26th March, Kuwait: Indonesia celebrated a fabulous double after Ryan Lalisang and Sharon Limansantoso emerged as the Men's and Women's champion of the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions for the first time at Cozmo Bowling Centre on Friday.

Twice Kuwait Open and ABF Tour Kuwait leg champion, Ryan Lalisang certainly relished on his favourite lanes as he claimed his fifth victory at Cozmo Bowling Centre. The Indonesian went on a strikefest as his challenger, Hussain Al-Suwaidi suffered a split in the fourth frame.

There was simply no stopping the Indonesia as he continued to knock down strikes after strikes and appeared on course for a perfect ending. Lalisang struck in the tenth frame but left a solid pin 10 after a seemingly perfect pocket shot in the 11th frame.

Lalisang ended the match with 289 as the Emirati struck out from frame 8 to end on a respectable 199 defeat. The champion had reached the finals after another comfortable victory over Bahrain's Yousif Falah, 266-215 in the second semi-finals.

The Indonesian edged Kuwait's Khaled Al-Dubyyan, 237-228 in the quarter-finals earlier. Hussain ousted the sole Thai survivor, Somjed Kusonpithak 220-171 in the first semi to advance to the finals.

Hussain also had an easy passage in the quarter-finals eliminating another Thai and top seed, Yannaphon Larpapharat, 220-188.

Meanwhile, Indonesia became the second country to win both the men's and women's Tournament of Champions titles following Malaysia's victory in 2006. Sharon Limansantoso claimed her first major title after defeating top seed, Kim EUn Jung of Korea, 204-178.

Sharon had a normal start sparing the first two frames and knocking down a double strike as the Korean suffered two splits in th third and fourth frames. As the Indonesian lass struck again in the fifth, Kim had another aweful split.

Despite getting a split herself in the sixth frame, Sharon was more or less cruising for victory while Kim failed to find her line for strikes. Sharon claimed the women's crown, 204-178 to give Indonesia the fabulous double.

The champion sailed through to the finals after another convincing victory over Hong Kong's Chan Shuk Han, 225-172 while the runnerup edged defending champion, Tang Joh Six of Malaysia, 197-181 to advance to the finals.

"Kuwait is my lucky hunting ground and every time I come here, I'm always very confident," said the 29-year-old Ryan Lalisang. "And lanes 3 and 4 is also my favourite pair of lanes too.

"It's fantastic for me and Sharon to win both the titles. The finals had been held in Jakarta for the past 5 years and we have never won it. But to win both is even more fabulous."

Lalisang won the top prize of US$20,000 as Hussain settled for US$8,000. Both Yousif Falah and Somjed Kusonpithak took home US$4,000 each as losing semifinalists.

"I came to the finals not expecting to become the champion. My target was to make the top 8 and hope for the best," said the elated 25-year-old Sharon Limansantoso, who has not won a single ABF Tour title.

"But to emerge as the champion is simply out of this world. I'm so happy I'm

really lost for words. I was quite nervous in the quarter-finals but after the semis, I was totally relaxed and just made sure I remain calm for each match."

Sharon won US$10,000 as the champion as Kim Eun Jung, who was the first runnerup in 2006, settled for US$5,000. Chan Shuk Han and Tang Joh Six went home with US$3,000 each.

A total of seven legs were held in 2009 in which participants earned ranking points from each leg contested. The top 16 men and top 16 women, based on their rankings, qualified for the Tournament of Champions held fron March 24.

There will be an additional leg for the 2010 season making it a total of 8 legs and a grand finals. Kuwait will host the first leg which will be staged on April 1, 2010 follwoing the 7th Kuwait International Open. The other 7 legs will be held in Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Egypt, Bahrain, Macau, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

For further information and details, please contact ABF Tour Committee at Tel: +852 2893 6039, Fax: +852 2893 6290; Email: hktbc@netvigator.com.