18th January, Jakarta: Andrew Frawley of Australia finally nailed his first title after eight attempts to emerged as the Men's champion of the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions while Tang Joh Six of Malaysia clinched the women's crown at Jaya Ancol Bowling Centre on Sunday.

Filipino, Biboy Rivera set a cracking pace with a turkey in the final match against Andrew Frawley of Australia to take a 19 pin lead. But the 45-year-old responded with five strikes in a row as Rivera also downed another turkey leaving only 1 pin separating the two in the eighth frame.

Rivera struck in the ninth frame but failed to chalk up another in the final frame ending his match with 235 while the Aussie closed out with a turkey to seal the victory with 249. The victory gave Frawley the top prize of US$20,000 with Rivera settling for US$8,000 as first runnerup.

"It has been eight years since taking part in the tour and this is really a hard-earned victory," said Frawley after being presented with the trophy by ABF President, Sheikh Talal M. Al-Sabah.

"I'm extremely happy that ABF continued to bring this tour to bowlers in Asia and I've to thank the sponsors and the ABF Tour committee. Biboy is a tough competitor and he bowled well throughout this tournament.

The champion reached the finals ousting another Filipino contender, Chester King 219-187 in the first semifinals and topseed, Somjed Kusonpithak of Thailand, 190-180 in the quarter-finals.

Rivera defeated favourite and 2006 TOC champion, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong, 208-163 to advance into the title match and second-seed, Sithiphol Kunaksorn of Thailand, 247-203 in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, another closely fought finals saw Malaysia's Tang Joh Six winning the women's crown. Tang made no mistakes throughout the match against Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung and a double strike in the sixth and seventh frames gave the Malaysian a slight edge.

But the 36-year-old champion of the 2005 and 2006 Kuwait Open fought on galantly with a turkey from frame eight onwards to give herself a chance of toppling Tang. Needing a strike in the tenth frame, an unfortunate split saw Tang clinching the crown with 207 against Vanessa's 202.

"I'm so happy with this win and I'll certainly treasure it for many years to come," said the 28-year-old ex-national, Tang. "This will be a

welcomed Chinese New Year ang pow. The champion made the finals by narrowly edging topseed, Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia, 179-170.

Tang sailed through to the semi-finals with a victory over China's Chen Dongdong, 205-163 in the qaurter-finals. Vanessa reached the finals by ousting another Chinese, Yang Suling, 194-188 and Indonesia's Sharon Limansantoso, 211-201 in the quarter-finals.

The Malaysian champion earned US$10,000 as the first runnerup settled for US$5,000. Both the losing semi-finalists, Yang and Tannya took home US$3,000 each.

The finals was recorded by Metro TV and will be broadcast to major Asian television channels at a later date. For further information and details, please contact ABF Tour Committee at Tel: +852 2893 6039, Fax: +852 2893 6290; Email: hktbc@netvigator.com.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

17th January, Jakarta: Indonesian women continued to dominate the women's second block with a 1-2 finish in the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions while Thailand's Somjed Kusonpithak and Sithiphol Kunaksorn upstaged the Filipinos in the men's division.

2007 SEA Games Masters gold medalist, Sharon Limansantoso, who led the first block with 11 pins, battled throughout the second block with compatriot, Tannya Roumimper.

The duo traded lead and it appeared that Sharon would end the block comfortably when she stretched the lead to 104 pins by the 12th match.

But Sharon hit a bad patch losing all her last three matches while Tannya won all hers with 257, 226 and 210 to end the block with 3261 and 82 pins over Sharon. Tannya won five of the seven matches bowled with Sharon managing only four and totaling 3179 for second spot.

"Once I knew I've safely made the top 8, I was much more relaxed which accounted for my better score in the last three matches," said the delighted 20-year-old Tannya.

"My opponent for tomorrow's knockout round is a Chinese whom I've not bowled against so I'll definitely put more concentration.

Three Chinese women made the top 8 for tomorrow's quarter-finals with Yang Suling taking third spot with 3168 and China's best finisher. Malaysia's Tang Joh Six, Korea's Kim Eun Jung, Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung and two Chinese, Chen Dongdong and Zhang Yuhong all making the cut.

The topseed is drawn against Zhang Yuhong in the quarter-finals match while the second-seed, Sharon will meet Vanessa Fung. Third-seed Yang Suling is matched against Kim Eun Jung and Tang Joh Six meet Chen Dongdong.

Meanwhile in the men's division, Thailand leg champion, Somjed Kusonpithak and his teammate, Sithiphol Kunaksorn upstaged first block leaders, Chester King and Biboy Rivera of the Philippines to finish 1-2.

Somjed was simply outstanding winning six out of the seven matches and posting 1531 for a 15-match total of 3334 to move into the quarter-finals as topseed. Sithiphol was equally impressive winning all the seven matches to claim second with 3299.

Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong bowled consistently to take up third with 3280 while Kuwait Leg champion, Ryan Lalisang got the local supporters chanting wildly which moved the Indonesian from eight to fourth on 3252.

Filipinos, Biboy Rivera and Chester King just could not keep pace with the Thais to end up in fifth and sixth positions but crucially making the quarter-finals. Australia's Andrew Frawley and UAE's Shaker Al-Hassan made up the top 8.

"I would have been very happy if I made the top 8 but to finish as topseed has made my day even better," said the 22-year-old student from Bangkok. "Knowing that you have made the cut makes a lot if difference to your game."

"I don't know why I bowled so well," said Sithiphol jokingly. "I did everything right today so I guess maybe this is why. "I'll meet Biboy in the quarter-finals and hopefully I can get past the first round.

The topseed is drawn against Frawley and the second-seed against Biboy Rivera. The other two matches will see Chester King meeting Ryan Lalisang while the third-seed, Wu Siu Hong will play against Shaker Al-Hassan.

The quarter-finals will commence at 11.00pm and end 4.00pm local time. The semi-finals will be recorded by Metro TV for later broadcast. For further information and details, please contact ABF Tour Committee at Tel: +852 2893 6039, Fax: +852 2893 6290; Email: hktbc@netvigator.com

Photos by Terence Yaw.

16th January, Jakarta: The first block of the ABF Tour Tournament of Championship got underway at Jaya Ancol Bowling Centre as Chester King of the Philippines and Sharon Limansantoso of Indonesia led the Men's and Women's division with a slim margin.

Philippines leg champion, Benshir Layoso opened accounts with a superb 234 to take the early lead but was unable to maintain his pace which saw Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong grabbing the lead after the second game.

Wu's lead was also short-lived as Filipino, Biboy Rivera picked up his pace to take over the running until halfway mark. A couple of low games from the Filipino allowed Thailand's Somjed Kusonpithak to take a brief lead after the sixth game.

But the two strong games from Chester King allowed the Filipino to to end the block in the lead with a total of 1750 and winning six of the

eight round-robin matches. Biboy and Somjed settled for second and third with 1748 and 1743 respectively.

"I just concentrated on making sure I don't make too much mistakes and I guess my consistency allowed me to finish stronger," said the 32-year-old King. "I'll adopt the same strategy tomorrow and focus on making the top 8."

"I was doing well until a couple of bad games in the sixth and seventh games where I lost some grounds," said the 34-year-old Biboy. "But I hope that will not happen tomorrow as it is important to make the knockout stage.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's Sharon Limansantoso and Tannya Roumimper dominated the women's division with a 1-2 finish. Tannya kicked start her campaign with a strong 213 in her opening game but soon lost the lead to Wu Suqin of China.

Two wins in the second and third matches gave Sharon the lead which she held until the seventh when Tannya bounched back with a scintilatting 280 to snatch away Sharon's lead. A lowly 185 from Tannya allowed her compatriot to end the block in the lead with 1762.

Tannya settled for second with 1751, just 11 pins adrift while 2007 Asian Ranked No. 1, Kim Eun Jung of Korea, stormed home to take third spot with 1680. Sharon won five out of the eight matches while Tannya managed four wins.

"My first six matches were good but my rythmn was a bit out in the seventh game," said the 23-year-old 2007 SEA Games Masters gold medalist, Sharon. "I'll make sure not to repeat this in the second block."

"I didn't have very consistent score today but thanks to my high game of 280, I was able to keep close to the leader," disclosed the 17-year-old Tannya, who comes from Bandung, 140km from the capital, Jakarta. "I must put more effort into scoring consistently tomorrow.

The bowlers will resume with their second block of seven matches with pins carried forward tomorrow where the top 8 finishers from each division will make the cut for the knockout rounds on Sunday.

For further information and details, please contact ABF Tour Committee at Tel: +852 2893 6039, Fax: +852 2893 6290; Email: hktbc@netvigator.com.

Photos by Terence Yaw.