5th December, Macau: Kim Jong Hyun successfully defended the Men's Masters title to give Daegu their third gold medal to end the 22nd Asian Intercity Tenpin Bowling Championship on Friday afternoon at Macau Bowling Centre.

Like the Women's Masters finals which ended earlier in the day where the winner clinched the title with the smallest of margin, the champion of the Men's division also won by a slim margin.

Singles gold medalist and overnight leader, Kong Byoung Hee of Uiwang started well to maintain his lead with a win in the first match but defending champion, Kim Young Pyo immediately took over the lead after the next match while Kong suffered a lowly 183.

Kim made most of the running for the next five matches but saw his lead increased to as much as 40 pins at the halfway mark but was narrowed to just 15 pins when Kowloon's Perry Ko made a final surge to finish behind the Daegu leader.

Kim Young Pyo met with second-seed Ko in the final match while another Daegu finalist, Kim Jong Hyun, who also made up grounds for third-seed, met with Kong Byoung Hee. The match again was extremely close and it came down between two Daegu bowlers.

Jong Hyun was on course to end the match with 230 plus and a win over the Kong which meant Young Hee needing to strike home in the ninth frame to prevent his team-mate from snatching the gold.

The topseed managed only 7 pins which handed the gold to the 26-year-old Jong Hyun. The champion totaled 3628 winning seven matches and Young Pyo won six matches to settle for the silver medal with 3622. Perry Ko took home the bronze with 3575.

First block leader Byoung Hee missed the podium to finish fourth with 3549 winning only three matches and drawing one.

Daegu emerged as the Men's champion with 3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze medal and two 4th placings for 25 points. Uiwang and Tamuning finished second and third on eighth points. Paranaque regained the overall champion title, namely the Sato Cup with 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal.

Eighty men and fourty-six women from 22 cities took part in this year's championship hosted by Macau China Bowling Association. Tamuning will host the 23rd edition next year while Daegu City will be the host in 2010.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.

5th December, Macau: Rising star, New Hui Fen gave Singapore its second gold medal of the 22nd Asian Intercity Tenpin Bowling Championship when she hung on to a 4-pins victory over Paranaque's Liza Clutario at the end of the second block Women's Masters finals.

New Hui Fen, who led the first block of eight matches played on Thursday, continued to lead throughout the seven matches but found her lead drastically reduced by the 14th match to just 8 pins when Paranaque's Liza Clutario fired two massive matches in the 13th and 14th.

Despite losing the 15th match with a 181 score, Clutario stumbled with a 159 to give the Singaporean some breathing space on a 25-pins lead going into the position-round match decider. Clutario met Pasay's Ditas Red in the third and fourth playoffs while Hui Fen met Sin Hae Young.

Tension was felt in both camps but it was Clutario who start off better with a turkey. On the next pair of lanes, the topseed had a double while the Korean was trailing the Singaporean.

Both Hui Fen and Clutario had a split in the seventh frame which meant the Singaporean was still ahead. Hui Fen ended the match with 187 to lose to Sin Hae Young abd despite Clutario winning her final match, the Filipina only made up 19 pins to still fell short by 4 pins.

But her final game effort won the silver for Paranaque while Sin had to settle for the bronze medal for Daegu, just three pins adrift Clutario. Ditas Red of Pasay City finished fourth with 3220.

"I knew I had a small lead over Liza (Clutario) and I was very tense indeed," said the 16-year-old newly-crowned champion, Hui Fen. "I made a bad shot in the seventh and got a split but when Liza also had a split, I was slightly relieved.

"It has been an amazing week for me here and to win the Masters gold is fantastic. I've to thank coach, Uncle Henry, who has been guiding me throughout the championship. I also have to thank all my teammates for supporting me."

Paranaque City regained the women's overall title with 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal for a total of 23 points. Singapore finished as runnerup with 2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze and two 4th placings on 17 points.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

4th December, Macau: Singapore's New Hui Fen turned in a sizzling performance to cruise into the lead of the Women's first block Masters finals of the 22nd Asian Interncity Tenpin Bowling Championship on Thursday afternoon.

New Hui Fen opened accounts with a good 218 but narrowly lost the first game to teammate, Darshini Krishna, who shot 219. Hui Fen posted another good game of 246 and won her second game to take over the lead from Daegu's Sin Hae Young.

The Singapore youngster won six consecutive matches to end the first block of eight games with a massive total of 1800 plus the 70 pins bonus for her wins. Despite a lowly 179 in game 7, she was still able to win that match.

"I had a faultless first six games but I lost a bit of concentration in the seventh game to bowl a 179," said the 16-year-old Hui Fen after an exhausting first block finals. "I need to put in extra efforts to ensure that I maintain a decent margin over my opponents."

Sin Hae Young, who was trading the lead with Hui Fen in the early stages, settled for second with a total of 1778 also winning seven matches. Singles gold medalist, Liza Clutario of Paranaque, snatched third spot with a total of 1741.

Team silver medalist, Ditas Red of Pasay City was pushed down to fourth after laying third most of the way with a total of 1703 while ex-international, Lai Kin Ngoh of Happy Valley rounded up the top five with 1676.

Two gold medalist, Cecilia Yap of Paranaque could only manage a 12th place finish when she suffered a slight shoulder injury after a hard-fought team event late last night. The women will resume with the second block tomorrow over seven games with the position round match to decide the final medal winners.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.

4th December, Macau: Singles gold medalist, Kong Byoung Hee of Uiwang grabbed the lead in the final game of the Men's Masters first block of the 22nd Asian Intercity Tenpin Bowling Championship from Kim Young Pyo of Daegu on Thursday.

Kong Byoung Hee was nowhere near the leading pack at the start of the eight-game first block round-robin matchplay masters finals. His teammate, Cha Ji Hyun took the early lead winning the first two matches with 256 and 258 to lead Daegu's Kim Jong Hyun in second, a distant 72 pins away.

Tamuning's youngster, Brian Manibusan again showed potential as he stormed into the lead with impressive games of 277, 228 and 236 to take over the running from Cha in second with Kong beginning to make his way up the field slowly.

The Uiwang kegler then won his next two games with 233 and 231 to trail the leader, Kim Young Pyo by 15 pins and Manibusan by just 1 pin. As both

Kim and Manibusan lost their final match with 204 and 177, Kong took his final match with 228 to end the block in pole position.

The Korean won six of the eight matches played to amassed a total of 1847 with Kim settling for second winning five for a total of 1814. Manibusan also won five matches but scored lower with 1801 for third spot.

Team gold medalist, Perry Ko of Kowloon and pace-setter, Cha Ji Hyun rounded up the top five with 1757 and 1748, both winning four matches each.

With less than 50 pins separating the top three, the fight for the final gold medal will be hotly contested when they return tomorrow afternoon for seven matches and a position round match.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.

3rd December, Macau: First block leader, Kowloon fended off strong challenges from Daegu and Tamuning to win the the 22nd Asian Intercity Tenpin Bowling Championship Men's Team gold medal late Wednesday evening.

Kowloon's Henry Hui, Perry Ko, Daniel Choi and Eddie Lui had topped the three-games first block with a margin of 34 pins ahead of Tamuning and got off the mark with a brilliant 846 fourth game to stretch their lead to 86 pins.

Doubles gold medalist, Kim Young Pyo led his team of Kim Jong Hyun, Shin Sung Hoon and Lee Tae Ju to post 821 to move ahead of Tamuning, who shot a lowly 731. With Daegu closing in on the leaders, the Kowloon quartet felt the pressure and managed 799 allowing Daegu to close in further with a sizzling 881.

Tamuning continued to slid further away from the leading duo while Singapore made their bid for a medal. Kowloon ended the final game with a glorious 891 and a team total 5093 to take a well deserved victory.

Daegu hung on to the silver meal with 802 in their final game for a total of 5000 exactly while Tamuning fought back galantly to clinch the silver medal with 4880. Singapore's 840 in game 6 proved too late as they settled for fourth with 4850, just 30 pins off Tamuning.

"It had been so long since Kowloon has won a gold medal in this championship, I can't even remember when," said the team captain, Perry Ko after their astonishing feat. "Our victory is amazing given the strong field here and to top that, we've all the players in the Masters finals.

Home team, Macau were lucky not to be amongst the podium finishers after an inspired second half performances with 812, 823 and 897 to amass a total of 4844, just 6 pins off Singapore and taking up fifth spot.

Kim Young Pyo won his second gold medal as well as a second for Daegu when he topped the All Events table with an 18-game total of 3975. Tamuning's star, Brian Manibusan took the silver medal with 3964 followed by Singles gold medalist Kong Byoung Hee the bronze with 3852.

Kim's teammate, Kim Jong Hyun finished fourth with 3812. Kowloon has all four in the Masters finals with Daegu and Tamuning three. Pohang CIty and Uiwang has two each while Hong Kong and Shah Alam made up the top 16.

Paranaque City leads the overall medal tally with 20 points from 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze. Daegu, as guest city, is ineligible to contest the overall champion but is entitled to challenge for the men's title.

Daegu topped the men's table with 2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze and a fourth placing. Panaraque City's pole in the women's table were contributed by the women.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

3rd December, Macau: Singapore sealed victory at the final game of the Women's Team event to win their first gold medal of the 22nd Asian Intercity Tenpin Bowling Championship on Wednesday evening.

Denise Chan Jie Lin, Darshini Krishna, Genevieve Gan Hui Ying and anchored by Singles bronze medalist, New Hui Fen were trailing first block leader, Pasay City by 21 pins before the start of the second block.

A good opening game of 755 by the Singaporean quartet, moved them closer to the leader Pasay City and narrowed the gap to just 11 pins as Angeli Lao, Sheena Go, Kathlynn-Ann Lopez and Ditas Red knocked down 745.

Both Pasay City and Singapore bowled an average game of 722 and 712 as Paranaque made their bid for the gold with a scintilating 831 to move ahead of the Singaporeans. Pasay managed to keep the lead but just 16 pins ahead of Paranaque and 20 pins ahead of Singapore.

The final game was tense as bowlers from both Pasay City and Paranaque was feeling the pressure after the Singapore quartet went on a strike fest. A superb final game of 777 by Singapore gave them the gold medal with 4546.

Paranaque and Pasay City were left battling for the silver. Yap Seok Kim shot 162, Lucy Cheng 160 but thanks to Liza Clutario's 191 and Cecilia Yap's 232, Paranaque clinched the silver with a team total of 4518.

Pasay City settled for the bronze medal with 4504 and Daegu come home fourth with 4436 missing the podium. Happy Valley, who was third in the first block, ended up in fifth position.

"We knew we were close after the fifth game and had a chance to win the gold so we urged each other on in the final game," said the delighted anchorwomen for Singapore, New Hui Fen. "My teammates gave me lots of encouragement when I shot a bad game in the fifth and I'm really really glad for them."

Paranaque City looked set to regain the overall champion title they won in 2006 after winning their third gold medal from the Women's All Events. Cecilia Yap topped the table with 3841 over 18 games and Liza Clutario finished third to take the bronze medal with 3591.

New Hui Fen's superb run in the team event gave her 3596 to edge Clutario for the silver medal. Daegu's Sin Hae Young finished fourth with 3553. Macau's Filomena Choi finished 16th to squeeze into the Masters finals with a total of 3317 and an average of 184.28.

Host city has three Macau women in the finals. Singles silver medalist, Chan Weng Sum and Alexandra Foo Cheuk Ling were the other two. Singapore and Macau were the only two cities that have three finalists while Paranaque, Daegu, Pasay, Happy Valley and Uiwang has two each.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.

3rd December, Macau: Kowloon upstaged a strong field to lead the first block Men's Team event of the 22nd Asian Intercity Tenpin Bowling Championship from Tamuning in second and the favourites, Daegu in third on Wednesday afternoon.

Doubles silver medalist, Brian Manibusan and John John Ada teamed up with Jonathan Duenas and JD Castro to give Tamuning a healthy lead of 69 pins with a team total of 910. Manibusan continued his fine form with a sizzling 279 opening game.

Tamuning's lead did not last long as Pohang took over the running immediately with a second game of 863 as the former suffered a set back with a poor 777 to trail Pohang in second, 15 pins adrift.

Despite fighting back with a third game of 836, Tamuning's three-game total of 2523 was only good enough for second position. Kowloon's Henry Hui, Perrk Ko, Daniel Choi and Eddie Lui shot the highest third-game score of 890 to surge into a surprise lead.

The Kowloon quartet finished with 2557 to move to the front, 34 pins ahead of Tamuning. Favourites, Daegu City, who had a poor start in their opening game stormed home to snatch third spot with 2496.

Tamuning's 20-year-old Brian Manibusan continued with his fine form to surge into the lead of the Men's All Events standings after another superb 672 series in the team first block. His 15-game total of 3404 puts him 44 pins ahead of overnight leader, Kim Young Pyo.

Singles gold medalist, Kong Byoung Hee recovered from a poor doubles event to post an identical 672 to take up third spot with 3269. The top 16 after the completion of the team second block would make the cut for the Masters finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.

3rd December, Macau: Pasay City snatched the lead of the first block of the Women's Team event of the 22nd Asian Intercity Tenpin Bowling Championship on Day 3 ahead of Singapore and Happy Valley.

Angeli Lao, Sheena Angeli Go, Kathlynn-Ann Lopez and Ditas Red got to a great start when the quartet got Pasay City with a 783 first game team total to give Pasay City the lead. Singapore's Denise Chan Darshini Krishna, Genevieve Gan and New Hui Fen followed in second, 8 pins away.

Happy Valley, led by ex-international, Lai Kin Ngoh with Maria Lau, Carol Choi and Carmen Tang posted a higher 785 in the second game to take over the running forcing Pasay City into second, but just 10 pins ahead.

Pasay City fought back with a brilliant 816 to regain the lead at the three-game first block break with a total of 2322. Singapore stormed home with an even higher 835 to snatch second spot relegating Happy Valley into third spot.

Singapore downed 2301, 21 pins adrift Pasay City while Happy Valley took third spot with 2254. Uniwang, who was at one stage second, dropped to fourth with 2244.

Paranaque City's Cecilia Yap and Liza Clutario led the Women's All Events standings after 15 games contested with 3183 and 3003 respectively. New Hui Fen is third with 2990. The top 16 in the standings at the end of the Team event will make the cut for the Masters finals.

The bowlers will resume their second block later in the evening while the Men's Team first block of three games will be held after lane maintenance.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.

2nd December, Macau: First squad leader, Daegu nailed its first gold medal of the 22nd Asian Interncity Tenpin Bowling Championship when the second squad of the Men's Doubles event ended on Tuesday evening.

Defending Masters champion, Kim Young-Pyo, who partnered Singles bronze medalist, Lee Tae-Ju, fired the tournament's first perfect game to help the team amassed a total of 2717 pinfalls in the Men's Doubles event to win Daegu's first gold medal.

Kim and Lee had led the opening squad of the event earlier in the day to set a benchmark for the second squad to beat. Hong Kong City's Michael Tsang and Ken Lin, who was second to Daegu, was pipped by Tamuning's Brian Maibusan and John John Ada to the silver.

The youngsters from Guam, who topped the second squad, had knocked down a total of 2660 to better the score set by Tsang and Lin in the earlier squad. The Hong Kong duo settled for the bronze medal with a total of 2627.

"Im glad our score is good enough for gold medal," said the 35-year-old Kim from Daegu City in Korea. "I can't remember exactly how many perfect game I've achieved but today's 300 is sweet because it allowed us to win the gold.

"This my third appearance in the championship and the first time I've won a medal," said the 20-year-old Brian Manibusan. His partner 22-year-old, John John Ada added that he was riding on Brian's superb form to carry him through for the victory.

Daegu's second pair of Shin Sung Hoon and Kim Jong Hyun had to strikeout in their last frame to stand a chance of getting onto the podium but were unlucky to end in fourth position, just 14 pins from Tsang and Lin.

Kim Yougn-Pyo's 1453 in the Doubles event propelled him tot eh top of the Men's All Events table after 12 games on 2748. Manibusan also improved to take second with 2732 while Michael Tsang is third with 2607.

Competition resumes tomorrow with the Team of Five event which will be played over two blocks of three games each. The top 16 individual scores accumulated from the Singles, Doubles and Team events over 18 games for both the men and women divisions, will make the cut for the Masters Finals which will be staged over two days on December 4 and 5.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.

2nd December, Macau: Defending Masters champion, Kim Young-Pyo partnering Lee Tae-Ju hit the tournament's first perfect game to lead the Men's Doubles first squad of the 22nd Asian Intercity Tenpin Bowling Championship on Tuesday afternoon.

Hong Kong City's Michael Tsang and Ken Lin scorched the lanes at the Macau Bowling Center with 493 to take the lead of the opening squad of the Men's Doubles event followed by Singles Gold medalist, Kong Byoung-Hee and Cha Ji-Hyun in second.

The Hong Kong duo continued to post games of 442 and 474 to build up a lead of 49 pins at the halfway mark with Daegu's Kim Young-Pyo scoring the first perfect 300 of the tournament and partnering Singles bronze medalist, Lee Tae-Ju.

The Daegu pair then fired 470 to take over the lead as Tsang and Lin managed only 393. Kim and Lee went on to end the six-games block with 2717 for a 90-pin lead over Hong Kong pair, who settled for second with 2627.

Kim posted the highest six-games series of 1453 while his partner, Lee downed 1264 for the lead. Tsang scored 1368 and Lin 1259 for second followed by Uniwang's Kong and Cha finishing third with 2533.

"I was very disappointed for not winning a medal in the singles event yesterday after I had a good chance but hopefully our score is good enough for at least a medal," said the 35-year-old Kim from Daegu City in Korea.

The Daegu pair has set a high benchmark for the next squad to match and 226.42 average will be the one to beat by players in the second squad.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.

2nd December, Macau: Paranaque City looked set to regain the overall champion title they lost last year when Liza Clutario and Cecilia Yap gave their city a second gold medal in the Women's Doubles event of the 22nd Asian Intercity Tenpin Bowling Championship.

Winning the Women's Singles gold medal may have taken its toll on Liza Clutario as she had an aweful start and in the next three games. Fortunately, her partner and ex-international, Cecilia Yap backed her up with lines of 212, 192, 224 and 247 in the first four games.

Happy Valley's Maria Lau and Carol Choi surprised the field to take the lead in their opening game but Singapore and Daegu made the early running to tie in the second game. A poor game in the third from the Singapore pair allowed Daegu to kick away.

Choi Da-Som and Sin Hae-Young continued into the fourth game in the lead with Pasay City and Paranaque scrambling for second spot. When Clutario recovered, she posted 213 and 223 while Cecilia shot 234 and 279 to seal the gold medal.

Clutario managed onlt 1087 but thanks to the sizzling performance put in by Cecilia with 1388 gave the pair a total of 2475. Daegu settled for second, 100 pins adrift on 2375 while Pasay City's Angeli Lao and Ditas Red clinch the bronze medal with 2359.

"When I struggled in the first four games, Cecilia was great and was able to cover my low games," said Liza Clutario, who bagged the Singles gold medal yesterday. "I'm glad I bowl well in the last two games that assured us the gold."

"We knew we didn't start too well but we were determined to stay not too far away from the leaders," exclaimed the relieved Cecilia. "All we need was a couple of high games to have a chance to win a medal and the final game was really the one that clinched us the gold."

Singapore's Genevieve Gan Hui Ying and Darshini Krishna, who was second in the early stages, missed the podium to take fourth spot wth 2269 followed by their teammates, Denise Chan Jie Lin and Singles bronze medalist, New Hui Fen in fifth.

After two events, Cecilia Yap has taken over the lead in the Women's All Events with a 12-game total of 2551. Daegu's Sin Hae-Young is second with 2388 and Liza Clutario third with 2322.

The Men's Doubles is divided into two squads which will be played after lane maintenance. The women and men will compete in the Team of Four event over two blocks of 3 games on December 3.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.

1st December, Macau: Filipina, Liza Clutario of Paranaque City snatched the gold medal from host city's Chan Weng Sum of Macau-Taipa in the final game to win the Women's Singles event of the 22nd Asian Intercity Tenpin Bowling Championship.

Patricia Hui Tong of Macau-Taipa, got off the mark with a sizzling 247 in her opening game to lead Macau first team's Julia Lam in second by 30 pins in a field of 46 women. Her lead was short-lived when Paranaque City's Liza Clutario grabbed the lead in the second game.

Clutario could not hang on to the lead as another local hopeful, Filomena Choi Kit Fan took over the running at the halfway mark of the six-games singles event with Singapore's New Hui Fen amd Macau-Taipa's Chan Weng Sum in close company.

Chan then picked up her pace to post 235 to move to the front of the leading trio while Clutario continued to occupy second spot, 17 pins adrift. The gap was narrowed to just a single pin when Chan only managed 168 while the Filipina shot 184.

With the large crowd of supporters urging the Macau youngster, she must have felt the pressure and could manage 184 as Clutario turned in a superb 224 to snatch the gold medal from Chan.

The champion totaled 1235, 40 pins ahead of Chan, who downed 1195 for the silver medal. New Hui Fen almost caught up to Chan but finished third, 2 pins further to settle for the bronze medal with 1193.

"I've not been very active in the sport since taking up a nursing course. Now that I've completed that, I had much practices before this championship which paid off," said Clutario, whose last won the 2005 SEA Games Masters gold medal in Manila.

"I didn't realise I was leading before the last game but someone told me that I needed a good game in order to win a medal," said the 15-year-old Chan Weng Sum from Pui Ching Middle School in Macau.

"I tried my best but I guess my best wasn't good enough. I'm still glad to have won the silver medal which I have to thank my coach, Choi Io Fei who have guided me since taking up the sport 6 years ago."

Filomena Choi missed the podium with 1175 to finish fourth but had earned 1 point for Macau. Paranaque City's Cecilia Yap rounded up the top 5 after finishing strongly in the last two games. The women will resume bowling with the Doubles event tomorrow morning and the men will contest theirs in two squads.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.

1st December, Macau: First squad leader, Kong Byoung-Hee clinched Uiwang City's first gold medal when he retained the overall lead in the Men's Singles event after the second squad ended at the Macau Bowling Center on Monday afternoon.

Kong Byoung-Hee had set the benchmark of 1364 and an average of 227.33 in the opening squad of the Men's Singles event which kicked off the championship this morning to lead Pohang's Lee Dong-Hee and Daegu's Lim Young-Pyo in third.

Tamuning's Brian Manibusan got off the mark with a 236 opening game to lead Pohang's youngster, Choi Moung-Gu in second, just 1 pin adrift followed by Daegu's Lee Tae-Ju third a further 12 pins away.

Choi downed 246 and 236 in his next two games for a three-game series of 717 to take over the lead as well as bettered Kong Byoung-Hee's three-game series of 709 from the first squad.

Despite continuing to lead the second squad, Choi had fallen short by 26 pins from Kong's score which was further stretched to 71 pins after the fifth game. Needing 280 or more to overtake the lead and snatch a potential gold medal, the Korean youngster could only manage a 213 in his final game.

Lee Tae-Ju stormed home in the final two games with 224 and 234 to topple Choi and topped the second squad but Lee himself could not beat the top 2 from the earlier squad and eventually settled for the bronze medal with 1302. Lee Dong-Hee of Pohang remained in second to win the silver medal with 1324.

Kong's 1364 was good enough to earn him the gold medal at last after having appeared in the intercity championships for the past three years. The champion had won four silver medals in the last meet in Jakarta.

"I'm glad I've finally won my first gold medal after so many attempts," said the delighted 37-year-old from Uiwang City in Korea. "We've a much stronger team this year and we hope to win more medals in the next few days."

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.

1st December, Macau: Koreans dominated the opening Men' Singles squad of the 22nd Asian Intercity Bowling Championship underway at Macau Bowling Center with Kong Byoung-Hee of Uiwang leading Lee Dong-Hee of Pohang City and Kim Young-Pyo of Daegu.

Uniwang's Kong Byoung-Hee led from start to finish in the six-games Men's Singles Squad A after a superb 237 opening game, just 4 pins ahead of Pohang City's Lee Dong-Hee in second and Kong's teammate, Cha Ji-Hyun third.

Another 226 in the second game from Kong allowed him to stretch his lead to 33 pins with Hong Kong's Michael Tsang making his challenge in second followed by last year's Masters gold medalist, Kim Young-Pyo third.

While the 37-year-old Korean continued to lead the field, Kim continued to make progress but trailed the leader in second at the halfway mark by 49 pins. Kong downed 238, 212 and 205 in the second series to end the squad in the lead with 1364.

Kim just could not keep pace with the leader and was eventually pipped by Lee Dong-Hee for second with 1324. Kim settled for third with 1295 and hope that no bowlers better his score in the second squad.

Singapore's Justim Lim Chia Loong made a late bid but ended in fourth with 1280 while Tamuning's JD Castro also stormed home in the latter stages to finish fifth with 1279. Host city Macau's best performer was Chan Hou In, who only managed 15th in a field of 40.

The second squad of another 40 men will take to the lanes for Squad B where the scores combined will determine the top three medal winners while the women will contest their singles event later in the afternoon.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

30th November, Macau: The 22nd edition of the friendly Asian Intercity Bowling Championship officially opened at the Macau Bowling Center at Cotai International Sports Complex on Sunday evening.

A record number of 22 cities from 11 countries from Asia marched past in front of VIPs, distinguished guests, government representatives, team officials and supporters at the simple opening ceremony held at the Macau Bowling Center.

Presenting the President of the Macau Sport Development Board as guest of honour and Vice President, Honorable Mr Jose Tavares. Also present was Honorable Mr Chan Chak Mo, Chairman of the Macau China Bowling Association.

"It is our great honor to be the host city of the 22nd Asian Intercity Tenpin Bowling Championship here in Macau," said Mr Chan in his opening speech. He also thanked the Macau Sports Development Board for their support without which this championship would not be possible.

"We would like to congratulate the Chairman of Macau China Bowling Association and his able committee in organising this prestigious championship," said Mr Gordon Chu, founding member and President of the Asian Intercity Bowling Council.

Patricia Hui Tong of Team Macau-Coloane and Zoe Dias Ma of Team Macau-Taipa took the players oath taking on behalf of all the participants while Leong Chou Kin took the oath on behalf of all the officials of the tournament.

The ceremony kicked off with the marchpast of the 22 participating cities with host city, Macau, which comprised of three teams - Macau City, Macau-Coloane and Macau-Taipa. Mr Fong Wun Man, President of the

Macau China Bowling Association officially declared the championship open ending the simple ceremony.

Guests and participants were then invited to a welcome reception at the Relic Inn Restaurant after they were ushered by bus from the bowling center. Earlier in the day, the players took part in the official practice which was divided into two squads - the first in the morning and second in the afternoon.

Competition will commence with the two squads of Singles for the Men and Women on December 1, followed by the Doubles on December 2, the Team of Four on December 3 and the Masters finals over two days on December 4 and 5.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.

29th November, Macau:A record number of participants from 22 cities will be vying for glory at the 22nd Asian Intercity Bowling Championship which will kick-off on Monday at the 24-lane Macau Bowling Center in Taipa-Coloane.

Team officials attended the managers' meeting held this evening at the Golden Dragon Hotel where 80 men and 46 women participants' names were finalised. Lane draws were also conducted for the various events to be staged over the week-long championship.

Official practices will take place tomorrow morning followed by the official opening ceremony in the afternoon. Team officials and participants will parade at Macau Bowling Center after which a welcome reception will be held at the Relic Inn Restaurant next to the hotel.

Participating cities are Taipei City from Chinese Taipei, Tamuning from Guam, Hong Kong, Happy Valley, Kowloon, Victoria from Hong Kong, Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi from India, Daegu, Pohang and Uiwang

from Korea, Kuantan and Shah Alam from Malaysia, Macau, Macau Coloane, Macau Taipa, Saipan, Paranaque City and Pasay City from the Philippines and Singapore.

Competition will commence with the two squads of Singles for the Men and Women on December 1, followed by the Doubles on December 2, the Team of 4 on December 3 and the Masters finals over two days on December 4 and 5.

Meanwhile, the 22nd Asian Intercity Bowling Council (AIBC) General Assembly took place earlier at the same hotel in which all members cities' delegates attended. Founding member and President of AIBC, Mr Gordon Chu of Guam was returned unopposed for another 4-year term.

Two incumbent Vice Presidents, Mr Fong Wan Mun of Macau and Mr Lee Kwang-Young of Uiwang were returned as Vice Presidents for another term while Mr Johnson Cheng of Paranaque City was the newly elected Vice President. Ms Nena Yap retained the Secretary General/Hon. Treasurer post.

The new executive committee members were Mr Richard Lai (Shah Alam), Mr Chien Fu Chen (Taipei), Mr Seo Wooi-Guen (Daegu), Mr Frankie Cheung (Hong Kong) and Mr Ross Zapanta (Saipan).

The assembly also accepted Tamuning's proposal to host the 2009 Asian Intercity Bowling Championship after Pohang had pulled out. Daegu City will host the 2010 championship while Singapore will tentatively host the 2011 edition.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.