Singapore women dominate Masters qualifying
19th March, K.Lumpur: Singapore's Amanda Ng, Jazreel Tan and Shayna Ng dominated the Ladies' Open Masters qualifying rounds of the Canon 32nd Malaysian International Open after taking the top 3 spots. Shayna Ng registered an improved 702 over her earlier attempt of 666 to give herself a 6-game total of 1453 with two of her best efforts of 732 and 702 to move into pole position on Tuesday.
Although her lead was short-lived, it was fortunate that her lead was overtaken by fellow-compatriot, Amanda Ng. Amanda was lyng in sixth position after she totaled 1408 from two attempts of 740 and 668.
Determined to make the top 3 cut, Amanda was in scintilating form this morning when she posted a superb 781 and a new total of 1521 to take over the lead of the Ladies' Open Masters qualifying standings.
The trio have assured themselves direct entry into the Round 2 finals by being the top 3 qualifiers in the overseas pool. The top 3 local women, Siti Safiyah Amirah, Sharon Koh and Shalin Zulkifli will also be the 3 seeded for Round 2.
The remaining seven qualifiers from both the overseas and local pool will be joined by the 12 from the mixed pool to battle it out in Round 1 for the top 21 spots who will join the seeded qualifiers for Round 2.
As of the 4.00pm squad, five Singapore women were in the finals. Cherie Tan, Daphne Tan, Bernice Lim, Sabrina Lim occupied sixth to ninth positions in the mixed pool while Jennifer Tan is 12th.
In the men's open division, Remy Ong is the best Singaporean qualifier who occupied fourth and will advance directly into Round 2. Remy totaled 1514 behind pole sitter, Surasak Manuwong of Thailand, Sayed Ibrahim of UAE and Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia second and third.
Lee Yu-Wen has also made the finals and occupied 10th on a 6-game total of 1441. Other Singapore men - Mark Wong, Lionel Lim and Jason Yeong-Nathan have yet to make the finals.
The top 4 seeded qualifiers were Adrian Ang, Muhd Nur Aiman, Alex Liew and Kang Bo Long. The top 4 from the local pool and 4 from the overseas pool will skip Round 1.
The top 21 at the end of the round will be joined by the 8 seeded qualifiers for another 8 games in Round 2 before the field is cut to the top 8, who will advance into the best-of-3 games elimination knockout finals.
Photos by Terence for SBF.