5th July, Kaohsiung: Xavier Teo of Singapore successfully defended the Youth Open Masters crown with a comfortable victory at the 18th Kaohsiung International Open Bowling Championships finals ahead of two Taiwanese.

2017 World Championships Trios silver medallist, Xu Zhe-Jia of Chinese Taipei set a cracking pace with 228 in his opening game only to lead Singapore's Brandon Ong in second by 1 pin. Several finalists registered 200+ games including Xavier Teo.

A splendid second game of 258 gave Teo the lead and 19 pins ahead of Xu. A second Singapore youth, Zachery Wong mvoing up to third after a superb 245 while Chen Chia-Hsing was not too far away in fourth.

But the 19-year-old Teo never looked back from then on reeling in 216, 230, 252 and 243 to win the title comfortably for the second consecutive year with 1401, averaging an impressive 233.5. Xu trailed after the third game but faded out of contention.