13th April, Petaling Jaya: Paiman Bin Dali led Singapore veterans to finish 1-2 in the Men's Senior Masters finals of the 43rd Malaysian Open Bowling Championships while Katherine Ong of Singapore snatched the Women's Senior crown in the final game.

Li Kuo Wan had the best start in the field of 27 seniors with an opening game of 242 to lead compatriot, Jeremy Fang by 20 pins followed by M Ramlee Bin Kamaruddin of Malaysia and Tony Goh of Singapore in third ans fourth with 219 and 218 respectively.

Paiman, who shot 203 in his opener, added a superb game of 256 to quickly move into the lead. Ex-international, Tore Torgersen of Norway improved to second as Li, Fang and M Ramlee all had low games.

A third Singaporean, Lee Soon Kiong also shot a big game of 256 in his third game to become the new leader as Paiman settled for second. Lee set a blistering pace with 275 to stretch his lead to 57 pins while Paiman remained in second.

In the Women's Senior division, Malaysians were setting the pace right from the start. Poziah Atan and Romahanum Binti Othman traded the lead between them and appeared sure to taking victory. But Singapore's Katherine Ong, bowling with no handicap stormed home with 212, 223 and 245 in her last three games to snatch victory with 1567.

Romahanum and Poziah settled for second and third positions with 1554 and 1534 respectively. Another Singaporean, Jessie Lim Hui Peng and Jude Khadijah of Malaysia completed the top five with 1532 and 1505.

Felinda Grzybowska of Philippines and Zarina Halim of Malaysia, who qualified well failed to shine in the finals and managing only sixth and tenth respectively.

Qualifying rounds starting tomorrow will mainly be for overseas bowlers coming from Kuwait, Philippines, Hong Kong and Singapore. The Men's and Women's Graded and the Men's and Women's Open Round 1 finals will be held on April 19.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.