5th December, Taipei: Top seeds, Tang Ya-Chun and Chang Te-Ming gave Taiwan a double victory when they emerged Ladies' Open and Men's Open Masters champions of the 11th Chinese Taipei International Open on Sunday evening.

Tang Ya-Chun, who led both the first and second block finals, matched her opponent's strike for strike to take victory over Tan Yan Ling of Singapore in a thrilling 278-268 title match.

Tang, who is the only member in the Chinese Taipei national team to use the conventional hook style of play instead of the more popular spinning style adopted by most women, had earlier topped the second block with 3552 to advance into the stepladder finals as top seed.

Her challenger and No. 3 seed, Yan Ling earned a crack at the title after she dispatched second seed, Vanessa Fung of Hong Kong and compatriot, Bernice Lim, 245-205-216 in the second stepladder match.

Fourth-seed Bernice Lim, who won the first match against fifth seed Fok Ka Wai and defending champion, SHaron Koh of Malaysia, 279-179-186, could not repeat the form she showed earlier.

Tang won NT$70,000 (approx. US$2,300) as champion while Yan Ling settled for NT$35,000 (US$1,150) and Vanessa took home NT$25,000 (US$820). Bernice, Ka Wai and Koh won NT$20,000, NT$15,000 and NT$10,000 respectively.

Meanwhile, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong almost successfully defended the men's title after he trashed top seed, Chang Te-Ming of Chinese Taipei, 277-224 in the first game of the title match to force a decider.

Wu must have used up all his strikes in the first game as he failed to topple Chang in the decider and going down, 193-234 to settle for the first runnerup position. Wu had earlier defeated team-mate, Joshua Chow and Chang Tai-Lung of Chinese Taipei, 226-199-171 in the second match.

Chang had scored the tournament's second perfect 300 in the 14th game of the second block finals to make the stepladder in fourth, edged compatriot, Cheng Hsing-Yueh and Singapore's Justin Lim Chia Loong, 212-195-194 in the first match.

Chang was richer by NT$200,000 (approx. US$6,600) after winning the men's title while Wu settled for NT$100,000 (US$3,300) and Joshua took home NT$50,000 (US$1,650). Chang, Cheng and Justin won NT$30,000, NT$20,000 and NT$10,000 respectively.

Photos courtesy of CTBA and Bowl.hk.

4th December, Taipei: Taiwanese Tang Ya-Chun and Chang Te-Ming shone on home ground as they led the Ladies' and Men's Open Masters first block finals of the 11th Chinese Taipei International Open on Saturday.

Tang Ya-Chun, who almost shot the tournament's first perfect game in her eighth and final game of the Ladies's Open Masters first block with 298, snatched pole position from leader, Tan Yan Ling of Singapore with a total of 1781.

Tang had set a blistering pace with a 269 opener but lost the lead to Hong Kong's Chan Shuk Han after the second game. The Taiwanese regained the lead temporarily after the third but lost it again to Tan at the halfway mark.

The Singaporean led for the next three games and had 83 pins margin over Tang. A poor 154 in the final game saw the leader losing the lead to Taiwanese. Tan settled for second with 1720, 61 pins adrift.

Gina Lim of Singapore did well to take up third spot with 1675 ahead of Chinese Taipei's Hsu Chun-Yi in fourth with 1659. Top qualifier and reigning Singapore national champion, Bernice Lim finished fifth on 1658 with another Singaporean, Teo Li Ying completing the top 6 with 1646.

Defending champion, Sharon Koh of Malaysia managed only a ninth place finish with 1618 behind Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung and Taiwanese Pan Yu-Fen seventh and eighth positions.

In the men's division, Chang Te-Ming registered 1877 after firing a superb 246 in his final game to clinch top spot from pace-setter, Joshua Chow of Hong Kong, who settled for second with 1860.

Chow, who was tussling for the lead with the Taiwanese, had 27 pins margin over Tang before his final game but managed only 202 in his final game to slip down to second. Defending champion, Wu Siu Hong, who shot the first perfect game, finished a good third with 1828.

Chinese Taipei's Fan Ming-Chi and Chen Wu-Chi took fourth and fifth positions with 1797 and 1756 while Hong Kong's Lau Kwun Ho rounded up the top 6 with 1755. Top local qualifier, Cheng Hsing-Chao finished 13th position.

The finalists will resume with their second block with another 8 games on Sunday, December 5 to determine the top 6 ladies and top 6 men advancing to the stepladder finals.

Photos courtesy of CTBA.

3rd December, Taipei: Malaysian national youth, Syaidatul Afifah bagged the Youth Masters title of the 11th Chinese Taipei International thanks to a 60 pin handicap she received for competing against the boys in the 10-game finals.

Cheng Hsing-Chao of Chinese Taipei and Anthony Low Ying Sheng of Singapore shared the lead with an opening game of 245. Low took over the running after another superb 236 but was unable to continue the fast pace handing the lead to Malaysia's Khoo Beng Khai at the third game.

Another Malaysian youth girl, Syaidatul Afifah, who rolled 191, 233, 257 and 235 shot into the lead thanks to a 6 pin handicap alloted to her for competing against the boys. She held the lead for the next four games after posting 187, 245, 248 and 212 with Taiwanese, Cheng Hsing-Yueh right on her heels just 3 pins adrift.

A weak 183 in the ninth game from Syaidatul allowed Cheng to take over the lead and reversing the lead by 3 pins.

But Syaidatul finished stronger with 246 in her final game to bag the title with 2297 while Cheng settled for second with 2263.

Khoo, who was trailing his compatriot most of the way, slipped down to third with 2220 with two additional Malaysian youth, Johnathan Chan and Syimir Abdul Razak completing the top 5 with 2206 and 2181.

Ho Weng Hou of Macau and early leader, Cheng Hsing-Chao too sixth and seventh positions with 2172 and 2153 respectively. Jonathan Ng Yew Wen of Singapore, Nadia Kamarul Mahadir and Fatin Azmira rounded up the top 10.

Syaidatul won NT$30,000 (approx. US$1,000) as champion with Cheng settling for NT$15,000 (US$500). Khoo took home NT$10,000 (US$330) for finishign third.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

2nd December, Taipei: Hong Kong's national bowler, Rickle Kam displayed good form to lead the Men's Open Masters overseas qualifying pool of the 11th Chinese Taipei International Open at Asian Olympic Bowling Alley on Thursday.

Rickle Kam, who won the 2009 Singapore Open Youth title, was second in the overseas pool with 883 two days agao, registered a stunning 944 to take up top spot. Kam, who was dropped from the Asian Games squad, will be looking to prove his worth in the Asian Championship in Abu Dhabi next month with a good result here.

Lau Kwun Ho of Hong Kong slipped down to second with 929 followed by Singapore's best qualifier, Justin Lim Chia Loong, who shot 917 to take up third position.

The Cheng siblings, Hsing-Chao and Hsing-Yueh continued to occupy the top two spots in the local pool with 971 and 918 respectively. Chen Hung-Chih took third spot with 910.

Singapore women continued to dominate the ladies' division by occupying the top three positions in the overseas pool. Newly-crowned Singapore national champion, Bernice Lim remained in the lead with a superb 988.

Her compatriot, Gina Lim notched up 879 to improve from fourth overnight to second. Tan Yan Ling, who was second yesterday, completed Singapore's domination in third spot with 872.

Tang Ya-Chun overtook compatriot, Chen Hsiu-Lan for the top spot in the local pool with a superb 912 effort. Chen settled for second with 858 while Pan Yu-Fen finished third with 856. Chou Miao-Lin and Li Hsiao-Ping rounded up the top 5.

Qualifying ends today and the Ladies' and Men's Open Masters finals will contested over two blocks of 8 games on December 4 and 5. The top 6 ladies and top 6 men will advance to the stepladder finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

1st December, Taipei: Cheng Hsing-Chao of Chinese Taipei and Bernice Lim of Singapore took the lead in the Men's and Ladies' Open Masters qualifying table of the 11th Chinese Taipei International Open underway at Asian Olympic Bowling Alley in Taoyuan.

Cheng Hsing-Chao, who won the Trios bronze medal at the World Men's Championships in Munich, registered an impressive 971 to lead the Men's Open Masters qualifying overall and local pool.

The Taiwanese was, however less impressive in the recent Guangzhou Asian Games in which Chinese Taipei went home empty handed. Cheng will be hopng to end the disapointment with a victory in the Masters finals.

Cheng's younger brother and Hong Kong Open Youth champion, Hsing-Yuen finished second with 918 ahead of Wu Hao-Ming in third spot in the local pool with 906. Hong Kong's Rickle Kam improved from fourth overnight to take up top spot in the overseas pool with 944.

Lau Kwun Ho gave Hong Kong a one-two finish by taking up second spot with 929 while Singapore's youngster, Justin Lim Chia Loong posted 917 to take up third spot.

In the ladies' division, newly-crowned Singapore national champion, Bernice Lim continued her fine form to record the highest 4-game qualifying score of 988 to take over the lead in the Ladies' Open Masters table.

Tan Yan Ling gave Singapore another one-two finish with 872 while Sheena Go of the Philippines finished third with 868. Gina Lim of Singapore and overnight leader, Vanessa Fung completed the top 5 with 853 and 844.

Chen Hsiu-Lan topped the local pool with 858 ahead of Pan Yu-Fen in second with 856. Newcomer, Lo Yi-Ting tied third spot with Tang Ya-Chun on 831 as Chen Kuan-Ting completed the top 5 with 828.

Qualifying ends Friday, December 3 and the Ladies' and Men's Open Masters finals will contested over two blocks of 8 games on December 4 and 5. The top 6 ladies and top 6 men will advance to the stepladder finals.

Photos courtesy of SingaporeBowling.