9th January, Taichung: Malaysian women ruled the Singles event of the 35th Asian Intercity Bowling Championships with Faten Najihah Ahmad Faik of Shah Alam topped the Women's division while Zarina Halim of KL and Datin Rakiah Ali of Petaling Jaya tied top spot in the Women's Senior division.

Faten amassed a 4-game total of 885 in the Women's Singles second squad to clinch top spot For semi-finals. Her team-mate and ex-international, Zatil Iman Abd Ghani, did well to give Shah Alam a one-two finish in second position with 872.

Squad A leader, Wang Ting Wen of host, Taichung settled for third position with 840 while Nura Zulkifli of Singapore secured the fourth and final semi-finals spot with 834. Nur-Fadhlin Arisya Muhammad Ariff of Shah Alam, who was second to Wang in the first squad with 832, was knocked off to fifth by just 2 pins,

2023 Asian Junior triple gold medallist, Lim Shi En of Singapore also was knocked out to settle for sixth position. Faten Najihah will meet Nura Zulkifli while Zatil Iman will square off with Wang in the two semi-final matches. Thereafter the winner of the two semi-finals will meet in the gold medal match.

In the Women's Senior division, Squad A leader and 2022 Asian Senior Masters gold medlist, Zarina Halim of Kuala Lumpur held on to the top spot with 729 to advance to the semi-finals. Datin Rakiah Ali tied with Zarina and will contest a one-ball roll-off to determine their seeding.

Jude Khadijah of Kuala Lumpur fired two strong games to storm home and clinch third spot with 704 while Yang Young-Ja of Jeju, Korea secured the fourth and final semi-finals spot with 701. 2021 World Senior Doubles gold medalist, Michelle Wong missed the cut by 8 pins after finishing fifth with 693 despite a stunning 223 in her final game.

Nur Hashilah Hashim, who was third in Squad A ended down in fifth position with 685. Depending on the one-ball roll-off before the start of the semi-finals tomorrow, the winner of the tie-breaker will face the Korean while the loser will square off with Jude Khadijah.

The winners of the two semi-final matches will meeting in the gold medal match. The Men and Men Senior divisions, diveded into two squads will contest their 4-games preliminaries later today. The top 4 Men and top 4 Men Senior with the highest pinfalls will advance to the semi-final knockout rounds.