Singapore men made little impressions
12th April, Bangkok: Singapore's men made little impression in the first block of the Men's Open Masters finals of the 34th MWA Thailand International Open at S.F. Strike Bowl as Somjed Kusonpithak of Thailand finished in pole. 2005 National champion, Jason Yeong-Nathan of Singapore, had a good start in the 8-game first block Men's Open Masters finals with 223 but only tied for fifth spot as Korea's Kim Ko Woon set the pace with a 256 opening game.
China's Yang Wei took over pole after the second game and continued to set a cracking pace for the lead until the halfway mark while Jason posted 192, 199 and a poor 167. Singapore's Shaun Ng made little progress with 186, 213, 151 and 179 in his first four game.
Thailand's Somjed Kusonpithak, who almost shot a perfect game in the sixth with 299, went on to finished the first block in the lead with a total of 1765. Annop Arromsaranon gave Thailand a 1-2 finish in second with 1736 ahead of Hsiao Chun-Hon of Chinese Taipei third with 1728.
Best performer of the day was Shaun Ng Qenn, who could only manage 16th position, followed by Jason Yeong-Nathan in 24th, Eugene Low 26th and top title contender, Remy Ong struggling to get into his strides to end up 36th position.
Meanwhile, ABF Tour Grand slam champion, Chan Shuk Han of Hong Kong finished top of the Ladies' Open division with a total of 1643 from 2007 Asian Ranked No. 1, Kim Eun Jung of Korea second with 1618.
Malaysia's Zandra Aziela did well to take up third spot with 1595 followed by China's Zhang Yuhong and another Malaysian, Christyn Chew fourth and fifth positions resprectively. No Singapore female competed in the ladies division.
Both the divisions will bowl another 8 games in the second block with pinfalls carried forward. The top 6 at the end of the second blck will advance to the stepladder finals. The top 16 Asian men and women will also make the cut for Monday's ABF Tour Thailand leg.
Photos by Terence Yaw.