9th October, Tamuning: First block leader, Sarah Yap of Malaysia, clinched the 4th Guam International Open women's masters and her second this year while newcomer, Manny Tagle of Guam triumphed in the men's division.

Yap, who led from start to finish in the second block of 8 games this morning, went into the stepladder finals as top-seed but was forced into the sudden-death decider when she lost the first match to challenger, Vanessa Fung of Hong Kong, 223-233.

But the 32-year-old bounced back to edge Fung, 183-179 to cap her second international title this year after she won the 3rd Vietnam International Open women's masters crown last month. Fung, who was seeded second, earned a crack at the title by ousting third-seed, Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia and winner of the first match, Felymar Mandapat of Guam, 202-187-133.

Fung settled for second with Shalin and Mandapat finishing third and fourth positions respectively. The women's first stepladder match saw Mandapat

winning comfortably by knocking out fifth-seed and defending champion, Evelyn Chan of Singapore and Josei Catbagan of Guam, 226-191-158.

Meanwhile in the men's division, first block leader, Manny Tagle of Guam showed tremendous determination after only managing a fourth-place finish in the second block. The fourth-seed knocked out fifth-seed, Brian Manibusan and sixth-seed, JD Castro in the first stepladder match, 223-209-199.

Tagle went on to out-classed second-seed, Jay Leon Guerrero of Guam and defending champion, Remy Ong of Singapore, 215-167-168 in the second match to set up a grand finale with fellow-countrymen and top-seed, Keith Guerrero.

The newcomer edged Keith Guerrero, 180-173 to force his opponent into the sudden-death deciding match and to the delight of the crowd firmly behind him, the champion trashed his opponent, 217-164 to win his first-ever title.

Keith Guerrero settled for second despite topping the second block while Jay Leon Guerrero and Remy Ong dropped one spot each to take up third and fourth positions. Manibusan and Castro remained in fifth and sixth spots.

Photos courtesy of MTBC and Guam Bowling Congress.

8th October, Tamuning: Sarah Yap of Malaysia made an impressive start by claiming pole position in the Women's Open Masters first block finals of the 4th Guam International Open at Central Lanes Bowling Center.

Yap, who bagged the 3rd Vietnam Open last month, was the only women in a field of 8 finalists to average above the 200 when she totalled 1659 over the 8-game finals. The leader had a sore back and did not take part in the Singapore Open last month, which saw her dropping to 18th in the ABF Tour rankings and out of the Tournament of Champions.

The 32-year-old currently lies eighth in the Asian Ranking and a good result here will allow her to improve her position and make the cut for the World Ranking Masters next year. Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung came in second, 89 pins adrift on 1570.

Fung, who is sixth in the Asian Ranking, will also need to do well tomorrow if she were to ensure she makes the World Ranking Masters. Malaysia's Shalin Zulkifli finished third with 1509 ahead of defending champion, Evelyn

Chan in fourth with 1506. The remaining four spots were headed by Fleymar Manadapat in fifth position with 1452.

Meanwhile, defending champion, Remy Ong of Singapore shot to the top of the Men's qualifying table with a superb 913 last night. Ong posted lines of 222, 188, 277 and 226 to take over the lead from Malaysia's Azizi Ameran, who dropped to second with 865.

Guam's representative in the 2003 World Championship, Bill Parkinson improved to take up third spot with an impressive 816 with Darryl Dimia and Jason Kinyon rounding up the top 5 with 815 and 813 respectively.

Earlier in the morning, Brian Manibusan of Guam, captured the Youth Masters title when he defeated challenger, Darryl Dimia, 189-144 in the stepladder finals. Dimia settled for second despite beating second-seed, JD Castro and winner of the first match, Fleymar Mandapat, 201-175-181 in the second match.

Castro dropped to third while fifth-seed, Mandapat, who defeated fourth-seed Keith Guerrero and sixth-seed, Maleeque Parker, 185-159-153 in the first match, took fourth spot. The Men's Open will contest the first block finals later today. Both the women and men will complete their masters finals with another 8 games on Sunday at the end of which the top 6 will advance to the stepladder finals.

Photos courtesy of Tenpin Alley, Saigon and MTBC.

7th October, Tamuning: Malaysia's Azidi Ameran easily topped the Men's Open Masters qualifying table of the 4th Guam International Open underway at Central Lanes Bowling Center while Fleymar Mandapat leads the women's division.

Azidi, who has yet to win a title this year after taking making numerous steplader apearances and ABF Tour semifinals, topped the men's table with lines of 220, 229, 194 and 222 for a total of 865. The Malaysian national squad member will turn 34 next month also missed out last year's Guam International Open stepladder finals after he finished seventh.

Hot on Azidi's heels was Singapore's Remy Ong with 838 in second. Ong won the title last year after capturing the 5th Qatar International Open two weeks earlier. The southpaw, who failed to make an impression in the Singapore Open late last month, will be hoping to make amends in the finals commencing Saturday.

Apart from the top 2 positions, the rest of the places were occupied by local

bowlers. Leading Guam's charge was Jason Kinyon in third with 813 followed by JD Castro and John Bouwens making up the top 5 with 796 and 793 respectively.

Only five women had posted scores in the qualifying table with top local favourite, Fleymar Mandapat leading on a score of 814. Malaysia's Shalin Zulkifli, who has taken a leave of absence from the Malaysian national team, finished second with a moderate 754.

Josie Catbagan of Guam was third with 738 while another Malaysian national kegler, Sarah Yap in fourth with 710. Shellee Javier was fifth with 598. Last year's champion, Evelyn Chan, who accompanied teammate, Remy Ong, has yet to post a score while Hong Kong's Venessa Fung is also competing but yet to make her mark.

Qualifying ends tonight and the masters finals will be contested Saturday and Sunday over two blocks of 8 games each. The top 6 at the end of the finals will advance to the stepladder finals.

Photos courtesy of MTBC.