10th September, Singapore: Top-seeds Tim Mack of USA and Liza del Rosario of the Philippines, were crowned 37th Singapore International Open champions after defeating their challengers in the final stepladder matches at Victor's Superbowl this evening.

The ex-PBA bowler, who turned professional after winning a Gold medal in the 2003 World Championship, edged challenger, Daniel Lim of Malaysia 197-194 to claim the his second title within the month. Mack had earlier bagged the AMF Boss London International before rushing over to Singapore for the tournament.

Lim came close to clinching his first-ever Singapore Open title when he dramatically defeated second-seed, Jason Belmonte of Australia and third-seed Mubarak Al-Muraikhi of Qatar in the second stepladder match. The sixth-seed won the tie-breaker 38-27 to knocked out Belmonte after tieing 233 and edging Mubarak, who scored 232.

Lim had also disposed off fourth-seed Sean Rash (203) of USA and teammate, Adrian Ang (214) with a superb 259 in the first match.

The champion completed the second block Masters finals with a total of 3621 heading into the stepladder finals with Jason Belomonte in second with 3608 and Mubarak Al-Muraikhi in third with 3603. American Sean Rash finished fourth on 3544 ahead of 16-year-old Adrian Ang in fifth with 3478 while Daniel Lim sqeezed into the top 6 with 3453. Azidi Ameran missed the cut finishing seventh with 3434 while first block leader, Chester King fizzled out in the second block to finish tenth with 3408.

World Championship Gold medalist, Liza del Rosario of the Philippines easily defeated challenger, Zandra Aziela of Malaysia, 244-187 to capture her first international title this year.

17-year-old Zandra settled for second despite disposing off teammates, Shalin Zulkifli (193) and Wendy Chai (188) with 202 in the second stepladder finals match. Like Daniel, Zandra, who was seeded sixth, took the first match defeating Chinese Taipei's Wang Yu Ling (170) and World Championship Gold medalist, Liza Clutario (198) of the Philippines with a superb 243.

The Filipino champion had earlier, topped the second block with 3509 ahead of current Asian Ranked No. 1, Shalin Zulkifli in second, just 19 pins awat on 3490 with ABF Tour Malaysia leg champion, Wendy Chai in third with 3440.

Wang Yu Ling (3353), Liza Clutario (3337) and Zandra Aziela (3322) made the cut for the stepladder finals from fourth to sixth positions respectively. First block leader, Vanessa Fung missed the cut by 5 pins to finish seventh on 3317 while defending champion, Evelyn Chan took eigtht place with 3282.

The top 16 Asian men and women qualified for the ABF Tour Singapore Leg which will be held at NSRCC Bowling Centre on the 11th and 12th September. The semifinal and final matches will be telecast LIVE on Singapore Starhub and Malaysia Astro Supersport on the 12th September from 6.00 - 9.00pm.

Photos courtesy of Sidney Tung, MTBC.

9th September, Singapore: 2003 Malaysian Open Singles Champion, Vanessa Fung of Hong Kong took the lead of the Women's Open first block Masters finals of the 37th Singapore International Open.

The 32-year-old had lines of 188, 211, 238, 269, 233, 231, 227 and 189 for a total of 1786 to take the lead in a field of 30 top Asian bowlers. World Championship Masters Silver medalist, Liza Clutario of the Philippines trailed the leader by 21 pins on a score of 1765.

Three Malaysian women did well to occupy the next three positions with ABF Tour Malaysia leg champion, Wendy Chai (1756), current Asian Ranked No. 1, Shalin Zulkifli (1733) and Asian Schools four Gold medalist, Zandra Aziela (1708) from third to fifth repestively.

17-year-old Zandra also scored the highest game of the first block finals with 290 her third game making up for a poor start in the first and second games.

World Championship Trios Gold medalist, Liza del Rosario of the Philippines, finished sixth with 1682 ahead of Chinese Taipei's Wang Yu Ling in seventh with 1675. Malaysian Open stepladder finalist, Chu Yu Chieh took eighth spot with 1653 followed by defending champion, Evelyn Chan of Singapore in ninth with 1624. Ex-international, Yap Seok Kim of Singapore rounded up the top 10 with 1618.

The women will continue their second block of another 8 games tomorrow, at the end of which the top 6 will make the cut for the stepladder finals to determine the champion. The top 16 Asian women will also qualify for the ABF Tour Singapore Leg which will be held at NSRCC Bowling Centre on the 11th and 12th September. The semifinal and final matches will be telecast LIVE on Singapore Starhub and Malaysia Astro Supersport on the 12th September from 6.00 - 9.00pm.

Photos courtesy of Keith Hale, Bowlers' Journal.

9th September, Singapore: 2002 Asian Championship Gold medalist, Chester King of the Philippines led two Malaysians, Adrian Ang and Zulmazran Zulkifli in the Men's Open first block Masters finals of the 37th Singapore International Open.

The 29-year-old businessman from Quezon City, was on fire from the start of the 8-game first block finals to record lines of 235, 269, 266, 213, 222, 182, 236 and 182 for a total of 1805 to lead the Men's Open Masters finals.

2001 Malaysian National champion, Zulmazran Zulkifli put in a late charge in the final game to reduce the lead from 68 pins to just 5 pins to take second spot. 16-year-old, Adrian Ang finished third, just 11 pins from teammate, Zulmazran and 16 pins from the leader on 1789.

A further 5 pins away came Qatar's Mubarak Al-Muraikhi in fourth place on a score of 1784 with newly-crowned South Pacific Classic champion and Australia's AMF World Cup representative, Jason Belmonte in fifth with 1773.

Ex-PBA bowler, Tim Mack of USA took sixth position with 1751 followed by another 2004 Malaysian Open champion, Daniel Lim in seventh with 1743. Sean Rash (USA-1741), Sandra Sageran (SIN-1734) and Khalifa Khalid (QAT-1728) completed the top 10 from eighth to tenth positions respectively. Top qualifier and newly-crowned Youth Boys Masters champion, Choi Bok-Eum struggled to shine finishing a lowly 25th on 1605 while defending champion, Dino Castillo also bowled poorly to finish 27th with 1589.

The men will continue their second block of another 8 games tomorrow, at the end of which the top 6 will make the cut for the stepladder finals to determine the champion. The top 16 Asian men will also qualify for the ABF Tour Singapore Leg which will be held at NSRCC Bowling Centre on the 11th and 12th September. The semifinal and final matches will be telecast LIVE on Singapore Starhub and Malaysia Astro Supersport on the 12th September from 6.00 - 9.00pm.

Photos courtesy of Sidney Tung, MTBC.

9th September, Singapore: Singapore's Jazreel Tan and Korea's Choi Bok-Eum captured the Girl's and Boy's Youth Masters titles of the 37th Singapore International Open at Victor's Superbowl this morning.

Jazreel Tan kicked off the Masters finals this morning to give Singapore its first cheer when she scored 2230 to capture the Youth Girls Masters title. World Youth Championship Silver medalist, Tay Hui Yiang finished runner-up with 2014 while Amanda Ng and Camilla Chua gave Singapore a clean sweep of the top 4 positions in third and fourth with 1999 and 1968 respectively.

In the Youth Boys division, top qualifer of the Men's Open division and Asian Championship Gold medalist, Choi Bok-Eum of Korea bagged the title with a score of 2220 ahead of five Singapore youths. Chiam Yew Koon settled for second with 2197 followed by Stanley Ong Wei Qin in third with 2178.

Benjamin Hong (2157), Helmi Chew (2106) and Carl de Vries (2103) took fourth to sixth positions respectively.

Photos courtesy of Sidney Tung, MTBC.

8th September, Singapore: Asian Championship Doubles Gold medalist, Choi Bok-Eum of Korea stormed into the lead of the Men's Open Masters qualifying table of the 37th Singapore International Open at Victor's Superbowl.

Choi, the 17-year-old high school student in Yeosu City, Korea stormed into the lead of the Men's overseas pool with lines of 239, 277, 231 and 290 for an awesome 1037 and an average of 259.25. South Pacific Classic 3rd runner-up, Andrew Frawley of Australia, was the only other bowler to pass the 1000-mark over the 4-game qualifying round to take up second spot behind Choi with 1033 relegating overnight leader, Azidi Ameran of Malaysia into third spot with 966.

Early leader, Tryone Ongpauco of the Philippines dropped to fourth with 965 while ABF Tour Philippines leg champion, Aex Liew finally found his line to share fifth position with American Sean Rash on 956.

On the local front, Andrew Lee of Singapore, maintain the lead he took with yesterday's 963 socred on lines of 227, 225, 256 and 255. Chiam Yew Koon finished second on 943 while Oku Keita was third with 939.

Jason Walsh of Australia and scorer of a perfect game in the South Pacific Classic last weekend, topped the Mixed pool with 929 ahead of Chinese Taipei's Y.C. Lin and Yousef Al Jaber sharing second on 918.

The top 3 positions in the women's division remained unchanged with Cecilia Yap of the Philippines taking pole position with 934. 17-year-old Zandra Aziela and Esther Cheah, both from Malaysia, were second and third with 923 and 916. Current Asian Ranked No. 1, Shalin Zulkifli finished fourth with 913 ahead of another Malaysian, Wendy Chai in fifth spot with 910.

Ex-international, Yap Seok Kim continued to top the local pool with 917 with Tay Hiu Yiang in second and Rena Teng in third with 913 and 893 respectively.

Singapore's Benjamin Hong, who is 12th in the Men's Open Mixed pool, topped the Youth Boy's Open with a score of 979 with Korea's Choi Bok-Eum in second on 952 and Eugene Low in third with 940.

Filipinas, K-Ann Lopez topped the Youth Girl's Open table with 882 from Malaysia's Sharon Koh in second with 862 while Jazreel Tan of Singapore took third spot with 859.

Qualifying continues through to Wednesday, 8th September when the top 39 men and top 36 women including defending champions in both the divisions will contest the two blocks of the Masters finals on the 9th and 10th September. The top 6 from each division will make the cut for the stepladder grand finals to determine the champion.

The top 16 Asian men and women will also qualify for the ABF Tour Singapore Leg which will be held at NSRCC Bowling Centre on the 11th and 12th September. The semifinal and final matches will be telecast LIVE on Singapore Starhub and Malaysia Astro Supersport on the 12th September from 6.00 - 9.00pm.

Photos courtesy of STBC and HKTBC.

7th September, Singapore: Cecilia Yap of the Philippines and Azidi Ameran of Malaysia took over the lead of the women's and men's Masters qualifying leaderboard of the 37th Singapore International Open at Victor's Superbowl.

The World Championship Trios Gold medalist scored a perfect game en-route to taking over the lead in the Women's Open Masters qualifying table from overnight leader, Zandra Aziela, with a score of 934.

18 year-old Aziela dropped to second with 923 with teammate and Asian Schools Masters Bronze medalist, Esther Cheah in third with 916. Current Asian Ranked No. 1, Shalin Zulkifli was relegated to fourth spot with 913 ahead of another Malaysian and ABF Tour Malaysia leg champion, Wendy Chai in fifth position with 910.

Ex-international, Yap Seok Kim remained on top of the women's local pool with a score of 917 closely followed by World Youth Silver medalist, Tay Hui Yiang in second with 913 while Rena Teng took third spot with 893.

Malaysia's Sarah Yap topped the Mixed pool with a moderate 839 ahead of Chinese Taipei's Huang Chiung Yao in second with 834 and H.Y. Tsai in third on 837.

2002 Malaysian Open Champion, Azidi Ameran gave Malaysian team a boost when he shot to the front of the men's table, taking over the lead from overnight leader, Tryone Ongpauco of the Philippines.

The 32-year-old had lines of 236, 226, 225 and 279 for a superb 966 to snatch the lead by just one pin.

Tryone Ongpauco settled for second with 965 while fellow countryman, Chester King improved to take up third spot with 954. Twice ABT Grand Slam champion, Purvis Granger also improve to finish fourth with 952 with fellow American, Tim Mack in fifth spot with 942.

Dino Castillo of USA, proved a handful after arriving Singapore. He showed

his prowess by scoring a perfect game in his warm up Singles event and will be the one to beat when he defends his title in the Masters finals on the 9th and 10th of September.

The lead also changed hands in the local pool when Andrew Lee of Singapore took over the lead with 963 pushing overnight leader Oku Keita to second spot with 939. National team member, Sam Goh took third spot with 929.

Qualifying continues through to Wednesday, 8th September when the top 39 men and top 36 women including defending champions in both the divisions will contest the two blocks of the Masters finals on the 9th and 10th September. The top 6 from each division will make the cut for the stepladder grand finals to determine the champion.

The top 16 Asian men and women will also qualify for the ABF Tour Singapore Leg which will be held at NSRCC Bowling Centre on the 11th and 12th September. The semifinal and final matches will be telecast LIVE on Singapore Starhub and Malaysia Astro Supersport on the 12th September from 6.00 - 9.00pm.

Photos courtesy of MTBC.

6th September, Singapore: Asian Schools Four Gold medalist, Zandra Aziela of Malaysia and Filipino Tryone Ongpauco topped the Women's and Men's Open Masters qualifying table on Day 5 of the 37th Singapore International Open underway at Victor's Superbowl.

The Malaysia lass had lines of 214, 286, 211 and 212 for a total of 923 to lead the Women's Open Masters qualifying table. The 18-year-old missed the perfect game after stringing together 10 consecutive strikes in her second game and ended up with a 286.

Current Asian Ranking leader, Shalin Zulkifli followed closely in second with 913 with ABF Tour Philippines leg champion, Irene Benitez in third spot with 853. Filipinas Liza Clutario and Chinese Taipei's H.P. Li made up the top 5 with 853 and 838 respectively.

In the Women's local pool, ex-international, Yap Seok Kim claimed top spot after scoring 917 to lead World Youth Silver medalist, Tay Hui Yiang in second with 913 and Rena Teng in third with 893.

Over in the Men's division, Filipino Tryone Ongpauco topped the table with a score of 965 to lead ex-PBA, Tim Mack of USA in second with 942. World Youth two Gold medalist and newly-crowned South Pacific Classic champion, Jason Belmonte of Australia took third spot with 936.

Chinese Taipei's C.N. Fang finished fourth with 930 ahead of World Youth Doubles Gold medalist, Choi Bok-Eum of Kore in fifth spot with 910.

In the local front, Oku Keita shot to the lead with a score of 939 to lead veteran and Team Singapore member, Sam Goh in second with 929 followed by newcomer, Tan Eng Siong in third spot, just one pin behind Goh on 928. Dino Castillo of Texas, USA is expected to take arrive Singapore in the next two days to defend his title.

Qualifying continues through to Wednesday, 8th September when the top 39 men and top 36 women including defending champions in both the divisions will contest the two blocks of the Masters finals on the 9th and 10th September. The top 6 from each division will make the cut for the stepladder grand finals to determine the champion.

The top 16 Asian men and women will also qualify for the ABF Tour Singapore Leg which will be held at NSRCC Bowling Centre on the 11th and 12th September. The semifinal and final matches will be telecast LIVE on Singapore Starhub and Malaysia Astro Supersport on the 12th September from 6.00 - 9.00pm.

Photos courtesy of HKTBC and Chucky Marcelo, PBC.