16th March, Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress today announced that the 29th Malaysian International Open Bowling Championship scheduled from the 21st March to 1st April, 2006 at Pyramid Mega Lanes, Sunway Lagoon Resort will have world-class bowlers competing.

Reigning AMF World Cup champion, Michael Schmidt of Canada has accepted our invitation to compete in this year's championship. Schmidt, the 25-year-old university student from Winnipeg, who won the coveted 42nd QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Ljubljana, Slovenia in November 2005, will be making his first-ever appearance in the Malaysian International Open.

Joining him from Finland will be Kimmo Lethonen, who was crowned the Men's Champion in the 2005 World Ranking Masters in Florida, USA. This will be Lethonen's third visit here to Malaysia after having represented Finland in the 2003 World Championship and competed in the 2004 Malaysian International Open.

2004 World Ranking Masters champion, Diandra Asbaty of USA heads the list of women world champions competing in this year's championship. Asbaty, who won the Masters Gold medal in the 2003 World Championship here, has also participated in last two year's tournament and she is looking forward to return for her third consecutive year.

Making her first trip to Malaysia will be the two-time AMF Bowling World Cup champion, Shanon Pluhowsky of the USA. The 24-year-old from Pheonix, Arizona first won the World Cup title in Riga, Latvia in 2002 and almost successfully defended the title in 2003 but lost to Canada's Kerrie Ryan-Ciach in the finals. Pluhowsky became the first American women to capture the AMF World Cup title twice when she turned the table on Ryan-Ciach in 2004 in Singapore.

Apart from that, Pluhowsky also won in the American Zone Championship Masters title and the World Youth Masters crown in Patayya, Thailand in 2002.

World champions from the Asian region are also well represented. The list includes the 2004 Asian Ranked No. 1, Jason Belmonte of Australia, who won two Gold medals in the 2004 World Youth Championship in Guam. Belmonte was also given the honor to present the Australian Sportsman and Sportswomen award this year.

2003 AMF World Cup champion, C.J. Suarez, who scored a perfect game in the 2004 championship here will also be joined by 5th Qatar Open and triple Gold medalist of the Busan Asian Games, Remy Ong of Singapore and 2004 ABF Tour TOC champion, Wu Siu Hong from Hong Kong. Chinese Taipei's triple Gold medalist at the 18th Asian Championship in Bangkok, Wu Hao-Ming will also be vying for honors here. A strong team of the Indonesian national team will be led by 23rd SEA Games two Gold medalist and the inaugural ABF Tour Malaysia Leg champion, Ryan Lalisang.

Asian women are also well represented with Filipino, Liza Del Rosario, 2004 Singapore Open champion, a regular here for the Malaysian Open. Rosario also won the Malaysian Open title in 2003.

World Ranking Masters 2002 Champion, Jennifer Tan will lead a strong team of women bowlers from Singapore to join in the competition. Tan's most recent success was capturing the ABF Tour TOC title in January 2006. 23rd SEA Games two Gold medalist, Putty Armein and Novie Phang will also be bidding for glory in this year's championship.

And finally, our Malaysia charge will be led by our rising star and defending champion, Siti Safiyah Amirah, who became the youngest-ever women to win the Malaysian International Open title at the age of 14. She is joined by Women's World Championship Singles Gold medalist, Esther Cheah and current Asian Ranked No. 1 and ABF Tour 2005 TOC champion, Wendy Chai. Chai also finished 1st runner-up in the 2005 World Ranking Masters and 2nd runner-up in the 42nd QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup.

The men of course will be headed by current Asian Ranked No. 1, Alex Liew. Liew who captured a total of five international titles, became the only Malaysia to win back-to-back titles after capturing the 2005 Indonesia International Open Masters title and the ABF Tour Indonesia Leg. Joining Liew will be Malaysia's National Elite team members, newly-crowned 2006 ABF Tour TOC champion and two-time National Champion, Daniel Lim, 2005 ABF Tour Malaysia leg champion, Zulmazran Zulkifli, 2003 Malaysian International Open Masters champion, Azidi Ameran and 23rd SEA Games two Gold medalist, Ben Heng.

Our younger charge will be from 2004 Milo International Junior All Stars Champion, Adrian Ang. Ang, who became the youngest-ever male to be crowned National Champion in January, will be joined by 23rd SEA Games Trios and Team Gold medalist, Aaron Kong. Kong also bagged the Asian Youth Singles Gold medal in February this year in Perth, Australia.

With all the world champions from the American, European and Asian zones, this year's championship promises to be a classic and will bound to attract the best.

"The response received so far has been overwhelming mainly because we have been able to attract bowlers who would like to compete with the many world-class bowlers we have invited," said Mr Sidney Tung, Co-Organising Chairman, Executive Director and Secretary General of MTBC.

"Organising such a large scale tournament is undoubtedly made possible by our strong sponsors for whom we express our sincere gratitude for their support," added Mr Tung.

The tournament's Co-Main sponsors are Canon Marketing (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd - National Team Sponsor and Sunway Lagoon Resort - Official Hotel. The Official Airline is Malaysia Airlines - responsible for flying in the world-class bowlers and providing specially-priced air fare for our participants. Our Co-Sponsors are Sports-Toto Malaysia, Nestle (MILO) Products - sponsor of the MILO International Youth Masters, Mesuma Sports Sdn Bhd - National Team and official attire, and Pyramid Mega Lanes - official venue.

Last but not least, the National Sports Council's Sukan Teras Tenpin Bowling, who will be sponsoring our National Youth Squad and Youth Under-18 and Under-15 throughout the 14 states in the country.

Canon Marketing (Malaysia) will be sponsoring six High Game Awards: A Canon PowerShot A410 Digital camera worth RM699 each from 25th to 30th March. Canon is also giving away a Canon Pixma iP90 Color Photo Printer worth RM899 to the first bowler to score a perfect game during the Masters Finals on the 31st March and 1st April, 2006.

Qualifying for the local bowlers in the 29th Malaysian International Open commences on the 21st March and finishes on the 30th March while from 25th March onwards, the squads will be reserved for overseas bowlers and will end 30th March. The Masters finals will be held on the 31st March and 1st April.

At the end of the Masters finals, the top 16 Asian men and women will automatically qualify for the ABF Tour - Canon Malaysia 2006 which will be held this time in one day on the 2nd April at the same venue. The tour will be telecast LIVE on Astro Supersport (Channel 80 from 4.00 - 7.00pm).

Photos courtesy of MTBC.