Singapore women dominate qualifying
21st July, Jakarta: Singapore women continued their fine form to dominate the qualifying rounds of the 9th Indonesia International Open with newly-crowned Hong Kong Open champion, Shayna Ng leading the Women's Open division. Newly-crowned Hong Kong Open champion, Shayna Ng continued where she left off after her maiden victory in the Hong Kong Open last week with only her two attempts of 733 and 700 to take over the lead in the Women's Open Masters qualifying table with 1433.
Jasmine Yeong-Nathan had finished second with 1341 but was pipped by team-mate and Guangzhou Asian Games Singles bronze medalist, New Hui Fen by 13 pins on 1354. The top 3 would earn automatic qualification for Round 2 finals.
Overnight leader, Hee Kar Yen slipped down to fourth with 1273. Other Singapore women, Bernice Lim and Amanda Ng finished second and fifth in the mixed pool with 1224 and 1201 respectively.
An improvement to Bernice's lowest 3-games series of 601 would put her into the overseas pool while Amanda can also improve her lowest series of 584 to move out of the mixed pool.
Geraldine Ng totaled 1187 and is placed first in the reserves pool and can still improve her scores of 610 and 577. Fok Ka Wai notched up 589 and 585 and has yet to make the cut.
The top 3 local and top 3 overseas women qualifiers will skip Round 1 finals and directly into Round 2. Seven qualifiers from the local pool, seven from overseas pool and nine from mixed pool will contest Round 1 finals.
In the men's division, Singapore best performer so far was Benjamin Lim, who occupied second in the mixed pool with 1347. Other Singapore men have yet to register two 3-game series.
Leading the overseas pool was Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong with a stunning 1461. Thai ex-national Surasak Manuwong and another ex-national, Isaac Russell of Malaysia finished second and third with 1435 and 1431.
The top 3 local and top 3 overseas men qualifiers will skip Round 1 finals and directly into Round 2. Nine qualifiers from the local pool, nine from overseas pool and 12 from mixed pool will contest Round 1 finals.
Qualifying continues through to July 23 and the Open Masters finals Round 1 and 2 will be staged on July 24 and 25. The top 6 men and top 6 women will advance into the stepladder shootout finals.
Detailed scores: Women's Open Qualifying | Men's Open Qualifying | Photo Album.Photos by Terence Yaw in Jakarta.