13th August, Kaohsiung: 2010 ABF Tour Macau winner, Joshua Chow of Hong Kong set the qualifying pace of the 19th Kaohsiung International Open underway at Southern Bowling by occupying top spot in the Men's Open Masters overseas pool.
Left-hander Chow got off his 3-game qualifying attempt by almost rolling the championships' first 300 but left a stubborn pin seven to settle for 299. The Hong Kong national bowler followed it up with 245 and 226 for a massive 770 series.
In his other attempt, Chow registered a respectable 669 for a 6-game tally of 1439, averaging 239.38 to lead the Men's Open overseas qualifying table. Defending champion and PBA Tour titlist, Annop Arromsaranon of Thailand finished 30 pins behind Chow in second with 1409.
Chen Han of China, who rolled the championships' first 300 during his attempt in the senior division, occupied third spot with 1402. The top 3 highest qualifiers in the overseas pool will earn a bye, skipping Round 1 finals and automatically qualify for Round 2.
Joshua Chow leading the overseas pool with an impressive 1439
Chen Kuan-Yeh of Chinese Taipei, topped the local pool with an impressive 1476 from two 3-game series of 748 and 728. Chiu Po-Yang took second spot with 1403 while Cheng Hsing-Yeuh completed the top 3 with 1392.
The top 3 highest qualifiers in the local pool will also automatically qualify for Round 2 finals. Overseas qualifiers positioned 4 to 12, local qualifers positioned 4 to 12, qualifers positioned 1 to 11 in the Mixed pool, along with the defending champion and the top 3 from the one-game desperado squad will contest the 8-game Round 1 finals.
The top 18 with the highest pinfalls at the end of Round 1 will be joined by the six seeded qualifiers for another 8 games in Round 2. The top 6 with the highest pinfalls at the end of Round 2 will proceed to the Stepladder Shootout finals.
Meanwhile, 2019 Hong Kong Open champion, Iliya Syamim of Singapore posted a strong 734 series and added her earlier 674 for a six-game total of 1408 to lead the Women's Masters overseas pool.
Koreans dominated the early pace but slipped down to second and third. Choi Ae Rim and Yang Su Jin posted 1346 and 1310 respectively.
Last year's ABF Tour Chinese Taipei winner, Su Shu-Wen led the local pool with 1368 followed by Tsai Hsin-Yi in second with 1335 and ex-international, Chen Hsiu-Lan in a distant third with 1266.
The top 3 highest qualifiers in the overseas pool will earn a bye, skipping Round 1 finals and automatically qualify for Round 2. The top 3 highest qualifiers in the local pool will also automatically qualify for Round 2 finals.
Overseas qualifiers positioned 4 to 10, local qualifers positioned 4 to 10, qualifers positioned 1 to 10 in the Mixed pool, along with the defending champion will contest the 8-game Round 1 finals.
Iliya Syamim on a fine form to lead the
Women's table
The top 16 with the highest pinfalls at the end of Round 1 will be joined by the six seeded qualifiers for another 8 games in Round 2. The top 6 with the highest pinfalls at the end of Round 2 will proceed to the Stepladder Shootout finals.
Qualifying started on August 8 and will continue for another two days before the Masters finals on August 16 and 17. The top 16 Asian men and top 16 Asian women will also qualify for the ABF Tour Chinese Taipei 2019 which will tkae place on August 18.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei.
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