Malaysian bowlers on a roll
23rd March, K.Lumpur: Malaysian national bowlers were on a roll as they dominated the Ladies' and Men's Open Masters first block finals of the 30th Malaysian International Open Bowling Championship at Pyramid Mega Lanes Friday afternoon. Doha Asian Games gold medalist, Zandra Aziela hit on a hot trail to storm into the lead of the Ladies' Open Masters first block over 8 games to lead a strong field of 33 finalists by 39 pins on a total score of 1909.
Teammate and last year's runner-up set a cracking pace to take an early lead but soon fizzled out. 2006 ABF Tour Malaysian leg champion, Vanessa Fung of Hong Kong also led briefly but found the pace too hot to keep up with.
At the halfway mark, Zandra stormed into the fray with lines of 258, 213, 268 and 238 to hang on to the lead. Milo Junior All Stars and Penang Pesta champion, Siti Safiyah Amirah snatch second spot with 1870 from third-placed, Esther Cheah, who downed 1844.
Apart from Singapore's Daphne Tan finishing fourth with 1812, Malaysian ladies dominated by taking fifth to eighth positions with Zatil Iman (5th-1787), Sin Li Jane (6th-1756), Choy Poh Lai (7th-1753) and Sharon Koh (1751).
In the men's division, newly-crowned Boy's Open champion, Choi Bok Eum and teammate, Joung Seong Joo of Bowling Camp Korea spoilt Malaysia's day by finishing in between Malaysia's Daniel Lim and defending champion, Alex Liew.
Lim ended the first block in the lead with 1889, just 28 pins ahead of Choi in second with 1861. Alex and Joung tied for third spot with identical scores of 1848. Early pace-setter and Milo Junior All Stars champion, Jason Belmonte dropped to fifth with 1844.
Kim Jin Han (KOR-1818), Zulmazran Zulkifli (MAS-1790), Saeed Al-Hajri (QAT-1778) and Yousef Al-Jaber (QAT-1775) and Wu Siu Hong (HKG-1771) rounded up the top 10 from sixth to tenth respectively.
The men and ladies will bowl another 8 games in the second block tomorrow (Saturday, 24th March) and at the end of which the top 6 men and top 6 ladies will make the cut for the stepladder grand finals.
The best 3 men and best 2 ladies from Malaysia will also make up Team Malaysia to challenge the best 3 men and best 2 ladies from the rest of the world in a special Canon Cup to be held on Sunday, at 12.30pm in a head-to-head matchplay format.
Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.