Jazreel Tan in title contention
10th July, Hong Kong: Team bronze medalist, Jazreel Tan is in a strong position to challenge for the Women's Masters title after finshing second in the first block finals of the 20th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championship on Thursday afternoon. Reigning World Ranking Masters champion and Team silver medalist, Wendy Chai blitzed the lanes at Hong Kong Bowling City with a cracking 246 to lead the field of 16 finalists with a 15-pin lead over Korean Gyn Min-Young.
Team bronze medalist, Jazreel Tan, who beat team-mate, Jasmine Yeong-Nathan 212-200 in the opening match, shot 244 in the second to overtake Wendy for the lead with triple gold medalist and perfect gamer, Jeon Eun-Hee in a close second.
A poor 168 in her third game dropped Tan down the field as Jeon surged ahead with 244 to lead the Singaporean by 75 pins. At the halfway mark, Tan recovered with 244 while Joen continued to lead and being closed in by her team-mates, Hwang Sun-Ok and Choi Jin-A.
Except for a lapse in the seventh game, Jeon went on to top the field and ending the first block with 1801. Tan fought back galantly to swiftly moved back up to second and totaled 1771, just 30 pins from the leader.
Tan, who was twice runnerup in both the 2006 World Championship and the 2005 Korat SEA Games, won the Malaysian International Open in March this year. Korea's Choi Jin-A finished third with 1751 with another Korean, Gye Min-Young in fourth with 1740.
Meanwhile, Team gold medalist Adrian Ang of Malaysia snatched pole position in the men's division after knocking down 269, 248 and 248 in his last three matches. The 19-year-old youngster amassed a total of 1919 winning sixth out of the 8 matches contested.
China's Zhang Peng hung on to a good second after a brief lead in the sixth game with 1829 while early leader, Zulmazran Zulkifli finished third with 1828, just 1 pin from Zhang. All Events bronze medalist, Hussain Al-Suwaidi, who set the pace in the early stages, dropped to fourth with 1811.
Singapore's only male finalist, Shaun Ng was slow off the mark but crawl his way back up the field to end in tenth with 1676 while Jasmine Yeong-Nathan managed 15th in the women's division with 1635.
The men and women will resume with another 8 games in the second block tomorrow morning at 9.00am. The top 3 from each division will advance to the stepladder finals for the final two gold medals of the week-long championship.
Detailed scores: Women's Masters Blk 1 | Men's Masters Blk 1.
Photos by Terence Yaw.