8th October, Jakarta: Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar and Liza Del Rosario of the Philippines, were crowned Masters Champions of the 2nd Indonesia International Open at Jaya Ancol Bowl this evening.

The ABF Tour Thailand leg champion defeated challenger and the newly-crowned Qatar Open champion, Remy Ong of Singapore, 244-234 to capture his third international title this year. Shaheen's two other titles this year were the Sinai Open in March and the Thailand Open in May. The champion had earlier led the field of 36 men finalists in both the two blocks semifinals by a comfortable margin of 233 pins going into the stepladder finals as top-seed.

Ong, the third-seed, earned a crack at the title when he edged out second-seed, Han Jae Ho (256) of Korea and winner of the first match, Abdulla Al-Qattan (194) of Qatar with 257. But the runner-up found Shaheen too strong an opponent.

Han settled for third while Al-Qattan ended up in fourth place despite knocking out the two Malaysian, Alex Liew (185) and Adrian Ang (212) in the first match with 224.

In the women's division, Filipina Liza Del Rosario forced top-seed, Vanessa Fung of Hong Kong into the sudden-death game when she won the first match, 212-201. The 27-year-old third-seed, narrowly defeated Fung, 236-234 in the decider to earn her second consecutive title after capturing the Singapore Open last month.

The champion had earlier knocked out second-seed, Choy Poh Lai (205) of Malaysia and winner of the women's first stepladder match, Jojo Canare (213) of the Philippines, with 215 before challenging for the coveted crown.

Fung settled for second while Choy lost one spot to third. Canare claimed fourth position despite ousting defending champion, Kirsten Penny (214) of England and first block leader, Novie Phang (167) of Indoneisa with 246. Penny ended up in 5th ahead of Phang in sixth.

Photos courtesy of Keith Hale, Bowlers' Journal.

8th October, Jakarta: First block leader, Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar retained the lead of the Men's Open Masters of the 2nd Indonesia International Open at the end of the second block played this afternoon.

He held first place last night after the first block of eight games and kept his foot on the gas Friday afternoon to lead throughout the final block and qualify as top seed for the six-man stepladder final. An outstanding average of 244 for Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar over the 16 games and a buffer of 233 pins over second-placed Han Jae Ho of Korea was impressive enough and a high game of 299 and 201 low was the reflection of an outstanding series.

Two Qatari, two Malaysians, one Korean and a Singaporean make up the field for the stepladder finale. In the opening game, fourth seed Abdulla Al Qattan joins Alex Liew of Malaysia and team-mate Adrian Ang to vie for a place against second Han Jae Jo of Korea and Remy Ong of Singapore. The winner of that confrontation takes on Shaheen, but the Qatari will be hard to beat and is confident of winning his second 2004 ABF Tour title, his first clinched in Bangkok, Thailand.

"I was a little bit lazy today," said Shaheen. "I feel I could have bowled better with another hundred pins or so. I really didn't have to change anything from yesterday - same ball - same line. Am I confident of a win? Definitely yes!"

The stepladder finals amongst the fourth, fifth and sixth-placed finishers in both the men and women division will contest their first match shortly.

Story and photos courtesy of Keith Hale, Bowlers' Journal.

8th October, Jakarta: Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung topped the second block of the Women's Master finals of the 2nd Indonesia International Open to move into the stepladder finals as top-seed.

Full-time bowler Vanessa Fung, 32, from Hong Kong came into contention after the 11th game, overtaking previous dominant leader Novie Phang of Indonesia, and sailed down the home straight to take top seed position for the six-player stepladder final.

Fung, the daughter of the Asian Bowling Federation's Past and Honorary Life President, Vivien Fung, JP, got off to a lowly start in the second block of eight games with 193 but stepped into top gear to hit 200-plus games for the other seven with highs of a pair of 258s.

"I was pleased to have been able to use the same ball right through these eight games," Fung said at the end of the block. "I had to make just minor changes to the line as the lanes on the lower side of the center were a little drier. I really didn't look at the scores, so I didn't know that I had taken over

the lead until around the 14th game. I assumed I was in the top two, but it was later before I realized I had pole position."

Defending champion Kirsten Penny of England dropped to 11th place after the first game of today's squad but managed to get into contention for a stepladder place. In seventh place after 14 games, the gutsy Brit threw games of 235 and 256 to check in fourth place.

The stepladder program will open with Kirsten Penny, Novie Phang and Jojo Canare bowling one game. The highest score will progress to slot in with Choy Poh Lai and Liza Del Rosario, then the highest scorer will challenge Vanessa Fung for the title.

"I'll just wait and see who I have to play in the championship game," added Fung. "Then I will do my very best to win."

Story and photos courtesy of Keith Hale, Bowlers' Journal.

7th October, Jakarta: Asian Ranked No. 1, Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar dominated the Men's Open Masters first block finals of the 2nd Indonesia International Open at Jaya Ancol Bowl this evening by a comfortable margin.

Newly-crowned 5th Qatar Open champion, Remy Ong of Singapore opened the account with a 278 to take a 1 pin lead over local, James A Glenn but his lead was short-lived. Emir Cup champion, Abdulla Al-Qattan shot 267, 279 and 237 in the next three games to stake his claim on the lead only to see his fellow Qatari, Ahmed Shaheen gtaking over the helm.

Shaheen totaled 1515 in the first six games after almost shooting the third perfect game of the championship with a 299 to build up a 94 pins lead over Malaysia's Alex Liew in second and Al-Qattan in third.

The leader eventually pulled away to end up with a 146 pins lead on a first block total of 2012 ahead of Liew in second with 1866 while Al-Qattan settled for third with 1854.

"Everything was good today," remarked a very contented Shaheen. The 35-year-old coach to the junior program back in Doha added, "Sometimes something doesn't work and you struggle through a squad. Today was different, everything worked and I felt really good. I knew Al-Qattan was bowling well, too.

"I know his game and that he's capable of anything. He was disappointed with a couple of 190s and told me he wasn't getting the carry, but he did come back with a 255. Now it's all to play for and I'm looking forward to the last eight games tomorrow.

Korea's Han Jae Ho finished fourth with 1852 followed by UAE's Shaker Al-Hassan in fifth on 1843 while early leader, Remy Ong ended up in sixth position with 1825.

Adrian Ang (MAS-1810), Andrew Frawley (AUS-1791), Seo Sang Cheon (KOR-1789) and Biboy Rivera (PHI-1781) completed the top 10 from seventh to tenth positions respectively. The men will continue their second block of 8 games tomorrow (8th October) at the end of which the top 6 will make the cut for the stepladder grand finals.

Photos courtesy of Keith Hale, Bowlers' Journal.

7th October, Jakarta: Novie Phang of Indonesia showed a clean pair of heels to lead favourites of the Women's Open Masters first block of the 2nd Indonesia Internatioal Open at Jaya Ancol Bowl this afternoon.

The relatively unknown, 29-year-old Novie Phang started the first block Masters finals with a bang recording back-to-back 258, setting a blistering pace to lead the pack of 24 finalists. The SEA Games Bronze medalist, who has been bowling for 8 years, scored a total of 1785 and an impressive average of 223.13 for the lead.

"I found the lanes to be very favorable to my style today and hardly had to move as I changed lanes, just a board or so as they became a little drier. I never set myself a target, I just go out and bowl as well as I can. I did have a crowd of supporters behind me but I was too focused to pay much attention to them," said the 29-year-old property promotions executive.

"I'm very proud, of course, to be the tournament leader as an Indonesian. I will use the same game plan again tomorrow but hope to be more relaxed as it will be a lot harder mentally to be the focus of attention," she added.

Malaysia's Choy Poh Lai did well to keep pace with the leader to finish second, just 21 pins adrift on 1764 while Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung took third spot, a further 4 pins away on 1760. Two Korean newcomer to the scene, Chan In Hwa and Youth Girls 1st runner-up, Park Ye Rim finished fourth and fifth positions with 1729 and 1694 respectively.

ABF Tour Philippines leg champion and Filipina, Irene Garcia Benitez settled for sixth position with 1680 followed by defending champion and 2003 World Championship Gold medalist, Kirsten Penny of England took seventh spot with 1675. Sheanny Gunawan (INA-1671), Tang Joh Six (MAS-1670) and Lai Kin Ngoh (MAS-1662) rounded up the top 10 from 8th to 10th respectively.

The men will be starting their first block finals shortly while the women will continue their second block of 8 games tomorrow (8th October). The top 6 at the end of the second block will make the cut for the stepladder grand finals.

Photos courtesy of Keith Hale, Bowlers' Journal.

6th October, Jakarta: Thailand's Sithiphol Kunaksorn and Malaysia's Siti Safiyah claimed the Youth Boy's and Girl's Masters titles of the 2nd Indonesia International Open at Jaya Ancol Bowl this evening.

ABF Tour Philippines leg 2nd-runner-up, Sithiphol Kunaksorn put up a stunning performance to easily claimed the Youth Boy's Masters title with a total of 2168, 61 pins ahead of Malaysia's Fahmi Bahri in second with 2107. The Youth champion had also partnered Filipino, Biboy Rivera in the Doubles when the Rivera scored the first perfect game of the tournament two days ago.

Korea's Han Jae Ho settled for third spot with 2089 while Lenny Lim of Singapore came home fourth with 2006. Top local finisher was Edwin Lioe took fifth spot with 2022.

Seo Sang Cheon (KOR-2012), Syafiq Ridhwan (MAS-1997), Chiam Yew Koon (SIN-1972), Choi Hyun Sung (KOR-1935) and Fandy Sutan (INA-1897) completed the top 10 from seventh to tenth positions respectively.

Malaysia's Siti Safiyah totaled 1933 to edged Korea's Park Ye Rim by 13 pins for the Youth Girl's title. Safiyah was trailing Park by just one pin going into the final and tenth game. The 14-year-old student knocked down 173 to Park's 157 reversing the order to claim the title. Park settled for second with 1920.

Malaysia almost had a dream start to take a 1-2 finsih, but a low game of 165 for national youth Wan Nur Atiqqa in the tenth game, gave the 14-year-old third place on 1903.

Oh San Mi and Ju Yun Mi, both from Korea finished fourth and fifth spots just one pin separating between the pair on 1899 and 1898 respectively.

Photos courtesy of Keith Hale, Bowlers' Journal and MTBC.

5th October, Jakarta: Filipino, Chester King shot the second perfect game of the 2nd Indonesia International Open at Jaya Ancol Bowl to take up sixth spot in the Men's Open Masters overseas qualifying table.

Asian Championship Gold medalist, Chester King, achieved the 300 in game 2 of his 4-game qualifying round for a total of 978 with lines of 221, 300, 237 and 220. Malaysia's Alex Liew maintained his pole position with a superb 1043 bowled yesterday. Fifteen pins in second spot was Hong Kong's Kent Li, who became the second bowler to surpass the 1,000-mark with 1028 while Filipino, Biboy Rivera, who shot the first perfect game during a doubles event, took third spot with 989.

Another Asian Championship Gold medalist, Shaker Al-Hassan of UAE finished fourth with 988 followed Philippines Open champion, Joonee Gatchalian of the Philippines in fifth with 987.

King's perfect game moved him up to sixth spot with 978 with another Filipino, Tryon Ongpauco, just 5 pins away on 973.

There were no changes in the local pool as the seven seeded Indonesian bowlers stayed ahead of the top local qualifier, Thomas Tan, who scored 948. Freddy Iskandar and James Glenn are ninth and tenth with 944 and 921 respectively.

The top 4 positions in the women's division remained unchanged with Sarah Yap leading the overseas pool with 958 followed by teammate, Choy Poh Lai in second with 922 while ABF Tour Philippines leg champion, Irene Benitez finished third with 921.

World Team Cup Gold medalist, Lai Kin Ngoh took up fourth position with 912, ahead of Asian Ranked No. 1, Shalin Zulkifli in fifth with 908. The ABF Tour Thailand leg champion only joined her teammates yesterday after having to finish her university exams the day before.

Happy Soediyono leads the four seeded local qualifiers with Ivana Hanjaya, Putty Armein and Sheanny Gunawan from second to fourth placings respectively.

Qualifying will end tomorrow evening, 6th October where the top 36 men and top 24 women will contest the Masters finals over two blocks of eight game each on the 7th and 8th October. The top 16 Asian men and women will also qualify for the ABF Tour Indonesia Leg which will be held at Ancol Bowl on the 9th and 10th October. The semifinal and final matches scores will be featured LIVE at www.abftour.com.

Photos courtesy of Jaya Ancol Bowl.

4th October, Jakarta: ABF Tour Philippines leg champion, Alex Liew took over the lead in the Men's Open masters qualifying table of the 2nd Indonesia International Open at Jaya Ancol Bowl.

The 28-year-old proshop supervisor, dropped 268, 249, 247 and 279 and became the first bowler to surpass the 1,000-mark over the 4-games qualifying round with 1043.

Southpaws had a good day at Jaya Ancol Bowl when Asian Championship Gold medalist, Shaker Al-Hassan of UAE improved from third yesterday to second with 988. Third spot went to yet another southpaw and 2004 Philippines Open champion, Joonee Gatchalian of the Philippines with 983.

Overnight leader, Mohd Nadri of Malaysia, dropped to fourth on 963 while Filipino, Biboy Rivera, who shot a perfect game yesterday in the doubles event with Thailand's Sithiphol Kunaksorn, took up fifth spot with 958. Third runner-up i the Ebonite South Pacific Classic, Andrew Frawley finished sixth with 955.

Adrian Ang (MAS-950), Ahmed Shaheen (QAT-945), Yousef Al-Jaber (QAT-935) and Khalifa Salem (QAT-933) completed the top 10 from seventh to tenth respectively.

Philippines Open Champion, Sarah Yap of Malaysia, was in superb form when she knocked down lines of 245, 223, 269 and 221 for 958 total to take over the lead. Teammate, Choy Poh Lai gave Malaysia a 1-2 finish when she scored 922 on lines of 224, 225, 279 and 199 to take up second spot.

ABF Tour Philippines leg champion and Filipina, Irene Benitez took third spot with 921 to safely qualify for the Masters finals. Another Filipina, Liza del Rosario and a Gold medalist in the 2003 World Championship, finished fourth with 858 followed by last year's Singapore Open champion, Evelyn Chan rounding up the top 5 with 857.

Qualifying continues through to Wednesday, 6th October where the top 36 men and top 24 women will contest the Masters finals over two blocks of eight game each on the 7th and 8th October.

The top 16 Asian men and women will also qualify for the ABF Tour Indonesia Leg which will be held at Ancol Bowl on the 9th and 10th October. The semifinal and final matches scores will be featured LIVE at www.abftour.com.

Photos courtesy of MTBC.

3rd October, Jakarta: Mohd Nadri and Esther Cheah of Malaysia took pole positions in the Men's and Women's Open masters qualifying table of the 2nd Indonesia International Open underway at Jaya Ancol Bowl.

The 18-year-old member of the Malaysian national squad knocked down 963 to take up top spot in the Men's Open Masters qualifying table ahead of teammate, Adrian Ang in second with 950.

The Malaysian team were the third contingent to arrive Jakarta following bowlers from Qatar and UAE. Yousef Al-Jaber of Qatar took third spot in the overseas table with 936 while Asian Championship Gold medalist, Shaker Al-Hassan of UAE finished fourth, 8 pins adrift with 928.

Seven local bowlers, who finished first to seventh positions in the recently concluded Indonesia National championship, are seeded in the local pool. The seven are Taufik Rachman, David Sitorus, Rudy Goenawan, Rudy King, Ryan Lalisang and Yuyu Lie Joe Tjam.

Meanwhile, Malaysia also took the top spot in the Women's division when Esther Cheah rolled a moderate 807 ahead of teammate, Lai Kin Ngoh in second with 802. The 2003 World Championship Team Gold medalist has been out of action for more than six months due to a knee injury sustained after finishing 1st runner-up in last year's Hong Kong Open in December.

ABF Tour Malaysia leg champion, Wendy Chai is third with 759 followed by Choy Poh Lai in fourth with 753.

Like their male counterpart, five local women are also seeded and will automatically qualify for the Masters finals. Leading this pack is the newly-crowned 18th Asian Intercity Masters champion, Happy Soediyono followed by Ivana Hanjaya and Putty Armein in second and third positions.

Filipino Biboy Rivera becmae the first bowler to hit a perfect game of the championship during the doubles event. Partnering Thailand's Sithiphol Kunaksorn, the 30-year-old, who together with his family, runs a construction company in Manila, shot 265 followed by a 300 while his partner shot 277 and 193 for a total 1035.

The 300 is his 19th perfect game since taking up the game 11 years ago. Singapore Open Masters champion, Tim Mack of USA and England's Kirsten Penny are the men and women defending champion.

Qualifying continues through to Wednesday, 6th October where the top 36 men and top 24 women will contest the Masters finals over two blocks of eight game each on the 7th and 8th October.

The top 16 Asian men and women will also qualify for the ABF Tour Indonesia Leg which will be held at Jaya Ancol Bowl on the 9th and 10th October. The semifinal and final matches scores will be featured LIVE at www.abftour.com.

Photos courtesy of MTBC and Jaya Ancol Bowl.