15th July, Hong Kong: Ammar Tarrad of Saudi Arabia bagged his first-ever international title with victory in the Men's Open Masters final of the 43rd Hong Kong International Open while twice runner-up, Sharon Limansantoso triumphed in the all-Indonesia Women's final.

Challenger and second-seed, Johnathan Chan of Malaysia defeated topseed, Ammar, 191-169 to force a second deciding match of the Men's final. Chan got off to a better start in the second match as the Saudi had two opened frames.

But Ammar recovered with four strikes-in-a-row as the Malaysian responded with three of his own to draw level at the sixth frame. Ammar added a fifth strike but Chan was unlucky to encounter a 7-10 split despite delivering a one-three pocket shot.

By the ninth frame, Ammar had a slender lead of just 11 pins. Chan needed to strike out to have any chance of winning the tie but Ammar struck twice in his tenth frame to seal victory, 233-202.

"I used the same ball for both the rounds and it paid dividen. But honestly, the victory hasn't sunk in yet. This is a big win for me and I have to thank my federation, my coach and my team-mates for cheering me and supporting me during the stepladder finals."

Ammar picked up the top prize of HK$60,000 (approx. US$7,600) and a trophy while Chan settled for HK$25,000. The first runner-up ousted third-seed, Dhruv Sarda of India and winner of the first stepladder match and defending champion, Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia, 201-182-189 to advance to the title match.

Lalisang, who took home HK$16,000 as second runner-up, dispatched fifth-seed and compatriot, Hengki Susanto and sixth-seed, Michael Mak of Hong Kong, 246-186-235 to advance to the second match.

The champion had earlier topped the second round with a total of 1781. Chan finished second with 1719 and Sarda third with 1699.

Meanwhile, Sharon Limansantoso finally won the women's crown after finishing runner-up twice and made the stepladder finals on two other occasions. The topseed defeated winner of the semi-final, Alisha Nabila Larasati, 246-198 in the all-Indonesia final.

Fifth-seed Alisha, who edged fourth-seed, Joy Yap of Singapore and sixth-seed, Huang Chiung-Yao of Chinese Taipei, 190-179-160 in the first match, took out second-seed Su Shu-Wen of Chinese Taipei and third-seed, Angkana Netrvseth of Thailand, 210-183-197 to advance to the championship match.

"I was pretty confident that I will make the stepladder finals after I had topped the first round finals yesterday," said the Indonesian national team member, Limansantoso.

"I kept a good momentum into the second round and the bowling balls that I used worked well and gave me a lot of pin carry. This victory bodes well for my preparation for next month's SEA Games in Malaysia. This has been a good outing for me and my team-mates."