Singapore youths make impact

16th March, K.Lumpur: Singapore youths are making an impact in the Youth Open Masters qualifying table of the 33rd Canon Malaysian International Open with Tan Yan Ling leading the Girl’s pack at Sunway Mega Lanes on Tuesday. Tan Yan Ling, a member of SBF development team and turning 17 end of this month, will be hoping for an early birthday present if she can bag the Milo International Youth Girl’s Open Masters crown this weekend.

Tan returned an impressive 1254 from two of her best 3-games series of 651 and 603 to lead her fellow team-mates in the overseas pool. Michaela Oehler, competing as a member of the Singapore Sports School took second spot with 1208.

Asian Youth Championship Team gold medalist, Gina Lim finished third with 1186 ahead of development squad rookie, Kristel Oh and Ilma Nur Jannah occupying all the five slots in fourth and fifth.   Penang’s Fatin Hazwani posted the highest total of 1303 for the overall and local pool lead followed by Asian Youth Championship Doubles bronze medalist, Hurul Ainul second and Nur Umirah of KL third. 2009 Singapore Open Youth Boys second runnerup, Ng Chiew Pang also made impact with a superb 1337 scoreline to lead the Youth Boys Open table. Asian Youth Championship Masters gold medalist Michael Mak of Hong Kong finished second with 1304.

Mak’s team-mate, Leo Tse took third spot with 1279 followed by Australia’s Sam Cooley in fourth with 1277, SBF’s Gregory Gan and Singapore Sports School’s Keith Saw completing the top 6 with 1271 and 1257.

The overall lead changed hands several times and the latest leader was 2008 Singapore Open Youth champion, Chong Jun Foo of Malaysia, who chalked up an amazing 1463 to dislodge overnight leader and Asian Youth Championship Team gold medalist, Khoo Beng Khai.   Whilst Singapore youths were making headway, the seniors were less fortunate in their qualifying rounds. Dubai International Open second runnerup, Remy Ong struggled to find his line and only managed 1258 to finish 13th in the mixed pool.

Hong Kong wonder kid, Michael Mak topped the Men’s Open table with 1458 followed by Malaysia’s Zaid Izlan in second with 1455. 2009 Asia Ranked No. 1, Wu Siu Hong took third spot with 1426.

Qualifying will continue through to Thursday, March 18 and the Masters finals will be staged over Friday, March 19 and Saturday, March 20.

The top 3 local Men’s Open and top 2 local Ladies’ Open finishers in the finals will make Team Malaysia while the top 3 men and top 2 ladies foreign finishers will make up the Rest fo the World team for the Canon Cup 2010 Challenge on Sunday, March 21.

  Photos by Terence Yaw.