Singapore youngster leads first block

Singapore youngster leads first block

19th October, Jakarta: Singapore national youth, Christopher Hwang of Singapore Sports School led the Men's Open Masters first block finals of the 6th Indonesia International Open at Senayan Bowl on Sunday. A keen tussle for the lead between Malaysia's Daniel Lim, Alex Liew and Indonesia's Taufik Rahman was seen in the early stages of the 8-game fist block finals with Singapore Sports School's Christopher Hwang in close company.

A fabulous 277 in the third game by Hwang moved the youngster into the lead and by a comfortable margin of 68 pins over Alex Liew of Malaysia in second. The Singaporean continued to bowl consistently leaving Hong Kong's Eric Tseng and Malaysia's Adrian Ang fighting for the minor places.

A strong 279 in the seventh game saw Indonesia's Yadi closing the gape to just 17 pins but Hwang prevailed with a 214 in his final game to end the block in pole with 1780 ahead of Yadi settling for second with 1773.   Meanwhile, defending champion, Bernice Lim just could not get into her strides as the 16-year-old dropped further down the field despite a moderate start. Lim ended the block with 1459 to finished a disappointing 21st position.

World Youth All Events silver medalist, Tannya Roumimper of Bandung, Indonesia snatched pole position in the final game. The 22-year-old Indonesia amassed a total of 1708 with pace-setter, Zandra Aziela of Malaysia settling for second with 1699.

Last year's Asian Ranked No. 1, Kim Eun Jung of Korea stormed home to take up third spot with 1678. Other Singaporean women in the field were New Hui Fen (8th-1618) and Fok Ka Wai (15th-1534).   The bowlers will continue their second block of 8 games on Monday during which the top 6 will advance to the stepladder finals.

  Photos by Terence Yaw.