24th October, Jakarta: Esther Cheah of Malaysia and Remy Ong of Singapore captured the Women's and Men's titles of final leg of 2016 ABF Tour to secure their places in the Tournament of Champions at Jaya Ancol Bowling Centre on Monday.
Cheah struck in the first frame but missed a single pin in her second frame to allow Nur Syazwani to draw level despite sparing her first two frames. But Cheah bounced back with three strikes-in-a-row as her opponent suffered back-to-back open frames.
Whilst Nur Syazwani was unable to roll any strikes in her next two frames, Cheah struck again in the seventh frame to open up a comfortable gap of 60 pins. And with two more opened frames from Nur Syazwani, Cheah finished off with a double and a spare in her final frame to take a convincing victory.
The champion had ousted the sole surviving Indonesian, Aldila Indryati, 256-229 in the first semi-final match to advance to the final. She also eliminated another team-mate, Radin Nur Najwa, 218-211 in the second round and Novie Phang of Indonesia, 226-215 in the opening round.
Esther Cheah with her first ABF Tour champions' trophy
Nur Syazwani beat Sin Li Jane, 243-213 in the all-Malaysian second semi-final match to face Cheah. She also edged another team-mate and 14th Indonesia Open first runner-up, Shalin Zulkifli 195-194 to advance to the semi.
Cheah's victory of US$1,000 and 75 points took her to the top of the women's rankings on a total of 141 points to secure her place in the Tournament of Champions. Nur Syazwani settled for US$500 as first runner-up while Sin and Indryati earned US$250 each as second and third runner-ups.
Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia, who led the standings with semi-final appearances in Thailand and Hong Kong, a Round 2 in China and a Round 1 here, finished second with 136 points. 2016 Macau-China Open champion, Novie Phang of Indonesia took third spot with 121 points.
Thailand leg first runner-up and 2014 Incheon Asian Games multiple gold medllist, Lee Na Young of Korea was the cut at 16th position to qualify for the Tournament of Champions owing to a higher average in the four games she played.
China leg second runner-up, Remy Ong won his first ABF Tour title since making a come back to competitive bowling after quiting as the head coach for the Singapore national team. The Singaporean got off well in the title match with a strike as his opponent, Bolleby had failed to convert a split.
Neither could settle down sparing only their second frames. Both began to pick up pace rolling a double in the third and fourth frames with a 19 pins advantage to Ong. The champion then struck three times while the Thai can only spare three frames.
By the ninth frame, Ong had already built up a big gap of 55 pins and went on to take the match and the title. Ong edged newly-crowned 14th Indonesia Open champion, Ahmad Muaz of Malaysia, 224-210 in the first semi-final match to earn a crack at the tile.
He also edged another Malaysian, Muhd Nur Aiman, 217-210 in Round 2 to advance to the semi. Bolleby narrowly defeated Syafiq Ridhwan of Malaysia by a single pin, 236-235 in the other semi-final match to face Ong in the final.
First ABF Tour title since making his come back
The Thai also took out another Malaysian, Timmy Tan, 254-223 in his second round. The champion pocketed US$1,000 prize and added 75 points to his 46 points earned as second runner-up in the China leg early this month. He booked his place in the Tournament of Champions in third position in the men's ranking with 153.
Yousif Falah of Bahrain topped the ranking with 210 points while back-to-back Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong leg champion, Michael Mak of Hong Kong finished second with 203 points.
Macau leg champion, Daisuke Yoshida made the top 16 cut in 16th position with 75 points ahead of China leg champion, Mi Zhong Li of China, who also had 75 points. But the Japanese is ranked higher due to higher average.
Mr Basuki Kusuma, Organzing Chairman of the 14th Indonesia Open, presented the prizes and trophy to the women winners while Mr Suryo Bambang Sulisto, President of Indonesia Bowling Federation gave away the prizes and trophy to the men winners.
Six legs were staged this year in Thailand, Macau, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, China and Indonesia. The top 16 men and the top 16 women in the rankings qualified for the Tournament of Champions which will be held in March next year. For further information and details, please contact ABF Tour Committee at Tel: +852 2893 6039, Fax: +852 2893 6290; Email: hktbc@netvigator.com.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Jakarta, Indonesia.
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