13th August, Kaohsiung: 2010 ABF Tour Macau winner, Joshua Chow of Hong Kong and 2019 Hong Kong Open Women's Masters champion, Iliya Syamim of Singapore set the qualifying pace at the 19th Koahsiung International Open underway at Southern Bowling.

Left-hander Chow got off his 3-game qualifying attempt by almost rolling the championships' first 300 but left a stubborn pin seven to settle for 299. The Hong Kong national bowler followed it up with 245 and 226 for a massive 770 series.

In his other attempt, Chow registered a respectable 669 for a 6-game tally of 1439, averaging 239.38 to lead the Men's Open overseas qualifying table. Defending champion and PBA Tour titlist, Annop Arromsaranon of Thailand finished 30 pins behind Chow in second with 1409.

Chen Han of China, who rolled the championships' first 300 during his attempt in the senior division, occupied third spot with 1402. The top 3 highest qualifiers in the overseas pool will earn a bye, skipping Round 1 finals and automatically qualify for Round 2.

Meanwhile, 2019 Hong Kong Open champion, Iliya Syamim of Singapore posted a strong 734 series and added her earlier 674 for a six-game total of 1408 to lead the Ladies' Open Masters overseas pool.

Koreans dominated the early pace but slipped down to second and third. Choi Ae Rim and Yang Su Jin posted 1346 and 1310 respectively. Last year's ABF Tour Chinese Taipei winner, Su Shu-Wen led the local pool with 1368 followed by Tsai Hsin-Yi in second with 1335 and ex-international, Chen Hsiu-Lan in a distant third with 1266.

The top 3 highest qualifiers in the overseas pool will earn a bye, skipping Round 1 finals and automatically qualify for Round 2. The top 3 highest qualifiers in the local pool will also automatically qualify for Round 2 finals.

Overseas qualifiers positioned 4 to 10, local qualifers positioned 4 to 10, qualifers positioned 1 to 10 in the Mixed pool, along with the defending champion will contest the 8-game Round 1 finals.