7th September, Manila: Hong Kong national bowler, Michael Mak was denied his first international title after finishing as first runner-up to Ahmad Muaz of Malaysia in the 17th PBAP Bevida-Storm International Classic 2014 on Sunday.
Having made the stepladder finals in fifth position in the earlier Open division Masters with 1740 in which Ahmad topped the round with 1863 followed by Isaac Russell Paul in second with 1748. Mak's team-mate, Wu Siu Hong also made the cut to tie with a third Malaysian, Sharon Koh with 1745 while Geraldine Ng of Singapore completed the top 6 finalists with 1740.
In the opening stepladder match, Mak defeated fourth-seed, Koh and sixth-seed, Ng 206-194-172 to face Wu and Russell Paul in the second match. Mak had to double in the tenth frame to win 209-194-194 to earn a crack at the title.
In the title match, the CGSE World Youth Singles bronze medalist had an opened frame in the fourth but Mak drew levele when the top seed had a split in the fifth frame. When the Malaysian had another split in the eighth frame, Mak looked set to take the tie into the sudden-death decider.
Wu Siu Hong and Michael Mak finishing fourth and second
But Ahmad struck in the ninth and tenth frame to end the match with 187 while Mak was unable to strike in the tenth after having got one in the ninth frame ending with 180 to settle for the first runner-up spot.
Mak took home 80,000 Philippines peso (approx. US$1,850) for his effort. Ahmad won 150,000 peso (approx. US$3,400). Russell Paul earned 40,000 peso while Wu settled for 20,000 peso.
2011 champion, Joshua Chow finished 16th position in the earlier Masters finals followed by Rickle Kam in 20th position and Tony Wong 22nd. Wicky Yeung missed the finals by 3 pins in 25th position in the qualifying standings.
Photos courtesy of Peral Bowling Center.
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