Seasoned campaigner sets opening pace
21st May, Singapore: Seasoned campaigner and winner of the 2005 Singapore Open, Jack Wong set the opening pace as he blitzed the lanes at Superbowl Safra Mount Faber to take top spot in the Men's Open Masters qualifying table of the 41st Singapore International Open. Winner of numerous titles in his prime days, the 56-year-old showed that he has still got a many years left in his illustrious bowling career to knock down a 4-game total of 938 averaging 234.5 to lead Singapore's bid to keep the prestigious men's crown on home soil.
World champion and national kegler, Remy Ong also impressed with 935 to take up second behind the veteran while Andrew Lee finished third with 895. Paiman Bin Dali and Chaim Yew Beng rounded up the top 5 finishing fourth and fifth with 888 and 876 respectively.
2006 champion, Lee Yu-Wen made little impression and only managed to post 794 to take up 13th in the men's local pool. Lionel Lim finished out of this pool but topped the mixed pool with 778 ahead of Carl de Vries and Ong Qizong second and third.
Meanwhile, Valerie Teo topped the women's local pool with a total of 885, just 2 pins ahead of fellow compatriat, Jennifer Tan second and last year's second runner-up, Cherie Tan third with 883 and 800.
Newly-crowned Malaysian Open champion, Jazreel Tan shot 794 to finish fourth ahead of youngster, Ong She-Na in fifth spot with 781. Tan, the two-time national champion was the only Singaporean to qualify for this year's World Ranking Masters in Jakarta, missed an opportunity to make an impression when she was taken down with a fever throughout the championship.
But Ong She-Na posted a higher score when she made her other attempts to head the Youth Girl's division leaderboard with 875. Last year's champion, Gina Lim claimed second spot with 826 while Teo Li Ying finished third with 816.
Participants vying for glory in six grades in both the male and female divisions of the on-going Singapore Open will continue to make their attempts to qualify for their respective Masters finals till Thursday, May 29.
The Youth Under-16's final attempt will be at 5.30pm on Wednesday, May 28, the Youth and senior divisions at 5.30pm on Thursday, May 29 while the last squad for the rest will be later in the early hours of Friday.
Photos by Camilla Chua, SBF.