1st October, Singapore: Filipino, Tyrone Ongpauco caught the last flight to Macau for the ABF Tour Tournament of Championship by winning the Singapore leg Men's title this morning while Singapore's Jennifer Tan was denied a home victory loosing to Chinese Taipei's Chu Yu-Chieh.

Without a single point in the men's standings before qualifying for the this final leg, a win would ensure Tyrone Ongpauco of the Philippines into the Tournament of Champions to be held for the first time in Macau in January.

The champion was on a roll after posting five strikes-in-a-row to take a commanding lead against Singapore Shaun Ng in the finals while the runner-up was struggling to line himself up. A split in the seventh frame did not mattered much as the Ongpauco cruised to a comfortable 222-189 win.

"The lane conditions today was like the first day of the masters finals in the Singapore Open on Thusrday when I did very well," said the 30-year-old beaming champion after capturing his first-ever international title. "So I was able to get more pin carry in the area that I was bowling.

Ongpauco had defeated teammate, Joonee Gatchalian 206-178 in the opening round and continued his march towards the semifinals with a win over Malaysia's Zulmazran Zulkifli, 227-184 in Round 2. Ongpauco edged southpaw, Ben Heng of Malaysia, 225-213 to book his spot in the finals.

The win gave the champion 75 points which was enough to make the top 16 grand finals in Macau in January 2006. The runner-up Shaun Ng was delt a double disappointment for not winning and earning sufficient points to join Ongapuco.

Ng also had to eliminate three tough Taiwanese spinners. He narrowly defeated Singapore Open second runner-up, Cheng Cho Sheng, 180-173 and went on to outclass Youth Boys champion, Cheng Hsing-Chao, 211-154. Ng also defeated Tsai Ting-Yun, 221-193 in the semifinals to have a crack at the title.

In the women's division, Chinese Taipei's Chu Yu-Chieh also managed to qualify for the grands finals with a well-earned victory over local favourite and ABF Tour Thailand leg champion, Jennifer Tan. The champion never gave her challenger any chance when she opened the account with double strikes in the first-second and fourth-fifth frames.

Tan could only manage one strike and picking up her spares. Chu then turned up a gear to fire home four strikes-in-a-row to a runaway 247 pinfalls to Tan's 182 to win the women's crown. The runner-up booked the final spot after she ousted Indonesia leg champion, Liza Del Rosario of the Philippines, 205-160.

The champion also had ealier took out Women's World Championship Gold medalist, Esther Cheah of Malaysia, 267-166 for a must-win situation in oder to earn enough for the grand finals.

At the completion of the sixth and final leg of this year's tour, Malaysia's Alex Liew and Lai Kin Ngoh topped both the men's and women's standings with 264 and 214 points respectively. Hong Kong leg champion and 16-year-old, Michael Tsang of Hong Kong also made the finals with a single win.

The Tournament of Champions will be staged over four competition days where the top 16 men and 16 women bowlers (based on ABF Tour ranking points), plus two additional wildcard entries from the West Asia region (thus totalling 18 men in the men's division), will qualify to compete over four rounds of competition for the coveted men's and women's ABF Tournament of Champion titles.

For further information and details please contact ABF Tour Committee Marketing and Event Management Division at Tel: (852) 2810 5191; Fax: (852) 28105192; Mr. Ritchie Lai (Mobile: (852) 93598669; email: ritchie.lai@tndgroup.com or Mr. Kelvin Pong (Mobile: (852) 9100 0958; email: Kelvin.pong@tndgroup.com or by visiting ABF Tour official website: www.abftour.com".

Photos courtesy of Asian Bowling Digest.