14th May, Bangkok: Local favourite got the large crowd at SF Strike Bowl in Bangkok on their feet cheering as Yannaphon Larpapharat bulldozed his way into the semifinals of the ABF Tour Thailand Leg which ended Saturday afternoon.

Three Thai male contenders and two female hopefuls went crashing out leaving the sole local favourite, Yannaphon Larpapharat into the semifinals after he ousted UAE's Shaker Al-Hassan, 203-185 in Round 2. The 21-year-old Political Science student at the local university had a lucky break earlier in Round 1 to reach this round beating Aussie, Andrew Frawley, 156-145.

Less fortunate was newly-crowned Thailand Open champion, Sithiphol Kunaksorn, who was knocked out by the the eventual semifinalist, Alex Liew of Malaysia, 188-226.

Despite defeating Filipino, Markwin Tee in the first round, 214-209, second-seed, Surasak Mnauwong could withstand the power of the second Malaysian semifinalist, Aaron Kong going down, 196-213 in Round 2. The final semifinal slot went to Malaysia's Azidi Ameran when he took out fellow-countryman, Eric Ang, 204-145.

The Malaysian women who made up almost a third of the 16 bowlers did not fare too well as all contenders were eliminated from this leg. In the all Malaysian match-ups, Shalin Zulkifli defeated top-seed Esther Cheah and Lai Kin Ngoh defeated Choy Poh Lai to advance onto Round 2.

However, hopes for a Malaysian woman in the semifinals were dashed by the women from Chinese-Taipei. Tsai Hsin Yi managed to outlast Shalin 191-173 while Wang Yu Ling trounced Lai Kin Ngoh 241-189 to move into the semifinals. Wang’s magnificent score of 241 makes hers the highest score of the tournament.

A third woman from Chinese-Taipei, Huang Chiung Yao made it as far as Round 2 but was stopped in her tracks by Jennifer Tan from Singapore 168-

200. Tan will face-off against Tsai Hsin Yi in tomorrow’s semi-finals. The fourth semi-finalist is Park Jin Hee from Korea, the only hook bowler left in the women’s game, and she will face Wang Yu Ling tomorrow.

Where the Malaysian ladies failed to perform, the Malaysian men seemed to have taken well to the challenge. Three Malaysian men: Alex Liew, Azidi Ameran and Aaron Kong made it into the semifinals along with the last surviving local bowler, Yannaphon Laraphat. Alex Liew holds the highest scoring game for the men’s event with 226 and will be a favorite to win in tomorrow’s event.

The ABF Tour will comprise eight Legs and a Grand Final, the Tournament of Champions. Each Leg will be staged over one or 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), will qualify to compete over four rounds of competition for the coveted men's and women's ABF Tour Champion titles.

ABF Tour - Thailand Leg is organized by ABF in association with Thai Tenpin Bowling Congress, supported by Asian Bowling Digest, SF Strike Bowl and the local TV station, UBC.

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).