17th October, Jakarta: Topseeds, George Frilingos of Australia and Malaysian pro, Shalin Zulkifli clinched the Men's and Women's Open Masters titles of the 2nd Ancol Open Bowling Championship on Saturday evening.

Overnight leader, George Frilingos of Australia needed a second chance to clinch the Men's Open Masters title when the Aussie lost to defending champion and challenger, Adrian Ang of Malaysia, 213-245 in the first match.

In the deciding match, Frilingos bounced back galantly striking home in the crucial ninth and tenth frames to edge the Malaysian, 225-212 to win his first-ever Asian title. The champion had earlier topped the second block finals to advance into the stepladder finals.

Ang had an earlier break when he edged team-mate and Indonesia Open champion, Zulmazran Zulkifli, 38-16 in the ninth and tenth frame tie breaker when the duo were locked at 203 a piece in the second match and eliminating Singapore's Remy Ong, who shot 180.

"This has been an amazing week for me having only decided to come to Jakarta quite late. I only had two days to qualify and then to go all the way to take the title," said the slightly surprised George Frilingos from Brisbane, Queensland.

"I bowled really really well today, better than inn the first block yesterday. The competiton is fantastic and there are really many good bowlers in this part of Asia. This is my second trip to Jakarta and I can't wait to come back and defend the title next year."

Frilingos took home 150 million Rupiah (approx. US$16,000) for the win with Ang settling for 100 million Rupiah. Remy Ong finished second runnerup to win 60 million Rupiah.

Meanwhile, Malaysia nearly took a sweet double after another topseed, Shalin Zulkifli had won the women's crown in a single match. The Malaysian pro had ended a fine run by No. 6 seed, Park Jin Hee when she defeated the Korean, 202-172 in the finals.

Park earned the challenge for the title after she ousted overnight leader and No. 2 seed, Vanessa Fung and No. 3 seed, Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia, 196-180-193 in the second match. Park also won the first match by ousting Indonesia's Putty Armein and another Malaysian, Zandra Aziela, 245-224-165.

The champion, who trailed Fung in the first block, overhauled the Hong Kong national kegler to advance into the stepladder finals as

topseed. She also won 50,000 million Rupiah (approx. US$5,300) to end a two-year title drought.

The top 16 Asian men and top 16 Asian women also qualified for the seventh and final leg of the ABF Tour - Indonesia, which will be staged at Jaya Ancol Bowling Center on Sunday.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Jakarta.

16th October, Jakarta: Australian, Geroge Frilingos snatched pole position in the final game of the Men's Open first block Masters to lead Bahraini Yousif Falah and Filipino, Biboy Rivera at the 2nd Ancol Open Bowling Championship on Friday evening.

Malaysia's Mohd Noer Said set a blistering pace with a 245 opening game followed by Bahrain's Yousif Falah in a close second and newly-crowned Youth Boys Under-21 champion, Michael Mak of Hong Kong third.

The Malaysian led for the next three games despite shooting only 215 and 193 as he was being paced by team-mate, Aris Ardilla in second 3 pins away with Yousif keeping a close third. But a poor 169 in the fourth saw Mohd Noer dropping out of contention.

Australian George Frilingos siezed the opportunity to surge ahead with a superb 247 in the fourth game at the halfway mark as Filipino, Biboy Rivera began his challenge. There was very little separating the top 3 tussling for the lead.

At the seventh game, it was the Bahraini who grabbed the lead, just a single pin ahead of Rivera and Frilingos a close third. The Aussie ended the block stonger than his rival to snatch the lead with 1739.

Yousif settled for second with 1729, 10 pins adrift while a firther 3 pins came Rivera with 1726. Fellow compatriot, Chester King did well to take up third spot with 1721 and a further two pins away was Singapore's Remy Ong on 1719.

ABF Tour Bahrain leg champion, Eric Tseng claimed sixth position with 1692 ahead of Hong Kong's Cheung Chun Chung, Indonesia's Haqi Armein, Malaysia's Zulmazran Zulkifli and Aris Ardilla completing the top 10.

"I only got here two days ago and had two attempts and didn't do that well," said the 35-year-old Frilingos from Brisbane, Queensland. "It took me the fifth attempt before I secured a place in the finals.

"The lanes are by no means easy and I've to be extra careful," added Frilingos, who competed here back in 2007 and finished eighth to his fellow-countrymen and champion, Jason Belmonte.

The finalists will bowl another 8 games in the second block tomorrow and the top 6 at the end of the block will make the cut for the stepladder finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Jakarta.

16th October, Jakarta: Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung took a comfortable lead in the Women's Open first block Masters of the 2nd Ancol Open Bowling Championship on Friday morning at Jaya Ancol Bowling Center.

Malaysia's Zandra Aziela and Siti Shazwani got off to a great start in the opening game with 244 and 242 respectively to lead a field of 24 Women Open Masters finalists in the 8-game first block finals.

Zandra continued with another fine game to stretch her lead to 28 pins from Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung and team-mate, Shalin Zulkifli tieing in second as Siti Shazwani dropped off with a poor second game.

But it was Fung who was more consistent with 247 and 229 in her next two games to build up a 55 pin lead over Shalin at the halfway mark as Zandra trailed in third and Hong Kong champion, Chan Shuk Han fourth.

Fung quickened her pace with 228, 269, 210 and easing off with 192 to end the block in front with a total of 1802. Shalin settled for second with 1661, 141 pins adrift while newly-crowned ABF Tour Macau leg champion, Putty Armein stormed home for third with 1602.

"My rythmn today was perfect and I was able to keep a good momentum throughout the first seven games," said Vanessa Fung, who finished first runnerup at last year's Ancol Open. "But my last game wasn't too good and I guess the oil got carried down a bit and I had difficulty getting my ball to hook.

"I felt quite tired this morning as I wasn't feeling that good. Maybe I didn't force my delivery too much because I was weaker. I'm very pleased with my performance today and I hope I can repeat it up for tomorrow."

Indonesia Open champion, Tannya Roumimper did well to finish fourth with 1602 after a poor start while current Asia Ranked No. 1, Chan

Shuk Han took fifth spot with 1591. Singapore's Jennifer Tan completed the top 6 with 1586. The finalists will bowl another 8 games in the second block tomorrow and the top 6 at the end of the block will make the cut for the stepladder finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Jakarta.

15th October, Jakarta: Hong Kong's wonder kid, Michael Mak did it again as he romped home a comfortable winner of the Youth Boy's Under-21 Masters finals as Clara Lau of Singapore claimed her second consecutive title in the Girl's division.

Malaysia's Symir Abdul Razak got off to a cracking start with a 223 opening game to lead Singapore's Ng Chiew Pang by a single pin as Michael Mak of Hong Kong and Muhd Amirrul Afif of Malaysia shared fifth spot behind another Malaysian, Mohd Haziq Sahli in fourth.

A sizzling 279 from Mak shot the Hong Kong wonder kid into the front of the pack to lead Indonesia's Erick Ngo in second, 60 pins adrift as the early pace-setter fell by the way side.

Another superb 274 in the fourth game from Mak moved the youngster further ahead of the pack with Malaysia's Aris Ardilla in second, 92 pins behind. But the 15-year-old was simply too good for the field as he cruised to a comfortable victory on a total of 2347.

Ardilla hung on to second with 2218, 129 pins adrift with Syimir third with 2138. Malaysia's Khoo Beng Khai and Muhd Amirrul Afif settled for fourth and fifth spots with 2050 and 2049.

"I guess I need a game to get into my strides and when I shot 279 in the second game, I felt more comfortable and just continued to make sure I hit the pocket," said Mak, who finished second on two occasions, second in the Euro-Med Storm Masters in Manila and second in the Youth finals in Macau Open.

"I hope I can carry my form over to the Open division tomorrow and do well to make another stepladder apearance."

Meanwhile, PBC's Clara Lau captured her second consecutive title with another convincing victory in the Youth Girls division. The 21-year-old ex-national youth had bagged the Women's Grade A title in the morning.

Like the Grade A finals, Lau did not have the best of starts but it took her only two games to get into her strides. The pace of Malaysia's Hurul Ainul was too hot for the field as the Malaysian built up a lead of 49 pins by the third game.

Macau Open youth champion, Tannya Roumimper trailed the Malaysian in second with Lau in a close third. While Hurul managed only 162 and 182 in the sixth and seventh games, Lau took advantage to roll 206 and 244 to take over the running.

Lau posted 197, 245 and 180 to end the 12-game finals with a total of 2050 to take the comfortable victory as Indonesia's Jessica Florencio stormed home to snatch second spot with 1976.

Hurul hung on to finish in the podium with 1971 for third position while Fatin Hazwani of Malaysia snatched fourth position with 1943 and Tannya dropping to fifth with 1934.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Jakarta.

15th October, Jakarta: Ex-national youth, Clara Lau of PBC, Singapore bagged the Women's Grade A Masters title of the 2nd Ancol Open Bowling Championship by a convincing margin over Indonesia's A Ayu and team-mate, Cindy Ho on Thursday morning.

A disasaterous start for Clara Lau saw the Singaporean youngster in mid-table after she only managed 163, 180 and 156 in the first three-game series as Indonesia's A Ayu streak into the lead with 613 followed by another PBC finalist, Cindy Ho second.

A quick adjustment allowed Lau to recover with a superb series of 210, 249 and 200 to move up into second spot, 39 pins behind the leader Ayu as Ho continued to stay with the top 2 front runners.

Lau rolled another impressive third series with 212, 214 and 177 to take over the lead, 16 pins ahead of the closest Indonesian and Ho still in third position.

The new leader cruised to a comfortable victory after she ended with 211, 173 and 213 for a 12-game total of 2357, 101 pins ahead of A Ayu in second with 2256 and Ho third with 2202.

"I started to bowl from arrow two in the beginning and just couldn't get my ball into the pocket and even after I made an effort to stay focus and managed to hit the pocket, it couldn't carry," said the 21-year-old physical science student, Clara Lau.

"Luckily I had uncle Adam (Chew) here and he told me to move in slightly for a tighter angle and all of a sudden, I had plenty of strikes. I'm very delighted with this victory," added Lau, who also captured the Women's Graded A title at this year's Singapore Open.

Medan's Jessica Florencio, Indonesia's Tan Bie Lian and Malaysia's Nor Amirah of Penang finished fourth to sixth positions with 2174, 2168 and 2121 respectively while Elsa Maris of Indonesia and Susan Ng of PBC finished in the money in seventh and eighth spots.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Jakarta.

14th October, Jakarta: Singapore's Remy Ong took over the lead in the Men's Open Masters qualifying table of the 2nd Ancol Open Bowling Championship on Wednesday at Jaya Ancol Bowling Center.

Remy Ong, winner of this year's Bahrain International Open, shot 883 in his first attempt to take up third spot on Tuesday. Knowing that the scoreline would not be good enough to secure a place in the finals, the Singaporean took to the lanes this morning in an attempt to make an improvement.

The southpaw shot 232 in his opening game and followed it up with 230 and 243 and then scorched the lanes with a fourth and final game of 253 for a superb total of 958 taking him to the top of the leaderboard.

Ong has had several average showings since winning the Bahrain Open title and the nearest he got to making the stepladder finals was last

month's Macau Open in which he missed the cut by just 6 pins in seventh position.

Seven pins behind Ong was Storm Thailand's Phiriyahbhoon P. improving to second with 951 ahead of overnight leader, Michael Mak third with his 922 effort posted on Tuesday. Four-time AMF World Cup winner, Paeng Nepomuceno of the Philippines showed sign of his old form to post 920 and took up fourth with Wu Siu Hong rounding up the top 5 with 914.

Meanwhile, Malaysian pro, Shalin Zulkifli maintained her lead in the Women's division with 899 recorded on Tuesday. Former Malaysian national kegler, Lai Kin Ngoh was equally impressive with 867 to finish behind Shalin in second.

Two-time Indonesia Open first runnerup, Kim Eun Jung of Korea took up third spot with 852 followed by Singapore Open Youth Girl's champion, Kristel Oh of Singapore and Filipina, Liza Del Rosario completing the top 5 with 838 and 837 respectively.

Indonesia's Novie Phang topped the local pool with 877 behind three local seeded qualifiers with Ivana Hie heading the list ahead of Indonesia Open champion, Tannya Roumimper in second and Putty Armein third.

Qualifying for the Graded A Masters will end late tonight while other divisions will have Thursday as their final day of qualifying. The Open Masters finals will be contested on Friday and Saturday over two blocks of 8 games each.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Jakarta.

13th October, Jakarta: Hong Kong wonder kid, Micahel Mak and Wu Siu Hong dominated the Men's Open Masters qualifying rounds of the 2nd Ancol Open Bowling Championship by occupying the top two spots on Tuesday.

Micahel Mak, who nearly bagged his first international title in top company after finishing as first runnerup to Amercian PBA pro, Doug Kent at last month's Euro-Med Storm International Masters in Manila, posted an impressive 922 to take over the lead from team-mate, Wu Siu Hong.

Mak started off his qulifying round slowly with 187 and 222 in his first two games but set the lanes at Jaya Ancol Bowling Center ablazed when the 15-year-old rolled 267 and 246 to move to the top of the standings. The youngster also occupied top spot in the Youth Under-21 table with 948.

PBAP Classic champion, Wu Siu Hong, who had topped the table with

914 on Monday, settled for second to give Hong Kong the top two spots. Singapore's Remy Ong, in his first attempt shot 883 to finish third.

Ex-international, David Sitorus remained the top local seeded Indonesian followed by Asian Championship gold medalist, Ryan Lalisang in second and Rangga third.

Meanwhile, PBA pro Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia, stormed into the lead after a scintilating 899 posted earlier today. The 31-year-old rolled 203, 224, 176 and almost shot the tournament's first perfect game when she reeled in 11 consecutive strikes only to end with six pin in her final throw for 296.

2007 Asia Ranked No. 1 and twice Indonesia Open first runnerup, Kim Eun Jung of Korea dropped one spot with 852 after topping the table on Monday. Filipina, Liza Del Rosario finished third with 837.

Ex-international, Lai Kin Ngoh of Malaysia did well to take up third spot with 804 followed by 2008 ABF Tour Indonesia leg champion, Park Jin Hee of Korea rounded up the top 5 with 800.

Indonesia Open second runnerup, Ivana Hie occupied the top local seeded Indonesian ahead of this year's Indonesia Open champion, Tannya Roumimper in second and newly-crowned ABF Tour Macau leg champion, Putty Armein third.

Qualifying will continue through to October 15 where the top 36 men and top 28 women from the local, overseas and mixed pool will contest the first block 8-games Masters finals on October 16 and second block on October 17.

The top 6 men and top 6 women at the end of the two blocks will advance to the stepladder finals. The top 16 Asian men and top 16 Asian women will also qualify for the seventh and final leg - ABF Tour Indonesia on October 18.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Jakarta.

9th October, Jakarta: A third place finish in the Indonesia Open for Ivana Hie will give her the confidence to lead Indonesia's challenge for the Women's title of the 2nd Ancol Open Bowling Championship underway at Jaya Ancol Bowling Center.

Having impressed by leading the Women's Open Masters first block finals of the Indonesia Open in August, Ivana Hie managed to hang on for third spot to advance into the stepladder finals.

But Ivana found No. 4 seed Zatil Iman of Malaysia and compatriot, Tannya Roumimper a handful crashing out in the second stepladder match to settle for second runnerup. Tannya went on to claim the title defeating Korea's Kim Eun Jung in the finals.

Ivana now led the qualifying standings as the top local seeded ahead of Tannya in second and ABF Tour Macau leg champion, Putty Armein. 2008 Indonesia Open champion, Sharon Limansantoso is fourth.

Korea's Joung Myo-Boub will be defending the title she won last year after she defeated Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung in the finals. The qualifying places will be quickly filled up as the overseas women arrive Jakarta for their qualifying rounds from Sunday.

Meanwhile, ex-international, David Sitorus topped the Men's Open table as the top local seeded Indonesian. 2009 Kuwait Open third runnerup, Ryan Lalisang who has yet to land a title this year, will be the favourite to lead the men's challenge.

Ranked No. 5 currently in the Asia and having made four stepladder finals this year, Lalisang had failed to make good after a strong performances. The 28-year-old Asian Championship gold medalist will be hoping to end the title drought with a win on home ground.

Rangga, Tommy Andre, Oscar and Asian Youth Games Masters finalist, Dennis Ranova completed the top 6 local seeded qualifiers in the men's standings.

Qualifying commenced October 8 and will run through to the October 14. The top 36 men and top 24 women will contest the first block Masters finals over 8 games on Friday, October 15 and another 8 games on Saturday, October 16.

The top 6 men and top 6 women will advance into the stepladder finals where the fourth, fifth and sixth seed will bowl in the first stepladder match. The winner will meet second and third seed for the right to challenge the topseed over one-plus-one title match.

Photos by Daniel Winardi.