A creditable podium for Singaporean

5th December, Taipei: Third seed, Tan Yan Ling of Singapore put in a splendid performance in the Ladies' Open Masters stepladder title match to finish as first runnerup at the 11th Chinese Taipei International Open on Sunday. Tan Yan Ling, who was second in the first block, ended the second block in third position behind Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung in second and Tang Ya-Chun in pole. Tan's team-matesm Bernice Lim and Fok Ka Wai also made the stepladder finals in fourth and fifth position.

Lim scorched the lanes with a stunning 279 to beat Fok (179) and defending champion, Sharon Koh (186) of Malaysia and advance to face Tan and Vanessa in the second match.

Lim beat Vanessa, 216-205 but Tan posted a higher 245 to advance to the title match against top seed, Tang Ya-Chun. Both matched stride for stride with strikes and Tang struck out in her final frame to take the match and the title, 278-268.   Tan showed the characteristic Singapore fighting spirit in the thrilling match but had to settle for first runnerup. Tang won NT$70,000 (approx. US$2,300) as champion while Yan Ling settled for NT$35,000 (US$1,150) and Vanessa took home NT$25,000 (US$820). Bernice, Ka Wai and Koh won NT$20,000, NT$15,000 and NT$10,000 respectively.

Teo Li Ying, who was sixth in the first block, missed the stepladder finals by 4 pins to finish in seventh position while Gina Lim, who was third overnight, dropped off to eighth. In the men's division, Justin Lim Chia Loong, who was 11th in the first block, fought back galantly to make the stepladder finals tieing with Cheng Hsing-Yueh of Chinese Taipei in fifth spot. But Lim lost the first match against Cheng and fourth seed, Chang Tai-Lung, 194-195-212.

Second seed and defending champion, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong beat compatriot, Joshua Chow and Chang, 226-199-171 in the second match to face top seed Chang Te-Ming of Chinese Taipei. Wu took the first game, 277-224 but used all his strikes and could not repeat the form to go down 193-234 in the decider and failed to defend his title.

Ng Chiew Pang improved his overnight position from 17th to 11th position with a better second block performance while Justin Lim Chun Liang also moved up from 27th to 15th position.   Chang was richer by NT$200,000 (approx. US$6,600) after winning the men's title while Wu settled for NT$100,000 (US$3,300) and Joshua took home NT$50,000 (US$1,650). Chang, Cheng and Justin won NT$30,000, NT$20,000 and NT$10,000 respectively.

Detailed scores: Ladies' Open Stepladder | Men's Open Stepladder | Ladies' Open Block 2 | Men's Open Block 2. Photos by Terence Yaw.