Singaporean settles for fifth spot
13th October, Taipei: Geraldine Ng's hope of earning a crack at the title ended when the fourth-seed was knocked in the Ladies' Open Masters first stepladder match in the concluding 9th Chinese Taipei International Open.
Singapore's Geraldine Ng, who was second in the first block finals on Friday, did well to qualify for the stepladder finals despite dropping to fifth after the second block of 8 games was completed earlier with 3194 pinfalls.
But Ng's hope of progressing further and earning a crack at the title was dashed as she and sixth-seed, Pan Yu-Fen of Chinese Taipei were knocked out by fifth-seed, Tsai Hsin-Yi, 214-194-226 in the first stepladder match.
Tsai went on to outclass second-seed, Chan Shuk Han of Hong Kong and defending champion, Chien Hsiu-Lan of Chinese Taipei, 224-164-205 in the second match to challenge the top-seed, Sharon Koh of Malaysia.
Sharon Koh finally nailed her first international title in top flight defeating challenger, Tsai Hsin-Yi of Chinese Taipei, 202-167. The champion was forced into the title match after she lost to Tsai, 198-211 in the first game.
Although the Taiwanese took the first game, 211-198 against Sharon, the Malaysian regained her composure to win the deciding game, 202-167 to claim her first international title. Other Singaporean finalists were Teo Li Ying finishing 9th, Gina Lim 11th, Bernice Lim 16th, Shayna Ng 27th and Nicole Wong 29th.
Meanwhile, Zulmazran Zulkifli celebrated a Raya Double when he defeated teammate, Daniel Lim in an all-Malaysia finals over two games, 198,202 to 211-167 to bag his first title this year. The champion had topped the second block finals with 3578 earlier.
Daniel Lim, who lost to Mika Koivuniemi of Finland in the Singapore Open a week ago, again settled for second despite kncoking out overnight leader, Purvis Granger and Chinese Taipei's Wang Tien-Fu in the second match, 228-192-216.
Malaysia almost took all the top 3 podium positions but the sixth-seed, Wang Tien-Fu ended their hope after the Taiwanese dispatched fourth-seed, Aaron Kong and fifth-seed, Adrian Ang, 236-226-213 in the closely fought first stepladder match.
Singapore's youths did well in top company with Bejamin Lim finishing in 12th, Gragory Gan 13th, Eugene Low 18th, David Wong 20th, Mark Wong 27th and Jamie Liew 29th.
Detailed scores: Men's Stepladder Finals | Ladies' Stepladder Finals | Photo Album.
Photos by B.C. Cheah, MTBC.