25th June, Macau: 2017 Macau Open first runner-up, Putty Armein of Indonesia got a lucky break to win the Women's title of the ABF Tour Macau 2017 for the second time while two-time Malaysian national champion Adrian Ang clinched his first-ever tour title in the Men's division.
Armein had a better start in the championship match knocking down three consecutive strikes to take a 13 pin lead as Lee struck twice. The gap increased after the Korean had an opened frame in the fourth but the Indonesian also had an opened frame in the fifth to level things up.
The match was still locked closely up to the seventh frame. Lee then struck twice to take over the lead as Armein could not match the Korean's strides. Armein ended with a strike in her final frame for a score of 232.
All Lee needed to do was to strike of spare her final frame but left a solid pin 10 which she failed to spare handing the match and the title to Armein.
Putty Armein winning the Macau leg for the second time
The champion had earlier dispatched debutant, Nora Lyana Natasia of Malaysia, 235-170 in the first semi-final to advance to the final. She also posted two good games to beat Hong Kong's Joey Yip, 221-191 in the second round and another Hong Kong national bowler, Chan Shuk Han, 224-200 in the opening round. All three Hong Kong women finalists, Chan Shuk Han, Milki Ng and Joan Cheng crashed out in their opening round.
In the men's division, Baek Jong Yun had a superb start rolling four strikes-in-a-row as Ang spared his opening frame and then struck three times to trail the Korean by 11 pins. As Baek failed to strike in his next two frames, Ang went on a strikefest reeling in five consecutive strikes.
But Baek responded with three strikes of his own with just 9 pins separating the duo. Disaster struck the Malaysian as he stumbled to a split in the final frame and but his opponent still needed to strike in the final frame to deny Ang the victory.
But luck was on Ang's side as Baek delivered a seemingly perfect shot only to see a stubborn pin 10 standing to the despair of the Korean and losing the tie and the title to the deserving Malaysian, 267-268.
The champion, who averaged a whopping 281 in four matches, ousted local hopeful, Lee Tak Man of Macau, 278-232 in the semi-final to make the finals.
First tour title for Adrian Ang
Ang also rolled the first-ever 300 in the new scoring format of the ABF Tour which began last year when he beat India's Dhruv Sarda, 300-268 in Round 2.
Ang edged Thailand's Atchariya Cheng in another high-scoring Round 1 encounter, 278-266 to kick start his campaign. Again all three Hong Kong men finalists, Rickle Kam, Wu Siu Hong and 2017 Thailand leg champion, Michael Mak were eliminated in the first round.
Joshua Chow posted the highest Round 1 game with a victory over Han Jae Hyeon of Korea, 289-202 but narrowly lost to Lee Tak Man of Macau, 243-256 in the second round. Mr Chao Kuok Wai, Head of Sports Development Department, Sports Bureau of Macao S.A.R. Government presented the trophy and prizes to the men's division while Ms Vivien Lau, ABF Tour Committee Chairman and WOrld Bowling Secretary General gave away the prizes and trophy to the women's division.
Both the champions pocketed US$500 and earned 75 ranking points each with the first runner-ups took home US$300 and awarded 60 ranking points each. The second and third runner-ups earned US$150 each.
The ABF Tour Macau 2017 leg is the second of five legs to be staged in East Asia this year. The next stop will be in Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei on July 9, 2017. 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 Macau.
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