26th July, Shanghai: 2018 World Youth Team bronze medallist, Yuma Haraguchi of Japan snatched the second qualifying squad top spot of the 2019 Storm U22 China International Youth Bowling Championships on Friday afternoon.

2019 Asian School Doubles silver medallist, Keith MArk Siu Ki of Hong Kong got off the block with a blistering pace of 267 in the opening game to lead China's Wang Jia Cheng by 12 pins. A second Hong Kong youth, Boco Wong and Abner Loo of ABAS, Malaysia also had a good start 252 to share third spot.

Wong posted another superb game of 256 to take over the lead as Loo also downed 240 to move into second while Mark managed only 195 to slip behind his team-mate. Malaysia's Lim Jie took over third spot with Loo closely behind in fourth.

Wong added 233 and 236 but settled for second with 977 after Haraguchi blazed the lanes with back-to-back 278s to snatch the victory with 980. Loo also ended well with 236 to clinch third spot with 937.

Wang and Hong Kong's Chen Qingyun rounded out the top five while early pace-setter Mark fizzled off into ninth position. The players will resume their second block of four games tomorrow. After two squads completed, Haraguchi led followed by Wong in second. Squad A leader, Chi Mingyu finished third with 939.

The third and final squad of the day will take to the lanes for their first block of four games after lane maintenance. The top 44 with the highest pinfalls including a six pins handicap allocated to the girl's division at the end of the two blocks, will qualify for the finals scheduled for July 28. The finalists will bowl four games with pins carried forward from the preliminaries.

The top 16 with the highest pinfalls at the end of the finals will advance to the best-of-three Round of 16 knockout matches. The winners will advance to the quarter-finals, again in the best-of-three knockout matches.

The winners will then proceed to the semi-finals and subsequently the final, again in the best-of-three knockout matches to determine the champion. The top 3 winners will be awarded trophies with attractive cash prizes.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Shanghai, China.