Singapore bowlers take pole
8th October, Taipei: Singapore's Geraldine Ng and Mark Wong took pole position of the Ladies' and Men's Open Masters qualifying table of the 9th Chinese Taipei International Open underway at Great World Bowling Center in Taichung. Ng amassed a 4-game total of 964 for an impressive 241 average for the lead in the ladies' overseas pool and as well as the overall leader. ABF Tour Hong Kong leg semifinalsit, Cookie Lee of Hong Kong finished second with 870.
Indonesia Open champion and first runner-up of the ABF Tour Hong Kong leg, Bernice Lim displayed her consistency to take up third spot with 867 with Macau's pair of Alexandra Foo and Filomena Kit rounding up the top 5 in the overseas pool. Gina Lim and Shayna Ng was sixth and eighth.
In the local front, Chen Kuan-Ting of Chinese Taipei, topped the table with 892 followed by Wang Ting-Wen in second and Li Hsiao-Ping third with 859 and 850 respectively. Chien Hsiu-Lan is the ladies' defending champion.
Singapore bowlers stole the early limelight as Mark Wong posted a superb 971 to take the lead in the men's open division. Wong, who shot a perfect game during the Youth Masters finals of the Singapore Open last week, only managed a 9th-place finish and will be hoping to do well this time round.
Macau bowlers, who were the earliest overseas participants, occupied the next four positions with Luis Silva in second on 839, Van Ka Ki third with 833, Cheng Peng Seng fourth with 815 and Choi Io Fai fifth with 808.
Kuo Huang-Chih of Chinese Taipei topped the local pool with an impressive 944 followed by Chen Yung-Chuan second 936 and Cheng Hsing-Chao third with 918. Ku Ching-Ho is the men's defending champion.
Qualifying continues through to October 11 and the top 32 ladies and the top 38 men together with the defending champions will contest their first block Masters finals on October 12 at 1.30pm and 6.00pm respectively.
Detailed scores: Ladies' Open Qualifying | Men's Open Qualifying.
Photos by B.C. Cheah and Terence Yaw.