5th January, Jakarta: Remy Ong and Jennifer Tan set a cracking pace to lead the men's and women's field of 16 in the first block of the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions preliminary round at Jaya Ancol Bowl.

Singapore's southpaw Remy Ong, 27, set the pace for the opening eight-game block this afternoon, bowling just two sub-200 games and with a high of 268 to hold just a 15-pin buffer over Thailand's challenger, Yannaphon Larpapharat. The leader was trailing the Thai by 13 pins at the halfway mark but the 268 game push Ong to the front of the pack.

Yannaphon, who made the finals in ninth and two spots above Ong, settled for second with a total of 1785 to the leader's 1802. Malaysian took the next three positions with SEA Games two Gold medalist, Aaron Kong leading teammates, Daniel Lim and Ranked No. 1, Alex Liew.

Another Thai, Surasak Manuwong, who made the finals after Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar pulled out, did well to take up sixth position with 1671 ahead of UAE's Shaker Al-Hassan in seventh spot with 1629.

Local hopeful and SEA Games Singles Gold medalist, Ryan Lalisang could only finished tenth, just one rung above defending champion, Wu Sui Hong from Hong Kong in 11th while his younger teammate, Michael Tsang struggled to trail the field.

In the women's division, Jennifer Tan gave Singapore supporters plenty to cheer for when the Thailand leg champion led from start to finish to end the first block with a 51-pin cushion. The top three positions belonged to the spinners as Tsai Hsin Yi finished second ahead of teammate, Wang Yu Ling in third.

Tan won 6 of the 8-game matches to amassed 1737 and an average of 209. SEA Games Masters Gold medalist, Liza Clutario of the Philippines took fourth spot with 1588 ahead of six Malaysian ladies, led by Zandra Aziela in fifth.

Defending champion, Wendy Chai finished sixth, Indonesia leg champion, Lai Kin Ngoh seventh, Tang Joh Six eighth, Siti Safiyah Amirah ninth and Esther Cheah completing the top 10.

Both the men and women will play another 7 games tomorrow, 6th January at the end of which the top 8 will make the cut for the exciting quarterfinals knockout matches before the semifinals and finals matches on the 7th and 8th January.

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

The ABF Tour - TOC will be telecast on some of the key television stations in the region. 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).