16th June, Hong Kong: Peter Khor Zi Jian of Singapore captured his first international title when he topped the Youth Open Masters finals of the 46th Hong Kong International Open at SCAA Bowling Centre on Friday.
Hong Kong's Ho Tsun Yin got off to a perfect start when he rolled the tournament's eighth 300 in the opening game to lead Khor and Hong Kong national youth, Jovi Lam by 33 pins, when both posted a respectable 267 to share second spot.
Ho continued his hot pace with a stunning 268 to open up a gap of 47 pins ahead of Khor in second and Ma still in third. Another superb 234 from Ho saw the youngster remaining in the lead as Khor fell further behind by 55 pins.
Ma shot into the lead with a sizzling 278 with the Singaporean in hot pursuit in second as Ho suffered a poor 188 to slip down to third at the halfway mark. Another Hong Kong national youth, Jason Leung rolled two good games to share the lead with Khor after the fifth game with Ma in third.
Peter Khor cpaturing his first international youth title
Khor then added a splendid sixth game of 267 to remain the leader. Macau's Fong Hong U, who had moved close to the leading pack, took over second spot followed by Leung in third and Ma slipping out of contention.
The 18-year-old Khor ended the finals with two strong games of 245 and 243 to seal victory with 1980. Leung settled for second with 1973, just 7 pins adrift while Fong finished a creditable third with 1935.
Hassan Qasem of Kuwait, who rolled the tounament's ninth 300 in the seventh game missed the podium to take up fourth with 1932 while Lam rounded out the top 5 with 1920.
Meanwhile, Wasmyah Alabdullah of Kuwait, who led from start to finish, took her maiden win in the Women's Grade B division with a total 1627. Huang Hsin Tsen and Lo Shih Yuan of Chinese Taipei settled for second and third with 1624 and 1622 respectively.
The Men's Grade B title went to China's Tang Zi Jian with a total of 1832. Sunny Man of Hong Kong finished 40 pins behind to claim second position with 1792. Ryan Lai Shing Yan of Hong Kong clinched third position with 1790.
Women's Grade B Masters champion, Wasmyah Alabdullah of Kuwait
The Men's and Women's Stage I finals will be contested at 2.00pm local time after lane maintanence. The Men's and Women's Grade A, Youth U18 and Youth U15 Masters finals will be held this evening at 7.30pm.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Hong Kong.