16th May, Bangkok: Thailand Open champion, Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar defeated Malaysia's Daniel Lim 223-192, to capture his first tour title while Shalin Zulkifli triumphed over Singapore's Valerie Teo 244-217, for the women's title.

Shaheen made the finals after disposing off 16 year-old Adrian Ang of Malaysia, 247-215, in the second semifinal match and Lim ousted his teammate Ben Heng, 247-226, in the first semi before going down to the champion.

Both the finalists started off nervously when Lim had a split in the first frame before recovering with a double in the second and third frames while Shaheen had two open frames.

But the 33 year-old assistant coach to the Qatar juniors came back to string together five consecutive strikes from frame three to take a comfortable 31 pin lead in the eighth frame. Lim's opened frame in the sixth settled the match in favour of Shaheen who went on to capture his first tour title with a score of 223.

In the women's division, Thailand Open runner-up Shalin Zulkifli gave Malaysia its second success in the ABF Tour when she outclassed 18 year-old Valerie Teo for the coveted Thailand title. Shalin was in total control in the match although she had an opened frame in the sixth. Teo could not keep pace with the champion despite finishing strongly.

The runner-up made the finals after knocking out Filipina Irene Benitez 244-223, in the closely fought first semifinal match while the champion defeated Singapore's Alice Tay 248-182, in the other semi.

After two legs in the inaugural ABF Tour, Shaheen now leads the rankings table with 108 points, ahead of Daniel Lim in second with 80, followed by first leg champion, Ryan Lalisang in third with 75 points. Meanwhile, Alice

Tay shot to the top of the women's table with 91, points followed by Shalin in second with 88 and first leg champion, Wendy Chai of Malaysia, in third with 75 points. The ABF Tour will move on to Manila in the Philippines for its third leg, which will be held 12 - 13 June, 2004.

The ABF Tour comprises six Legs and a Grand Final, the Tournament of Champions. Each Leg will be staged over two competition days where the top 16 men and 16 women bowlers from the preceding International Open Masters Event (Open Grade) will compete in a one-game match play knock-out competition for the individual men's and women's titles.

The Tournament of Champions will be staged over four competition days where the top 16 men and 16 women bowlers (based on ABF Tour ranking points), plus two additional wildcard entries from the West Asia region (thus totalling 18 men in the men's division), will qualify to compete over four rounds of competition for the coveted men's and women's ABF Tour Champion titles.

The ABF Tour - Thailand is televised LIVE in Thailand and shown on local television stations of the six countries where the tour is being held. It is also broadcast later from parts of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, central Asia, China and Australasia with an estimated audience of around 75 million.

For further information and details please contact ABF Tour Committee Marketing and Event Management Division at Tel: (852) 2810 5191; Fax: (852) 28105192; Mr. Ritchie Lai (Mobile: (852) 93598669; email: ritchie.lai@tndgroup.com) or Mr. Kelvin Pong (Mobile: (852) 9100 0958; email: Kelvin.pong@tndgroup.com).