11th July, Hong Kong: Defending champion, Ryan Lalisang and 2014 Women's Open first runner-up, Sharon Limansantoso of Indonesia set the qualifying pace of the 43rd Hong Kong International Open underway at SCAA Bowling Center.

Lalisang, who will automatically qualify to defend his title, made two attempts of 706 and 673 for the six-game total of 1379 to lead the Men's Open Masters overseas pool. His fellow team-mates, Yeri Ramadona and Hardy Rachmadian gave Indonesia the top three spots with 1362 and 1345 respectively.

The top three qualifiers in the overseas pool will earn a bye and automatically advance to Stage 2 finals. Two additional Indonesians, Fachri Ibnu Askar and Billy Mohammad Islam rounded out the top five with 1283 and 1280.

Ex-international and 2013 Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games Team gold medallist, Michael Tsang headed the local pool with 1327 ahead of another ex-national youth, Otto Leung in second with 1283. Jimmy Cheung finished third with 1261.

Meanwhile, Indonesian women also featured strongly at the championships by occupying the top two spots in the Women's Open Masters overseas pool. 2014 Hong Kong Open first runner-up, Sharon Limansantoso and Alisha Nabila took first and second spots with 1328 and 1312.

2015 ABF Tour Macau winner, Veronica Dias De Souza of Macau finished third with 1295. Similar to the men's division, the top three overseas qualifiers will automatically advance to Stage 2 finals. Three additional Indonesian women took fourth to sixth positions as well.

The three national team representatives - Milki Ng, Chan Shuk Han and Joan Cheng, local qualifiers positioned 4 to 9, overseas qualifiers positioned 4 to 10, and nine qualifiers from the mixed pool will contest 8-game Stage 1 finals on July 14.

The top 12 finishers in Stage 1 finals will be joined by the six seeded qualifiers for another eight games in Stage 2 finals on July 15.