10th April, Taoyuan: 2019 Asian Championships Team gold medalist, Ernest Kwok of Hong Kong, China topped the opening squad of Block 1 qualifying rounds of the 1st Formosa International Classic 2024 underway at DongDong Bowling Alley.
Chou Yi-Lun of Chinese Taipei got off the block with a superb 233 opening game to lead fellow-compatriot, Wang Fu-Wei by seven pins. Veteran Taiwanese, Chang Chien-Long, who started with 191 in his first game, shot a big game of 257 to leapfrog into the lead after the second game.
Stanley Lau of Team Confianza, Hong Kong posted 206 and 235 to move into second spot while Chou and Wang stumbled to low games of 166 and 159 to drop out of the running. Chang continued to set the pace with 203 to remain in the lead, albeit just 12 pins ahead of another Taiwanese, Lo Chih Yuan moving up to second.
Kwok, who rolled a 3-game series of 624, shot a sizzling 269 in the fourth game to take over the lead. Chang kept pace with another good game of 232 to trail Kwok by 11 pins. Both the leading duo rolled identical 216 in the fifth game to remain one and two going into the sixth and final game.
Ernest Kwok topping Squad A to lead the top 3 overseas qualifiers in the Open division
Kwok ended strongly with 266 to top the squad with 1375. Hon Nga Pok of Confianza fired 279 to snatch second spot with 1360 to give Hong Kong a one-two finish. Chang settled for third position with 1311 after ending with 213. Lee Cheng En of Chinese Taipei and Lau completed the top five with 1299 and 1256 respectively.
Squad B will contest their first block of 6 games after lane maintenance while Squad C and Squad D will be contested at 4.00pm and 7.30pm later today. Bowlers will bowl three blocks of 6 games each. The Top 3 local and Top 3 overseas with the highest total in the Open Division will skip Round 1 and automatically advance to Round 2 finals.
Qualifiers positioned 7 to 51 (45 qualifiers) will contest Round 1 Finals. In other divisions, those eligible to be classified in the Graded division, the top 29 will qualify for the Graded Finals. The top 16, classified as Seniors will contest the Senior Finals.
The top 32 bowling in the spinner style will have contest the special Spinner Finals while those classified as Youth under 22, will contest the Youth U22 Finals.
Photos by Terence Yaw.
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