20th October, Jakarta: Alex Liew of Malaysia captured his third Indonesia Open Men's Masters title when he produced one of his best to beat topseed, Ryan Lalisang while the Women's crown went to topseed, Sharon Limansantoso of Indonesia.

In the title match against Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia, Alex Liew, whose last title was the Selangor Super Classic in November last year, forced the topseed into a decider when he easily won the first game, 226-158.

The champion was superb in the deciding game by winning 209-189 to lift the Indonesia Open title for the third time. The 32-year-old had won in the 2005 and 2006 editions of the championship.

Liew, who was seeded fourth with a 16-game total of 3411 over the two day Masters, knocked out fifth-seed, David Sitorus of Indonesia and teammate, Adrian Ang, 226-201-152 in the first stepladder match.

The Malaysian continued his fine run by edging first block leader and second-seed, Christopher Hwang of Singapore and local hopeful, Yadi 237-236-215 to earn a crack at the title. Liew earned Rupiah 100 million (approx. US$10,000) for the victory.

Meanwhile, topseed Sharon Limansantoso of Indonesia finally nailed her first international open title when she ended a superb run of challenger, Kim Eun Jung of Korea, 200-193 in the championship match.

Kim, who was seeded second after the two block Masters, had ousted overnight leader and third seed, Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia and winner of the first match, Liza Del Rosario of the Philippines, 256-210-231 to meet the champion.

The fourth seed, Filipina ended the hopes of Hong Kong's Chan Shuk Han and Malaysia's Zandra Aziela in the first match with a victory over her opponents, 225-158-208. Limansantoso won Rupiah 40 million (approx. US$4,000) for emerging as champion.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

19th October, Jakarta: Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia and Christopher Hwang of Singapore Sports School took a slender lead in the Women's and Men's Open Masters first block finals of the 6th Indonesia International Open on Sunday at Senanyan Bowl.

Tannya, who bagged the World Youth All Events silver medal, was trailing pace-setter, Zandra Aziela of Malaysia by 33 pins going into the final game of the 8-game first block finals. The 18-year-old shot 212 in her final game to snatch the lead from Zandra, who could only manage 170.

The Indonesian youngster from Bandung led the field of 24 finalsits with a total of 1708 with Zandra settling for second with 1699. 2007 Asian Ranked No. 1, Kim Eun Jung stormed home to take up third with 1678, a further 11 pins adrift.

2007 SEA Games Masters gold medalist, Sharon Limansantoso of Indonesia did well to finish fourth with 1665 while early leader, Syakila Mardyana of UiTM, Malaysia rounded up the top 5 with 1631.

Singapore Sports School's Christopher Hwang hung on to the lead of the Men's Open division by just 7 pins from the strong finishing Yadi of Indonesia in second. Malaysia's Daniel Lim and Alex Liew were the early pace-setters trading lead in the first two games.

A fabulous 277 by Hwang saw the Singapore national youth surging into the lead and had a 99 pins margin at the halfway mark from Hong Kong's Eric Tseng in pursuit. Indonesia's Yadi made a challenge after a superb 279 in the seventh game, but consistency in Hwang's last two games allowed the youngster to hang on to the lead with 1780.

Yadi settled for second with 1773 while Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia, made good progress from a strong second half to take up third spot with 1726.

Mohd Noer Said of UiT, Malaysia and Eric Tseng made up the top 5 with 1705 and 1700 respectively. The bowlers will continue their second block of 8 games on Monday during which the top 6 will advance to the stepladder finals. The first match will be played amongst the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds and the winner will face the second and third seed in the second match.

The winner of the second match will meet the top-seed in the title match over one plus one format to determine this year's champion.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

18th October, Jakarta: 2007 Malaysian Open champion, Zandra Aziela impressed in her qualifying rounds to move into second spot in the Women's Open Masters table of the 6th Indonesia International Open at Senayan Bowl.

Zandra Aziela, who almost won the Malaysian Open title for the second consecutive time but lost to Singapore's Jazreel Tan in the title match, totaled an impressive 1924 over the best of 3 series.

The Malaysian trailed current leader, Vanessa Fung, who retained top spot with 1928 just 4 pins ahead of Zandra. Two-time Philippines Open first runnerup, Syakira Yeoh dropped one rung to third with 1895.

Other forgeign women who has arrived Jakarta for their attempts were 2007 Asian Ranked No. 1, Kim Eun Jung (5th-1876), Philippine Open champion, Krizziah Tabora of the Philippines (7th-1861) and Sharon Koh of Malaysia (8th-1827).

There were no changes in the Men's Open division for the top 3 positions. Asian Championship two gold medalist, Chester King of the Philippines qualified with ease to take up fourth with 1981.

King, who was top qualifier in the recent Guam Open and failing to make the stepladder finals, will be hoping for a better performance this time round. The Malaysian Elite squad also arrived last night to commence their qualifying rounds.

Making the early impressions were Alex Liew (8th-1913), Daniel Lim (10th-1894), Adrian Ang (11th-1892) and Zulmazran Zulkifli (12th-1880). Missing from the table was World Youth Masters gold medalist, Aaron Kong managing a lowly 6th in the mixed pool with 1761.

Qualifying will end late tonight and the Open Masters finals will be contested on Sunday and Monday over two blocks of 8 games each. The top 6 at the end of the second block will advance tot the stepladder finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

17th October, Jakarta: With less than five countries represented in the Open division of the on-going 6th Indonesia International Open, overnight leaders retained their pole positions and the scores are not getting higher.

The top four seeded women in the local pool remained unchanged with Ivana Hie of Jaya leading the field ahead of Happy Soediyono and Indonesia's bowling queen, Putty Armein in third. Since winning two gold and two silver medals in the 2006 Asian Championship in Jakarta, Armein has yet to win an international title.

Her best effort was finishing as first runnerup to Alex Liew of Malaysia in the 2007 Selangor Classic in Kuala Lumpur. The 25-year-old will be hoping to end the drought with a home victory at Senayan Bowl this weekend.

Despite improving her earlier score with 1895, two-time Philippines Open first runnerup, Syakira Yeoh of Malaysia, failed to topple leader, Vanessa Fung of Hong Kong. Newly-crowned Guam Open champion, Chan Shuk Han also improved to take up third with 1860.

With less than five countries represented in this championship, there are still three slots available in the overseas pool however, Philippines Open champion, Krizziah Tabora of the Philippines has yet to make her attempt.

Meanwhile, 2006 Asian Championship Team gold medalist, Mohd Noer Said of Malaysia notched up a better series for a total of 2033 which moved him up to second spot. The 22-year-old Malaysian, who also won the 2006 Penang Pesta Masters title, has had several below-par performances since then.

Newly-crowned Guam Open champion, Wu Siu Hong continued to lead the overseas table with 2142 followed by two-time PBAP Classic champion, Syafiq Ridhwan dropping to third with 1999. Again with only five countries represented in the Men's Open division, there five slots empty.

No changes were recorded as the top six seeded men and the other positions in the local pool with Ryan Lalisang, David Sitorus and Erik Ngo remaining in the top three positions.

Qualifying will end on Saturday, 18th October and the Open Masters finals will be contested on Sunday and Monday over two blocks of 8 games each. The top 6 at the end of the second block will advance tot the stepladder finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

16th October, Jakarta: Newly-crowned Guam Open champion, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong will be gunning for his second consecutive title as he surged to the top of the Men's Open Masters qualifying leaderboard of the 6th Indonesia International Open.

ualifying series of 3 games each to move to the top. The three-time Hong Kong Open champion led his team-mates, and Asian Championship Doubles gold medalist pair of Eric Tseng and Cyrus Cheung in fourth and fifth positions.

Twice PBAP-Storm International Classic champion, Syafiq Ridhwan bowled consistently to record 1999 to finish second to Wu followed by Syafiq's compatriot, Mohd Noer Said in third with 1979.

The lead in the local pool remained unchanged with two-time Asian Ranked No. 2, Ryan Lalisang in front with David Sitorus and Erik Ngo second and third. The top 6 locals had their qualifying rounds before the start of the championship and are seeded first to sixth automatically while others have to battle for the remaining 7 slots.

In the Women's division, Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung took top spot with a best of 3 series total of 1876. Fung, who ended a chance to take the Guam Open title in the first knockout round, will be hoping to improve on her previous outing.

Two-time Philippines Open first runner-up and IV Comonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championhsip bound, Syakira Yeoh of Malaysia improved her total to 1856 to take up second followed by fellow-compatriot, Syakila Mardyana in third with 1785.

Chan Shuk Han of Hong Kong, who increased her lead in the Asian Ranking with a victory in the Guam Open, only managed 1745 to finish fourth. Malaysia's Zaitl Iman took fifth spot with 1644.

Ivana Hie of Jaya, Indonesia continued to lead the local pool followed by Happy Soediyono and Putty Armein in second and third respectively.

Thirty-nine Men's Open and twenty-three Women's Open qualifiers together with the defending champions will bowl two blocks of 8 games each over two days in the Masters finals on 19th and 20th October. The top 6 will advance to the stepladder finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

15th October, Jakarta: Indonesia's top bowler, Ryan Lalisang put himself on course for his first home title after being seeded top of the Men's Open Masters qualifying table at the 6th Indonesia International Open underway at Senayan Bowl.

Hosting the 6th Indonesia Open for the first time, Senayan Bowling has secured a 5-year contract to host the prestigious championship until 2012. Senayan Bowling also was the venue for this year's World Ranking Masters hosted by Persatuan Boling Indonesia.

The qualification for the Masters finals will now be best of 3 three game series and Ryan Lalisang earned himself top spot ahead of David Sitorus in second and Erik Ngo third. Youngster Dennis Ranova and Hengky Susanto made up the top 6 local seeded qualifiers.

Matthew Kickolaus from Bali and competing for the first time, amassed 2059 to take up seventh with Tommy Andre, Taufik Rahman, Bambang Sutomo and Arie Ardiansyah in eighth to 11th positions.

The top 13 from the local, top 13 from the overseas and top 12 from the mixed pool together with defending champion, Jason Belmonte of Australia to contest the Masters finals over two blocks of 8 games on 19th and 20th October.

Meanwhile, Ivana Hie surprised the field when she shot to the top of the local pool. Happy Soediyono of JAB Club, local bowling queen, Putty Armein and youngster, Raniia Nugroho made up the top 4 seeded qualifiers.

SEA Games Masters Gold medalist, Sharon Limansantoso knocked down 1924 from her 3 best 3-game qualifying rounds to take up sixth in the table ahead of last year's Indonesia Open second runner-up, Shalima Zalsha of JAB Club in seventh with 1869.

Lily Suhaimi and Sari Farianty finished eighth and ninth positions with 1773 and 1718 respectively. The top 8 from the local pool, top 8 from the overseas pool and top 7 from the mixed pool together with defending champion, Bernice Lim of Singapore will contest the Masters finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw.