Singapore bowlers grab lead
21st March, K.Lumpur: Singapore national bowlers, Derek Chan and Evelyn Chan grabbed the lead of the Men's and Ladies' Open Masters qualifying table of the 30th Malaysian International Open Bowling Championship Tuesday evening.
Derek, who won last year's Malaysian Open Youth Masters title, started his third attempt moderately with 212 and 238 but fired all cylinders thereafter when he brought home two massive games of 268 and 279 to grab the overall lead in the Men's Open Masters with 997.
"It took me two attempts before I could find a good line to bowl for better scoring," said the delighted 21-year-old national bowler. "Pyramid Mega Lanes is a good hunting ground for me - who knows, I might get lucky again this year.
While Derek stole the limelight, his teammate Carl De Vries also made the finals by knocking down 960 just a few hours earlier. De Vries knocked down lines of 212, 246, 279 and 223 to take up seventh in the table.
Other Singaporean in the finals were season campaigner and 2005 Singapore Open champion, Jack Wong sixth the the mixed pool with 904. Justin Teng, who 12th in the overseas pool in the afternoon, dropped to 10th in the mixed pool with 898.
In the ladies' division, 2004 Singapore Open champion, Evelyn Chan gave Singapore a good day when she chalked up lines of 172, 236, 247 and 244 for a 4-game total of 899. Her score put her second overall and the lead in the overseas pool.
Evelyn was also joined by teammate, Sabrina Lim, who scored 842 to finish third in the mixed pool followed by Jasmine Yeong-Nathan in sixth position with 824. Geraldine Ng's score of 801 and Rena Teng's 798 may not be sufficient to secure a spot in the finals and will make further attempts tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Singapore youths also grabbed top spots in the Boy's and Girl's Open Masters qualifying table. Stanley Ong posted 885 to topple Hong Kong's Eric Tseng into second and Geraldine Ng posted 912 a day earlier for the girl's lead.
Daphne Tan, Amanda Ng and Ong She Na trailed Geraldine in second, fourth and fifth with 843, 839 and 822 respectively. Shayna Ng and Gina Lim have also temporarily made the finals in the mixed pool with 810 and 768.
Qualifying ends tomorrow with the last squad for the youths at 6.00pm and the last squad for the adults at 10.30pm. Bowlers who failed to make the cut could still do so by taking part in the Desperado squad at 12.00 midnight.
Photos by Terence Yaw, MTBC.