25th June, Macau, China: 2023 World Championships Trios gold medalist, Ivan Tse Chun Hin of Hong Kong national team went to the top of Men's Open Masters qualifying leaderboard at the 2024 Macao China International Open Bowling Championships underway at Cotai Bowling Center.
Tse's World Championships Trios winning team-mate, Wu Siu Hong had led the table with 1367 from best-of-2 three-game series of 717 and 650. Two-time Macao Open champion (2014 and 2015), Tomoyuki Sasaki of Japan took over top spot from Wu with 1381, only to see Tse beating him by 12 pins to go top.
The top 3 qualifiers in the overseas pool will earn a bye and skip Round 1 Masters finals. Singapore's Nu'Man Syahmi and Otto Leung of Hong Kong, China both missed the top bracket by 12 pins to share fourth with 1356. Lam Iek Long occupied top spot in the local pool with 1444.
National squad member, Lee Tak Man and Lei Hok Hin finised second and third with 1357 and 1333 respectively. The trio will also earn a bye and skip Round 1 finals.
In the Women's Open division, Lou Si Hang led the local pool with a 6-game aggregate of 1327. Compatriot, So Sheng Lam finished a distant second with 1247 and Li Qing in third with 1246. Like the Men's Open division, the top will also earn a bye and skip Round 1 finals.
In the overseas pool, ex-international Gigi Leung of Hong Kong, China topped the standings with 1237. Last year's Macao China Open second runner, Yuri Sato of Japan took second spot with 1174. 2016 Macao China Open second runner-up, Sharon Limansantoso of Indonesia finished third with 1133.
The top 3 in the overseas pool will also earn a bye and skip Round 1 finals. Two seeded qualifiers, local qualifiers positioned 4 and 5, overseas qualifiers positioned 4 to 7, top 13 qualifiers from the mixed pool along with the defending champion, will contest the Round 1 finals on June 29.
The top 12 with the highest pinfalls will advance to Round 1, joined by the 6 seeded qualifiers for another 8 games in Round 2 finals.
One local seeded qualifier, local qualifiers positioned 4 to 9, overseas qualifiers positioned 4 to 10, the top 12 qualifiers from the Mixed pool along with the defending champion will contest the 8-games Round 1 finals on June 29.
The top 18 with the highest pinfalls at the end of Round 1 will advance to Round 2 finals joined by the 6 seeded qualifiers for another 8 games in Round 2. The top 6 women and top 6 men at the end of Round 2 finals will proceed to the Stepladder Shootout finals on June 30. Qualifying will end on Friday, June 28.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau, China.