17th April, Bangkok: Korngunya Aree clinched her first tour title to retain the Women's crown for Thailand at the ABF Tour Thailand 2015 while top seed, Lee Tak Man of Macau won his second tour title in the Men's division.
Korngunya narrowly defeated compatriot, Yanee Saebe, 184-183 in the all-Thai women's final and Lee sealed his victory in the final frame of the Men's title match to beat Sam Cooley of Australia, 225-213.
2012 Thailand leg women champion, Yanee had a poor start with a split in the opening frame and although she recovered with a strike in the seocnd and fourth frames, another split in the fifth put her some 30 pins behind Korngunya.
Both had a split in the seventh frame but Yanee struck four times and a 9-pin count to end with 183 forcing Korngunya needing to mark her last frame to beat her opponent. She struck in the tenth frame and a 9-pin in her bonus frame.
Korngunya Aree with her first tour trophy
She cooly spared the single pin to clinch victory by just a one pin. The champion had sailed past Kantaporn Singhabubpha, 194-128 in the second all-Thai semi-final match to reach the final.
Korngunya also easily beat Natthida Sertuecha, 224-169 in the opening round. Yanee edged Hong Kong's Joan Cheng, 214-200 in the first semi-final match after she had a one-pin victory over another Hong Kong national, Milki Ng, 212-211 in the first round.
Joan Cheng of Hong Kong defeated 41st MWA Thailand Open second runner-up, Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia, 201-178 in Round 2 but lost to Yanee in the semi-finals, 200-214. Yanee also defeated Milki Ng of Hong Kong by one pin, 212-211 in the Round 2.
Meanwhile, in the men's division, the title match came down to the last frame between top seed, Lee Tak Man and challenger, Sam Cooley. A split in the second frame by the Aussie gave Lee a slight advantage.
But Lee too had a split and opened frame in the fourth leveling things up. Lee struck four times while Cooley almost matched it but with three strikes-in-a-row. A spare each in the ninth frame gave Lee just two pins cushion.
Lee struck home in the tenth frame to shut out his opponent and went on to win the Men's crown, 225-213. The champion's first tour title came way back in 2013 in Macau while Cooley was denied his second after winning the Thailand leg in 2013.
The champion had an easy passage to the final after he beat Phumin Klanbida, 220-166 in the first semi-final match. Cooley ousted Naif Oqab of UAE, 200-184 in the other semi. Lee won the men's prize of US$1,000 and Korngunya picked up US$500 for the women's prize.
Lee Tak Man winning his second tour title
Eric Tseng shot the highest game of 277 when he beat Yannaphon Larpapharat of Thailand in the opening round but lost to the champion, Lee 180-224 in Round 2. Michael Mak and Tony Wong both crashed out in their opening round.
Ms Chanya Tamrongweenijchai, Bowling Operations Director of Major Bowl presented the women's trophy to Kritsanakorn while the men's trophy was presented by a TTBA Committee member.
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 six 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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