26th October, Shah Alam: Stanley Lau of New Territories and Maria Lourdes Arles of Paranaque topped the Men and Women Singles opening squad of the 36th Asian Intercity Bowling Championship at Alam Lanes on Saturday evening.

Musayyar Bin Khalid of Kuala Lumpur got off to a superb start with 244 in his opening game to lead the Men Singles Squad A followed by Noah Taimanglo in second with 238 and Lau in third with 222. Whilst Musayyar stumbled to a lowly 181 in the second game, Lau downed 253 to take over the running.

Reigning Malaysian national champion, Muhammad Hazim B Ali Hanafiah, who started with 202, fired a sizzling 255 to move into second spot. Although Musayyar bounced back with 225 in the third game, Lau responded with 227 to remain in the lead.

Lau ended with 225 to lead the squad with 927. Muhd Al-Amin Hj Hamid of Bandar Seri Begawan stormed home to snatch second spot with 890. Musayyar and Muhammad Hazim settled for third and fourth position with 851 and 849 respectively.

In the Women's division, Hazel Tan of Singapore had a superb start with a sizzling 268 to lead Nur Irdina Batrisya Binti Mat Aris of Kuala Lumpur, who also started well with 256. Louise Sophia Santarin of Pasay and Nur Nais Falilnesa Binti Isman of Kuala Lumpur were third and fourth with 236 and 235.

The Singaporean rolled a disastrous 158 to slip down to second. Nur Irdina also managed only 183 but moved into the lead. Maria Lourdes Arles moved into third spot with 219 and 189. The Filipina added a scintillating 246 to take over the running after the third game.

Nur Irdina dropped down to second and Tan continued to slip away into third. Arles ended the block with 204 to top the squad with 858. Nur Irdina finished second with 828 and Tan claimed third spot with 805. Lee Ju-Hee of Jeju took fourth spot with 788.

The Men and Women Squad B will contest their preliminaries tomorrow morning. The top 4 men and top 4 women from the combined squads will advance to the medal rounds immediately thereafter.