Singapore challenger denied victory

Singapore challenger denied victory

17th July, Jakarta: Sixth-seed and challenger, Geraldine Ng of Singapore was denied her maiden international title after losing to top seed, Zatil Iman of Malaysia in the Women's Open Masters title match at the concluding 8th Indonesia International Open on Saturday. Cherie Tan, who finished third in the first block, had taken over the lead after the tenth game in the second block with her team-mate, Jasmine Yeong-Nathan in second. Tan held on to the lead until the 15th game when she shot a disasterous 128.

Despite finishing with a strong 247 in her final game, Cherie ended in second to Malaysia's Zatil Iman to advance into the stepladder finals. Jasmine held on to third place to join Cherie.

Geraldine Ng, who was 15th in the first block, made hugh grounds and shot a big final game of 243 to edge out defending champion, Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia for the sixth and final stepladder spot.   The 24-year-old 2008 National champion ousted fourth-seed and overnight leader, Putty Armein of Indonesia and Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia, 216-181-209 to advance to the next match. Geraldine went on to beat, Cherie and Jasmine, 221-187-161 in an all-Singaporean secomd match to challenge for the title.

Geraldine beat Zatil, 212-205 in the first match to force a second decider but was closed out after the Malaysian struck out in the tenth frame to deny the Singaporean victory with a 194-187 scoreline.

Zatil won the top prize of 50 million rupiah (approx. S$2,500) as champion while Geraldine and Cherie, who finished third, took home 25 and 12.5 million respectively. Fourth-placed, Jasmine took home 9 million. Meanwhile, no Singapore men made the stepladder cut. Remy Ong was the country's best finisher in tenth while Jason Yeong-Nathan and Ng Tiac Pin finished 18th and 22nd positions respectively.

Overnight leade and top seed, Hsieh Jing Liang flew past local favourite and second-seed, Ryan Lalisang, 239-166 in the title match to win the Men's crown and a top prize of 150 million (approx. S$7,500).

Lalisang, who also finished second in this year's Singapore Open to a Taiwanese, again had to settle for second to take home 100 million rupiah. The Indonesian had defeated third-seed, Cheng Chao-Yu of Chinese Taipei and winner of the first match, Zulmazran Zulkifli of Malaysia, 216-181-193 to face Hsieh.   Zulmazran ousted fourth-seed, Jason Belmonte of Australia and sixth-seed, Biboy Rivera of the Philippines, 216-192-188 in the men's first stepladder shootout.

Detailed scores: Women's Open Stepladder Finals | Men's Open Stepladder Finals. Photos by Terence Yaw in Jakarta.