7th July, Kaohsiung: Taiwanese totally dominated the Ladies' Open Round 1 Masters finals of the 17th Koahsiung International Open Bowling Championships with defending champion, Huang Chiung-Yao leading her compatriots to occupying the top nine positions.

Huang and Chang Yu-Hsuan shared the lead at the start of the finals when both rolled 245 in their opening game to lead Thailand's Natthida Sertluecha by 11 pins with Chang Yin-Chih a further nine pins away in third.

Yu-Hsuan took over the running after the second game but her lead was quickly snatched by Huang after the defending champion psoted a big game of 258 in the third game.

The leader never look back then on reeling in 203, 213, 245, 215 and easing off with 190 to win the round with 1750. Wang Ting-Wen and Tsai Hsin-Yi battled out second spot throughout the round but it was Tsai who ended stronger to claim second position with 1705.

Su Shu-Wen finished sixth with 1551 ahead of Lin Tse-Han in seventh position with 1548. World Games 2017 bound, Pan Yu-Fen took eighth position with 1548. The best non-Taiwanese finisher was Hong Kong's Milki Ng sharing ninth position with Chang Yin-Chih with 1539.

The ladies will resume with their second round for another eight games with pins carried forward. The top six at the end of the second round will advance to the stepladder shootout finals tomorrow which will be broadcast by Sportcast TV.

The Men's Open Round 1 Masters finals will be contested later this evening bowling eight games similar to the ladies' division. The second round will be staged after the women completed their second round tomorrow afternoon.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Kaohsiung.

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