20th June, Macau: Second perfect gamer, Joshua Chow finished a creditable third in the Men's Open Round 1 Masters finals of the 2017 Macau China International Open to lead four team-mates into the next round.

Ho Chok San of Macau and Dhruv Sarda of India got off the block with 269 and 268 in their opening game to lead Yang Jong Won of Korea in third and first perfect gamer, Michael Mak in fourth with Chow in fifth.

Yang went on a hot streak reeling in 257, 247, 210 and 255 in his next four games to extend his lead to 42 pins. Third perfect gamer, Adrian Ang of Malaysia and Mak traded second spots before a third Hong Kong national Tony Wong staying close to the leading pack.

The leader ended with 258 to win the round with 1932. Liew, who made the finals after winning the one-game tie-breaker before the start of the finals, finished second with 1886, 46 pins adrift. Another perfect gamer, Chow took third spot with 1878.

Mak fired three big games of 266, 238 and 279 to stormed home for fourth position with 1871 while Timmy Tan of Malaysia rounded out the top five with 1870. Eric Tseng and defending champion, Rickle Kam finished 14th and 16th with 1792 and 1768 respectively.

Unfortunately, Wu Siu Hong and Ernest Kwok tied 18th position with 1751 and had to compete in a one-game roll-off to break the tie and determine who would advance. Wu won the one-game tie-breaker, 234-203 to make the cut for Round 2 finals.

The top 18 will be joined by the top three local and top three overseas seeded qualifiers for another 8 games tomorrow. The top six finishers will proceed to the stepladder shootout finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau, China.

20th June, Macau: Joshua Chow rolled the tournament's second perfect game en-route to leading the Men's Open Masters qualifying standings of the 2017 Macau-China International Open with compatriots, Michael Mak and Wu Siu Hong in second and third.

Chow, winner of the 2010 ABF Tour Macau leg, achieved the feat in his opening game of his first attempt and ended the three-game series with 814. The left-hander easily added another splendid 726 to take over the lead with a stunning 6-game aggregate of 1540.

Mak, who had shot the first 300 for a 769 series on the second day of qualifying rounds and added another 705 series to grab the early lead with 1474, settled for second. 2015 AMF World Cup champion, Wu Siu Hong gave Hong Kong the top three overseas spots with 1460.

The rest of the 33 qualifiers comprising of two qualifiers from the local seeded pool, local qualifiers positioned 6 to 10, overseas qualifiers positioned 4 to 10 plus 18 qualifiers from the mixed pool together with the defending champion will contest the 8-games first round on Friday, June 23.

Meanwhile, 2011 ABF Tour Macau leg women's champion, Julia Lam led the Women's Open local pool with a superb 1321 followed by Filomena Choi in second with 1243. Un Im Cheng completed the top 3 with 1219. Ex-international and 2009 Macau-China Open second runner-up, Joey Yip of Hong Kong led the overseas pool with 1395.

2015 Macau-China Open champion, Lee Young Seung of Korean National Sports University finished second with 1376 ahead of her team-mate, Kim Su Bin in third with 1278. Like the men's division, the top three local and top three overseas qualifiers will earn automatic entry into the second round of the Masters finals.

The rest of the 24 qualifiers comprising of one from the local seeded pool, local qualifiers positioned 5 to 7, overseas qualifiers positioned 4 to 9 plus 13 qualifiers from the mixed pool together with the defending champion will contest the 8-games first round on Friday, June 23.