Singapore girl grabs early lead

Singapore girl grabs early lead

29th May, Singapore: National kegler, Daphne Tan Shi Jing grabbed the early lead in the Women's Open Masters qualifying rounds of the 42nd Singapore International Open underway at Superbowl SAFRA Mount Faber on Friday.  Two-time Singapore National Championship runner-up, Daphne Tan Shi Jing posted a scintillating 984 and an average of 246 over the four-game qualifying rounds to take the lead of the Women's Open Masters leaderboard.

Tan's best-ever performance since becoming a member of the national squad was finishing second in the 2007 Malaysian International Open and will be hoping to break the ice with a victory here following the footstep of her elder sister and defending champion, Cherie Tan.

The leader also won a Team silver medal at the 2007 World Youth Championship. Reigning World Cup champion and Sportswomen of the Year, Yasmine Yeong-Nathan trailed Tan in second, just two pins adrift with 982 while two-time national, Jazreel Tan finished third with 895.

Newly-crowned World Ranking Masters champion, Siti Safiyah Amirah of Malaysia, topped the local pool with an initial attempt of 803 pushing overnight leader, Sabeena Salem of India second with 788. Zandra Aziela of Malaysia is third with 766.Meanwhile, Singaporan youngster upstaged several fovourites to lead the Men's Open Masters local pool with a superb 945. Former National champion, Helmi Chew, who was the overnight leader, dropped to second with 937.

2006 National champion, David Wong posted 924 to take up third spot with Paiman Dali and Benjamin Hong rounding up the top 5 with 910 and 888. Newly-crowned Bahrain Open champion and Singapore's top bowler, Remy Ong finished ninth with 856.

But the overall and overseas pool lead went to UAE's Naif Oqab who shot 986 ahead of Alex Liew of Malaysia in second with 845. Two other UAE national, Ahmed Al-Ahmed and Mohammed Al-Marzouqi were the only overseas bowlers in the table with 828 and 733 respectively.

Singapore's sensational kid, Shaun Lau certainly raised a few eyebrows as the 15-year-old topped both the Boy's Under-15 and Under-18 qualifying table. Lau shot 929 to lead the Under-15 and 922 to lead the Under-18.

Qualifying continue through to June 4 and the Masters finals over two blocks of 8 games will be staged on May 5 and 6. The top 6 women and top 6 men at the end of the finals will advance into the stepladder finals.
Photos by Terence Yaw for SBF.