10th September, Saigon: Filipino, Gene Basa defeated local challenger, Tran Thien Khiem to win the 3rd LG Vietnam International Open men's title while Sarah Yap beat Nor Amilia in an all-Malaysian finals to take the women's crown.

The top-seed Basa had to work hard for his first-ever title when he was forced to a sudden-death match after being edged by third-seed and challenger, Thien Khiem, 197-200 in the first game. But the Filipino came back strongly to snatch the victory, 211-203.

Basa, who was eighth in Saturday's first block, had earlier topped the second block of 6 games with a 16-game total of 3618 pinfalls before the stepladder finals. Singapore's seasoned campaigner and first block leader finished second with 3533 while the runner-up, Thien Khien was third with 3435.

The first match amongst fourth-seed, Nguyen Quoc Thai of Hanoi, fifth-seed, Tosrin Kunanat of Storm Thailand and favourite, Dao Danh Hung of Ho-Chi-Minh city, ended with Quoc Thai winning by 194-190-191. Thien Khiem took the second match ousting Quoc Thai and Jack Wong, 223-199-204.

Meanwhile, Sarah Yap easily defeated STBA's youngster, Nor Amilia in an all-Malaysian women's stepladder finals, 201-175 to claim her first title this year. Yap led both the first and second block with a score of 3400 before the stepladder finals as top-seed.

Nor Amilia settled for second despite defeating challenger, Nguyen Thi Huyen Thao and third-seed, Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, 187-180-159. In the first match, Huyen Thao outclassed fifth-seed, Huynh Ngoc Diem Thuy and sixth-seed, Siti Khadijah of STBA, 222-139-164 before loosing the second match.

The victory banquet and prize presentation was held at the Amara Hotel attended by government officials, sponsors, team officials and participants. A special Perfect Game award was handed to Kelvin Keong of STBA, Malaysia for scoring the first perfect game. Keong won a Rossano Sofa worth US$1,500.

Photos by Tenpin Alley, Saigon.

9th September, Saigon: Seasoned campaigner, Jack Wong of Singapore topped the Men's Open Masters first block of the 3rd LG Vietnam International Open Bowling Championship Friday evening at Saigon Superbowl while Malaysia's Sarah Yap led the women's division.

Winner of many international open championships in his prime days, "Perfect Jack" still has what it takes to be a champion. Wong's most recent win was when he outclassed a strong field of Malaysian national bowlers to bag the Penang Pesta Masters title last year.

Wong led the field of 28 finalist this time round with a total of 2220 over the first block of 10 games from Nguyen Quoc Thai of Hanoi in second with 2197. Storm Thailand's Tosrin Kunanat took third spot, just 4 pins adrift on 2193.

Last year's national champion, Helmi Chew did well to stay amongst the leaders in fourth position with 2128 while ex-national, Andrew Lee could only managed a 13th place finish with 2081. Alan Goh, Jeremy Fang and Sandra Sageran finished 16th, 18th and 22nd positions respectively.

Malaysian bowlers took the top two positions in the Women's Open division with Sarah Yap and youngster, Nor Amilia leading the field of 11 finalists. Yap posted 2108 for a comfortable 46 pins lead over Nor Amilia, who totalled 2066.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong of Hanoi finished third with 2034 ahead of newly-crowned Women's Masters Graded A champion, Huynh Ngoc Diem Thuy in fourth with 1998. Another Hanoi bowler, Tran Ngan Ngoc took fifth spot with 1913.

Siti Khadijah (1886), Nguyen Thi Huyen Thao (1823), Ho Thi Phuong Nga (1817), Pham Thai Phuong (1816), Ton Nu Kim Ngan (1767) and Nguyen Thi Huyen (1597) all made the second block from sixth to 11th positions.

Meanwhile, Jason Tan of Singapore took the Men's Graded B Masters title when he amassed a total of 2052, 47 pins ahead of Malaysian, Beh Sing Hee of Megalanes Prai, who posted 1995. Nguyen Ngoc Tuan settled for third with 1988.

Another Singapore youngster, Kelvin Yong ended up in sixth position with 1912, behind Filipino, Rodolfo and local, Hguyen Trong Nghia in fourth and fifth spots with 1943 and 1932.

Top top 12 women and top 16 men will bowl another 6 games in the second block on Saturday, 10th September, at the end of which the top 6 will make the cut for the stepladder finals to determine the champion.

Photos by Tenpin Alley, Saigon.

9th September, Saigon: Local favourite, Nguyen Thi Huyen and Kelvin Keong of Malaysia bagged the Graded A Masters titles of the 3rd LG Vietnam International Open Bowling Championship Friday afternoon at Saigon Superbowl.

Thi Huyen from Hanoi, who finished seventh in her first international outing in the Selangor International Open in July, claimed her maiden win after she amassed 1513 in the 8-game Women's Graded A Masters finals.

The champion, who turned to spinning just six months ago, was 58 pins ahead of her nearest rival and fellow countrywomen, Nguyen Thi Huyen Thao, who totalled 1455 for second place. Tran Ngan Ngoc gave the Vietnamese a top 3 finish when she took third spot with 1453.

Selangor's youths and Indonesia Open Ladies Graded A runner-up, Nor Amelia ended up in fourth position with 1445, ahead of her teammate, Amalyna Kelana in fifth spot with 1403.

The star of today's finals was undoubtedly, 20-year-old Kelvin Keong of Selangor. The 1st Selangor Youth Boys Masters champion, scored the first perfect game of the tournament so far, en-route to capturing the Men's Graded Masters title.

Kelvin started the 10-game finals with 247, 200, 183, 247 and 192 in his first 5 games to take the lead in a field of 27 finalists. His perfect game came in game 7 after he brought home 12 magical strikes to post his career first perfect game.

The champion totalled 2232 for the win as well as took home a Rosanno Sofa as his perfect game prize. Singapore's Alan Goh settled for second with 2196 with Mai Dinh Tai, a distant third with 2114.

Phuong Thien Long and Le Trung Nghia of Ho-Chi-Ming city finished fourth and fifth spots with 2054 and 2051 respectively. The Women's Open Masters finals is scheduled at 1.00pm local time while the Men's Open Masters finals will be held at 4.00pm.

Photos by Tenpin Alley, Saigon.

7th September, Saigon: Going into day twelveth qualifying rounds of the 3rd LG Vietnam International Open Bowling Championship, higher scores were being registered as local youth, Dao Dunh Hung takes over the lead.

Dao maintained top position which he took over two days ago with a superb 1011 ahead of Phan Tan Cuong in second with 919. Despite an influx of top overseas open bowlers trying to make the cut for the top 28 slots, none of them come near to the two local hopefuls.

Nguyen Quoc Thai, Nguyen Thanh Pho, Tran Minh Quan and L.Y. Liet completed the top 7 local slots reserved for local bowlers.

Tosrin Kunanat of Storm Team, Thailand topped the overseas pool with a score of 910 pinfalls, averaging 227.5 Early leader, Alan Goh of Singapore, dropped to second to tie with fellow-countrymen, Jeremy Fang on a score of 877. Gene Basa of the Philippines took fourth with 869.

Meanwhile, in the women's division, Hyunh Ngoc Diem Thuy, who was a masters finalist in the 1st Selangor International Open in July, topped the leaderboard with a score of 861 followed by Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong in second with 810.

Malaysia's only national bowler in the Saigon was Sarah Yap, who led the overseas pool with 710. Yap comes with an illustrious credential, whose last title was 2004 Philippines Open Mssters champion. Yap won the team Gold medal in the 2003 World Championship in Kuala Lumpur and the Gold in the World Tenpin Team Cup in Odense, Denamrk.

Also in Saigon is 19-year-old Siti Khadijah Osman, runner-up in the 2003 Malaysian International Open and winner of many local tournaments. She has yet to make her attempt but will sure give the rest of the field still competition.

Qualifying ends Thursday, 8th September and the Masters finals of the various divisions, will take place on the 9th and 10th September.

Photos by Tenpin Alley, Saigon.

5th September, Saigon: Local youth Phan Tan Cuong topped the Men's Open Masters qualifying leaderboard of the 3rd LG Vietnam International Open Bowling Championship at the end of the first week of competition.

With mostly local bowlers going through their qualifying rounds before the arrival of overseas participants, Vietnamese bowlers were rolling scores and average matching international levels.

Topping the table were two younger generation of bowlers that have emerged from Vietnam. Phan Tan Cuong, 23 stood at 919 over 4 games and averaging 229 to top the scoreboard with Dao Danh Hung in second spot with 906.

Phan, 4th runner-up in the 2nd Vietnam Open in 2002, has won numerous local titles before being recruited by Vietnam Airlines as a trainee pilot. Phan just returned after successfully completed his training in France and is now a qualified pilot for the country's national airlines.

Despite after almost 3 years of non-competitive bowling, he was still able to show his bowling prowess by topping the qualifying table. Phan could easily become the country's top bowler in years to come.

Meanwhile, Dao Danh Hung, 21 and second in the table, has only been bowling slightly more than 1 year. He has captured numerous titles including Youth Boys Doubles Gold in this year's Thailand Open, Youth Boys Masters Champion in the 2st Selangor Open and Men's Graded B Masters champion in the 3rd Indonesia Open.

Nguyen Thanh Pho, partner of Dao when they captured the Youth Boys Doubles Gold in Bangkok, finished third with 884 while Singapore's Alan Goh lead the overseas pool with 877.

The bulk of the foreign bowlers will be arrive Saigon from the 5th September onwards. Top bowlers like Jack Wong from Singapore, winner of numerous international titles in Asia and earning the nickname of "Perfect Jack" for his habit of scoring many perfect games, will also be joining the championship.

Selangor Tenpin Bowling Association will also be sending eight bowlers to the championship with Cathay Super Classic champion, Mohd Nadri and 2004 Malaysian Open runner-up, Siti Khadijah leading the youth bowlers.

Photos by Tenpin Alley, Saigon.