Singapore, Korea shares honours

Singapore, Korea shares honours

15th July, Jakarta: Singapore and Korea shared honours as Kristel Oh of Singapore triumphed in the Youth Girl's Under-21 Masters finals of the 8th Indonesia International Open while Oh Jung Hun gave the Koreans their second title on Thursday.  Apart from the opening game in which Malaysia's Syaidatul Afifah led Kristel Oh of Singapore by one pin, the 20-year-old national youth led through to the seventh game when she tied with Korea's Kwak Sun Young.

But Kristel continued her blistering pace to end the finals with 224, 184 and 255 to take victory in the Youth Girl's Under-21 finals with 2060. Bucheon University's Kwak and Kim Pu Reun had battled for second spot but it was Kim who finished stronger to claim second position with 1973.

Kwak settled for third position with 1960 ahead of another Malaysian, Hurul Ainul and Hong Kong's Zoe Tam completing the top 5 with 1902 and 1827.

Early pace-setter, Syaidatul Afifah fizzled off to end up in sixth position with 1799. Kristel won 4 million rupiah as champion while Kim and Kwak took home 2.5 and 1.5 million rupiah as first and second runnerup.Singapore almost celebrated a superb double in the Boy's Under-21 division but the honour went to Bucheon University's 20-year-old Oh Jung Hun. Malaysia's Chong Jun Foo and fellow team-mate, Chan Wei Siang were battling for the lead in the first three games.

But the battle turned to Chong and Singapore's Justin Lim Chia Loong with each exchanging the lead thereafter as Oh stayed close behind the leading duo and Chan slipping away and out of contention.

The Malaysian had 19 pins margin over Justin Lim and a further 14 away was another Singapore youngster, Ng Chiew Pang in third followed by the Korean in fourth, a further 4 pins away going into the tenth and final game.

Oh finished the strongest with 244 to snatch the victory with 1999. Justin shot 208 to edge Chong by 12 pins as the Malaysian managed only 177 to settle for third with 1969. Ng also shot 177 to end up in fourth with 1936.

The champion won 6 million rupiah and his first international title while Justin took home 4 million rupiah. Chong settled for 2.5 million rupiah for finishing third. Other Singaporean youths in the finals were Brandon Lee (8th-1869), Anthony Low (14th-1794) and Muhd Jaris Goh (15th-1773).

Detailed scores: Girl's U21 Finals | Boy's U21 Finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Jakarta.