12th December, Seberang Prai: Hong Kong national kegler, James Lui set the qualifying pace of the Mixed Open division at the 45th MMBC Penang Pesta International Bowling Championships underway at Megamall Bowling Centre.
Lui, on his first two attempts bowled yesterday, registered 726 and 607 series to go atop the overseas pool table with a six-game total 1333. Early leader and 2017 South East Asian Games Trios bronze and Team silver medallist, Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia settled for second with 1290.
Lalisang's team-mate, Diwan Rezaldy occupied third spot with 1283. The top 3 qualifiers in the overseas pool will earn a bye and advance automatically to Round 2 finals. 2017 ABF Tour Hong Kong winner and top female qualifier, Nadia Pramanik of Indonesia finished fourth with 1251.
Qualifiers positioned 4 to 13 in the overseas pool will have to contest Round 1 finals on Decemver 15. In the local pool, 2015 Asian Youth Singles gold medallist, Chong Jun Foo of Sarawak, Malaysia topped the standings with 1438 with 761 and 677 series.
James Lui leading the overseas pool of the Mixed Open division
Mohd Zul Fauzi of XMMC, Malaysia occupied second spot with 1264 while 18th MILO Junior All-Stars Girl's Open Masters first runner-up and Malaysian national youth, Ameerahusna Dato' Aznel took third spot with 1236. Likewise, the top 3 qualifiers in the local pool will automatically advance to Round 2 finals.
Ex-national youth, Tengku Emanina Laily of Kedah, Malaysia finished fourth with 1153. Qualifiers positioned 4 to 13 in the local pool will contest Round 1 finals on December 15.
Indonesia's Fachri Ibnu Askar headed the mixed pool with 1206. Qualifiers position 1 to 40 in the mixed pool will contest Round 1 finals together with the ten from the local pool and ten from the overseas pool.
The 46 Round 1 finalists will bowl 8 games in the finals and the top 18 at the end of the finals will be joined by the top 3 local and top 3 overseas seeded qualifiers for another 8 games in Round 2 finals. The top 3 at the end of Round 2 will proceed to the stepladder shootout finals on December 16.
The champion stand to pick up a whopping RM45,000 (approx. US$11,000) as top prize with the first runner-up taking home RM20,000 and second runner-up RM15,000.
Local pool leader, Chong Jun Foo of Sarawak
The 45th MMBC Penang Pesta Bowling Championships, with title sponsor, Megamall Bowling Center, a subsidiary of MBI, is sanctioned by World Bowling and Asian Bowling Federation. It is one of the most popular tournament in the month of December which attracts some 700 to 800 participants from East and West Asia.
There are a total of seven divisions, namely Youth Under-12, Youth Under-16, Youth Open, Women's Grade, Men's Grade A and B and Open (mixed gender). Paricipants bowl for two best 3-games unlimited qualifying series to make their respectively grades Masters finals.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Seberang Prai, Malaysia.
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