Debutants, Shaik Abdul Hameed of India and Kritsanakorn Sangaroon of Thailand captured their first-ever Men's and Women's tour titles at the ABF Tour Thailand 2014 at Blu–O Rhythm & Bowl Ratchayothi on Thursday.
Shaik defeated 2014 ABF Tour Kuwait leg champion, Mahmood Al Attar of UAE, 242-183 in the Men's finals to give India its first tour victory while Kritsanakorn upstaged Thailand International Open first runner-up, Banchawan Poungthong 223-183 in an all-Thai Women's finals.
Both the men's title contenders had an opened frame each in frame two but Shaik rolled three consecutive strikes to take a slender lead of 9 pins when Mahmood responded with a turkey in the fifth and sixth frames.
Shaik Abdul Hameed winning his first-ever tour title
Shaik, whose last major international titles came way back during the 2002 Commonwealth Championships in which he won gold medals in Singles and Masters and a silver medal in All Events. The champion edged Joshua Chow in the first all-lefty semi-final, 231-218 to advance to the finals.
Mahmood denied Yannaphon Larpapharat a crack at the title when he ousted the Thai, 218-197 in the second semi to book his place in the finals. Other Hong Kong national bowlers, Michael Mak, Rickle Kam and Eric Tseng were all eliminated in the first round.
Meanwhile, tour debutant Kritsanakorn Sangaroon won the Women's crown after she outclassed Thailand International Open first runner-up, Benchawan Poungthong in the all-Thai finals to win her first-ever international title.
The 19-year-old Thai national rookie, brought home a clean game after she got off the block with four strikes-in-a-row. And when her challenger missed a single-pin spare in the sixth frame the match was more or less over.
Kritsanakorn had earlier eliminated newly-crowned Thailand International Open Women's Open Masters champion, Angkana Netrviseth in the all-Thai first semi-final, 198-173 to earn her spot in the finals.
Benchawan beat Tanaprang Sathean in another all-Thai second semi-final, 207-179 to face Kritsanakorn in the final.
Hong Kong sole women finalist, Chan Shuk Han, who had a bye in Round 1, was knocked out by Tanaprang Sathean of Thailand in the second round.
Kritsanakorn Sangaroon picking up her first ABF Tour crown
Ms Chanya Tamrongweenijchai, Bowling Operations Director of Major Bowl presented the women's trophy to Kritsanakorn while Ms Vivien Lau, ABF Honorary Life President and FIQ Secretary General presented the men's trophy to Shaik.
The next ABF Tour stop will be in Cairo, Egypt on May 1, 2014 for the men's division only. Three stops will be staged in East Asia while there are five stops in West Asia.
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 Bangkok.
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