Three Singaporeans through to Round 3

Three Singaporeans through to Round 3

28th March, K.Lumpur: Three Singaporeans made it through to Round 3 of the Canon 31st Malaysian International Open at the end of Round 2 to join three others who were seeded from the week long qualifiying rounds.   Youth Girl's Open Masters second runner-up, Teo Li Ying set the pace with a 231 opening game ahead of Malaysia's strongest contender, Shalin Zulkifli in second just 2 pins adrift. Shalin led after the second game with Jasmine Yeong-Nathan closing in second a further 27 pins away.

Jasmine's first series of 208, 245 and 225 allowed the 2005 National champion to snatch the lead at the halfway mark, 16 pins ahead of the Malaysian as Teo suffered a poor game of 132 to drop down the field.

Shalin rebounded to regain the lead through to game 5 with just 13 pins margin. Jasmine then stormed home with 237 to snatch pole position with a total of 1312 as Shalin settled for second with 1279.

Defending champion, Zandra Aziela finished third with 1266 with Wendy Chai (MAS-4th), Vanessa Fung (HKG-5th), Sin Li Jane (MAS-6th), Teo Li Ying (SIN-7th) and Christyn Chew (MAS-8th) making Round 3.

Jasmine Yeong-Nathan will join topseed, Jazreel Tan and third-seed, Amanda Ng for tomorrow's Round 3 where they have to finish in the top 8 to make the cut for the knockout stage for a 2-game total pinfalls quarterfinals.

Singapore's Mark Wong did well to make the cut for Round 3 after finishing sixth with 1341 in a strong field. Teammate, Remy Ong was less fortunate missing the cut in 12th position with 1275.

Jayson Tubid of the Philippines, topped the round with 1389 and almost shot the tournament's eighth perfect game with 298 in the final game. Malaysia's best men was Kelvin Keong, who finished second with 1356.

Zaid Izlan (MAS-3rd), Andrew Frawley (AUS-4th), Hussain Al-Suwaidi (UAE-5th), Ryan Lalisang (INA-7th) and Daniel Lim (MAS-8th) made the next round. Mark Wong will join teammate, Jason Yeong-Nathan, who finished as topseed in the overseas pool of the earlier qualifying rounds.

The bowlers will play another 6 games during which the top 8 will proceed to the knockout stage quarterfinals. The winners will meet in the semifinals and then the finals to detamine this year's champion.

Photos by B.C. Cheah, MTBC.