Singaporean gives hope to Asia in semi
22nd April, Barnsley: Current Asian Ranked No. 1, Remy Ong of Singapore gave Asia hope after he defeated local, Dominic Barret in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals of the PartyPoker.net World Tenpin Masters.
A very intriguing match-up with top Asian Remy Ong and local player Dominic Barrett. Remy put out three-time world Tenpin Masters' champion Tore Torgersen and this talented lefty now has another notch in his belt as he makes his way into the semifinals to face the feared Paul Moor.
A 225 tie saw neither with an advantage going into the second game, but an opeing four-bagger from the Singaporean put real pressure on the Englishman. Huge changes in the lane condition made matters even worse and after being 45 pins down in the third frame he switched bowling balls.
That change brought him back into contention with four straight strikes but a stubborn 10-pin in the tenth frame robbed him of a chance to catch Remy. It will be a case of 'standing room only' at the Metrodome in Barnsley tonight as the support for this event is unequalled.
Bader Al-Sheikh from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would certainly be a willing pupil at any scheduled seminar at which the popular kegler from 'down under' will hold, especially on coping with ever-changing lane conditions.
All went well for the slim Saudi Arabian in the first game, that is until a big split in the seventh frame. But his big failure was to leave one pin standing from the 3-6-10 in the tenth frame.
Now very much the underdog, Al-Sheikh had an impossible task to catch 'Belmo' and the Aussie with the unique two-handed delivery marched on to the semifinals later this evening, meeting defending champion Chris Barnes of the United States.
The encounter of the lefty kind. Both left-handers and both bowling along the same line, so the lane changes would be variable and vital. Paul figured them out much quicker than Alex and the Malaysian really had to go fishing in the second game.
Unfortunately, he didn't get any bites and Paul's errors left just single pins. Alex, the birthday boy, is really disappointed at not reaching at least the semifinals, where he lost to Chris Barnes last year.
This prestigious event now looks very much having a repeat of last year's final of Paul versus Chris Barnes. In that showpiece, Paul was leading going into the final frames and lost because of a big split in the eighth frame. He'll be very careful not to do that this time, if that attractive match comes about.
Detailed scores: Quarterfinal Matches | Photo Album.
Photos courtesy of Bowlers Journal International.