on the Boys division with a third Gold medal in the All events, accruing a 3699 pinfall, just nine pins ahead of team-mate Nadri Mohd Noor on 3690 and Filipino J C Tupaz taking the Bronze with a 3672 total score.

The field is now cut to the top 16 bowlers both the Boys and Girls divisions, with two Australian bowlers represented in each event. Toni Woodcock’s second placing and Jayde Flanagan’s seventh placing in the All Events secured Masters berths for the two girls, while Matthew Sofia from Lower Portland in Sydney and Chris Slattery from Unanderra, on the Illawarra coast will line up tomorrow in the Boys division.

Play commences at 9.30 am local time for the first block of eight games, with the final block scheduled for the same time on Monday morning. The top three placegetters will then contest a Stepladder final at 12 noon to determine the 2003 Masters Champions. Reigning champion from last year’s event, Melbourne’s Matthew O’Brien was unable to defend his title, no longer under the 19 year age limit for the Championship, while winner of the 2002 Girls Masters, Yazliza Razlan is in high contention for back to back wins after a multi-medal performance so far at this year’s event.

Malaysia currently leads the Medal standings with 6 Gold, 6 Silver and 4 Bronze medals followed by Australia with 1 Gold and 2 Silver medals. Indonesia is third with 1 Gold medal while Philippines is fourth with 1 Bronze medal.