21st June, Macau: Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong put in an inspiring performance to take pole position in the Men's Open Round 1 Masters finals of the 2015 Macao-China International Open on Sunday.
Defending champion, Tomoyuki Sasaki of Japan and Wu shared the lead after a sizzling 279 in the opening game to lead local favourite, Lee Tak Man in second and Malaysia's Kang Bo Long third.
Sasaki added an identical 279 in the second game to move away from Wu by 12 pins as third perfect gamer, Baek Jong Yun of Korea moved up to third and Lee slipping down to fourth.
First perfect gamer, Daisuke Yoshida of Japan stole the limelight with his second 300 and the tournament's fourth to give Japan a one-two as Sasaki remained in the lead with a strong 258.
Wu Siu Hong leading the Men's Open Round 1
Wu stayed close to the leading duo in third, three pins off Yoshida while a second Macau national team member, Zoe DIas Ma slowly crawled his way up to fourth, just 4 pins behind Wu. Despite posting only 196 in the fourth game, Sasaki was able to stay in the lead. Dias Ma added 264 after a 265 in the third to reduce the gap to 7 pins while Wu slipped down to third, 15 pins away.
The Japanese continued to lead the pack after recovering with 230 in the fifth game. Wu regained second with 231 and Dias Ma dropped to third with only 191. With less than 30 pins separating the trio, it came down to the last game.
Wu ended strongest with 265 to win the first round with 1486. Dias Ma also ended strongly with 251 to snatch second spot with 1447 and Singapore's Tay Hui Chiang stormed home with back-to-back 259s to clinch third with 1431.
Wu, who just recovered from a cancer treatment and has only recently begun training again, gave a great account for himself to finish in the lead. "It has been a tough past six months and laying off my favourite sport was the most difficult thing," said the leader.
Sasaki managed only 187 to slipped down to fourth with 1429. Baek took fifth position with 1411 and Yoshida completed the top six with 1405, all surpassing the 1400-mark.
Nine Hong Kong Men's Open finalists
>Michael Mak and Joshua Chow of Hong Kong finished seventh and eighth positions with 1388 and 1385 while Yannaphon Larpapharat of Thailand and Bong Kihow of Malaysia rounded out the top ten.
Mike Chan (12th-1340), Rickle Kam (15th-1296), Eric Tseng and Lau Kwun Ho (tie, 16th-1287), Wicky Yeung (25th-1260) and James Lui (36th-1102) will have a lot of catching up to do in the second round.
The men will resume with their second round with pins carried forward tomorrow at 1.30pm local time. The top 30 women will contest their first round after lane dressing.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau, China.
20th June, Macau: Hong Kong national youths swept the Youth Masters titles of the 2015 Macao-China International Open with Jimmy Cheung, Ivan Tse, Tony Wong and Alex Yu occupying the top four positions.
Singapore's Joyan Khoo of Agape Bowling Academy, set a blistering pace with 286 in his opening game to lead Lao Lap In of Macau and a second Hong Kong national youth team member, Ivan Tse Chun Hin tieing second, 42 pins adrift.
Tse grabbed the lead after the second game with 247 overhauling Khoo by 36 pins as Cheung moved up to third with 258 after a poor opening game of 189. Tse continued his blistering pace with another stunning 279 to pull away from the pack.
Cheung kept pace with his team-mate with a superb 266 of his own in the third game. The leader remained in the lead until the fifth game when he stumbled to a 183 while Cheung took over the running with another good 237.
Youth Open Masters champion, Jimmy Cheung
Cheung, 19, who just joined the preliminary Hong Kong national youth team in a roll-off conducted last month, ended the finals with 223 in his sixth game to take the title with 1411.
Tse settled for second with a recovering 204 for a total of 1390 while Tony Wong stormed home to snatch third spot with 1305. A fourth Hong Kong national youth member, Alex Yu Ho Yin, who was third before the last game, missed the podium to end in fourth with 1242.
Pace-setter, Khoo completed the top five with 1241, just one pin off Yu. Cheung pocketed MOP$3,000 as champion while Tse and Wong took home MOP$1,500 and MOP$1,000 respectively.
Meanwhile, two-time Senior Masters first runner-up, Vong Vang Ip of Macau finally nailed his senior title with a total of 1288 plus a 12-pin handicap per game. Cheng Peng Seng gave Macau a one-two finish after taking up second with 1275 on a 6-pin handicap.
Rayomnd Leung of Hong Kong finished second runner-up with 1269, a further 6 pins adrift while Liang Yu Lian of China and top qualifier, Frankie Cheung rounded out the top five with 1229 and 1217 respectively.
Vong won MOP$3,000 as champion, Cheng settled for MOP$1,5000 and Leung MOP$1,000. QUalifying rounds for the Open and Graded divisions will end late this evening and their Masters finals will commence tomorrow.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau, China.
Top 3 winners, Ivan Tse, Jimmy Cheung and Tony Wong
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