18th May, 2002: Andrew Frawley of Australia and Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia clinched the 28th Thailand Open Masters crown at P.S. Bowl, Ngamwongwan Bangkok this afternoon. The 28 year-old winner of the Korean CGU Asian Bowling Tour 1999, defeated this year's Super Classic champion, Remy Ong of Singapore for the title while last year's CGU ABT Thailand leg winner, Shalin Zulkifli won by defeating teammate Sarah Yap for her crown.

Frawley completed his second block finals amassing 3,672 pinfalls to finish top seed going into the step-ladder finals. In the first step-ladder match between 4th seed Tim Mack (USA - 3,616), 5th seed C.J. Suarez (PHI - 3,570) and 6th seed Alex Liew (MAS - 3,566), the Filipino easily won the match 279 to Tim's 191 and Alex's 217 to move to the next match. The second match saw 3rd seed Remy Ong (SIN - 3,617) defeating 2nd seed Zulmazran Zulkifli (MAS - 3,627) and Suarez 259 to 237 and 203 respectively.

Despite scoring 224 in the final match against top seed, Frawley was in fantastic form stringing 9 consecutive strikes in a row to runaway with the crown scoring a high game of 275.

Asian's No. 1 bowler in two consecutive years 2000 and 2001, Shalin Zulkifli took the women's crown after being forced into a sudden-death roll-off. Shalin lost the first match to teammate, Sarah Yap 183 - 197 but came back strongly in the final game to win comfortably 257 to Sarah's 153.

"It was a great feeling to have finally won after finishing 2nd in several tournaments although leading in most of them," said Shalin after winning her first international title this year.

"I was telling myself after I lost the first game to Sarah that I'm not going to let go this one again. I was determined to win and when I started off with 7 strikes in a row, I guessed it affected Sarah's game a little."

"It was a great feeling to have finally won after finishing 2nd in several tournaments although leading in most of them," said Shalin after winning her first international title this year. "I was telling myself after I lost the first game to Sarah that I'm not going to let go this one again. I was determined to win and when I started off with 7 strikes in a row, I guessed it affected Sarah's game a little."

Earlier in the first women's first step-ladder match between 4th seed Tseng Su Fen (TPE - 3,289), 5th seed Irene Garcia (PHI - 3,267) and 6th seed Wang Yi Fen (TPE - 3,251), the Filipino lass took the match by 9 pins scoring 211 against Tseng's and Wang's similar score of 202. In the second match, 3rd seed Sarah Yap (MAS - 3,294) overcame oppositions from 2nd seed Liza Del Rosario (PHI - 3,384) and Irene with an impressive 249 to set up a confrontation with Shalin.

The top 14 Asian men and women qualified for the CGU Asian Bowling Tour Thailand leg which will kick off tomorrow at the same bowling centre.

17th May, 2002: Asia's No. 1 women bowler, Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia was in electrifying form last night to take the lead of the Women's Open Masters first block finals in the 28th Thailand International Open at P.S. Bowl, Ngamwongwan, Bangkok. Local Watcharapong Ungtrakul created an upset when he topped the Men's division.

Shalin accumulated a total score of 1,661 with lines of 194, 216, 258, 235, 149, 164, 188 and 257 to average 207.6 for the lead. Shalin was leading after the 3rd and 4th game, but a low 149 and 164 in the 5th and 6th game, dropped her down to 6th position. She recovered with a 257 in the final game to help her to regain the narrow lead.

5th PBAP-Storm International Classic champion and SEA Games Masters Gold Medalist K.N. Lai made it a 1-2 finish for Malaysia with 1,654, just 7 pins behind Shalin. 1997 World Cup Champion - Tseng Su Feng of Chinese Taipei is in 3rd with 1,650 while another Malaysian Sarah Yap is another 10 pins behind in 4th place with 1,640.

Local favourite Watcharapong Ungtrakul upset a more experienced field to top the Men's Open Masters Finals after the first block of 8 games. Watcharapong knocked down 1,844 to average 230.5 for the lead. He had lines of 225, 172, 244, 247, 239, 266, 228 and 223.

Australia's Andrew Frawley is just 12 pins behind in 2nd with 1,832 while Chinese Taipei's Kao Hai Yuang is another 5 pins away in 3rd place with 1,827. Hot favourite and reigning World Bowler of the Year, Tim Mack of USA is in 6th place with 1,805 followed by last year's PBAP International Classic Champion Alex Liew of Malaysia with 1,791 in 7th place.

25th Malaysian International Open runner-up, Zulmazran Zulkifli is 8th with 1,785. Zulmazran shot a perfect game of 300 in his 3rd game today and became the 7th bowler to have scored perfect games in the tournament.

The seven bowlers, if there are no more bowlers acheiving perfect games tomorrow, will share the Bhat 100,000 perfect game prize. Top 6 bowlers after second block of 8 games tomorrow morning, will qualify for the step-ladder grand finals in the afternoon, and top 14 Asian bowlers based on 16 games total pinfalls in both men and women divisions will then make the cut for the CGU Asian Bowling Tour's Thailand Leg on May 19 and 20.

CGU Asian Bowling Tour Philippines leg will be played on the 16th and 17th June at Pearl Bowling Centre.

The competition at P.S. Bowl has shot to the roof when 5 perfect games were scored till this evening. The reigning World bowler of the year, Tim Mack shot two perfect games within two days, while the others who also attained the perfect games in the last 3 days were Boonsoong Numthuam of Thailand and Alfred Pang of Hong Kong.

Tim Mack lead the overseas pool and overall Men's Open Masters finals qualifying table with a score of 1,047 from Filipino, R.J. Bautista with 1,036 while Lin Tzu Yuan of Chinese Taipei took third spot with 1,006. Watchara Sangsubchart (986) leads the local pool, Peerawut Wongthongsiri (965) in second and Tossarin Kunawat (959) in third.

In the women's division, Filipino lass, Liza del Rosario lead the overseas pool and overall Masters finals qualifying table with 987 followed by Chu Yu Chieh of Chinese Taipei with 939 while 5th PBAP-Storm International Classic women champion, Lai Kin Ngoh of Malaysia in third just one pin away on 938. Kanit Kittam (874) shared the lead of the local pool with Wannasiri D.(874) while Wichitraporn Chanmoung (872) took third spot.

Qualifying continues at P.S. Bowl and the Masters finals will commence tomorrow (17th May) with the 1st block and on Saturday (18th May) the 2nd block. The top 14 Asian bowlers in both the Men's and Women's Open division will qualify for the 2nd Leg of the CGU Asian Bowling Tour which will be held on the 19th and 20th May.