9th April, Riyadh: Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong captured the ABF Tour Saudi title when he easily defeated Kuwait 2010 leg champion, Hussain Al-Suwaidi of UAE, 255-186 in the title match to claim his first-ever leg victory.

Since winning the 2004 ABF Tour Tournament of Champions, the 25-year-old Hong Kong national bowler has never won a single leg crown and had made the leg finals after a lackluster performance in the preceeding Saudi Open.

Wu Siu Hong had taken part in the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions with high hopes after qualifying for the finals third in the rankings, but failed to show up in the preliminary rounds and missing the cut for top 8 knockout stage.

His performance in the following Kuwait Open was not impressive either where he failed to get through to the Top 32 finals. Although he made the finals of the Saudi Open, Wu never got near the top 12 cut.

After a two days break and not playing in the finals, Wu returned rejunivanated. He ousted fourth-seed, Biboy Rivera of the Philippines with ease taking the match, 238-198 in Round 1. He went on to beat Andrew Frawley of Australia, 229-181 in Round 2.

In the first semi-final match against Kuwait's Khaled Al-Dubyyan, both struggled to find their lines but Wu came out on top with a 180-168 victory to advance to the finals. Against the odds of beating the favourite Hussain Al-Suwaidi, Wu outclassed the Emirati, 255-186 to emerge victorious.

"I had taken the opportunity to study the videos I made during the finals of the Saudi Open and discovered some mistakes I was making," said Wu after the match. "I realised that I was getting up too quickly after my release which caused inconsistent deliveries.

"So I made those adjustments and I was able to make better releases. I also had the two days rest I needed especially after competing in many tournaments so close together which must have burned me out a little."

Hussain Al-Suwaidi was denied a back-to-back victory coming out of winning the season opening leg in Kuwait last week. He had earlier edged Kuwait's Mohammad Al-Rageeba, 187-145 in the other semi to book his place in the finals.

The Emirati also chalked up the highest game of the leg when he thrashed Filipino, Chester King, 276-191 in the second round. Hussain also defeated newly-crowned TOC winner, Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia, 219-179 in the first round.

The next leg of this year's tour will be staged in Bangkok, Thailand on April 19 followed by the inaugural leg in Cairo, Egypt on April 30. Four more legs will be held in Bahrain, Macau, Indonesia and ending in Hong Kong.

For further information and details, please contact ABF Tour Committee at Tel: +852 2893 6039, Fax: +852 2893 6290; Email: info@abftour.com.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Riyadh.