8th July, Kaohsiung: Lee Tak Man of Macau picked up his third tour title with victory in the Men's final match of the ABF Tour Chinese Taipei 2018 while Chinese Taipei's Su Shu-Wen captured her first-ever tour title in the Women's division at Southern Bowling Centre.

Lee, who won the 2013 Macau and 2015 Thailand legs, started off with a strike in his opening frame as his challenger and 18th Kaohsiung International Open first runner-up, Syaffique Ikhwan of Malaysia managed only to convert a 9-pin spare in the all-lefty title match.

The Macau national kegler downed two more strikes in the third and fourth frames while the Malaysian responded with two strikes as well but still trailed Lee by 12 pins. Whilst Syaffique was unable to add more strikes, Lee rolled another in the sixth frame to open up a bigger gap.

Two more strikes from Lee in the eighth and ninth frame sealed the tie for Lee with a convincing win over Syaffique, 256-231 for his third tour title. The champion outclassed sole surviving Taiwanese, Fang Chih-Nan, 267-214 in the first semi-final match to advance to the finals.

The 27-year-old also eliminated last year's champion, Atchariya Cheng of Thailand, 246-233 in an all-lefty Round 2 encounter and another left-hander and 18th Kaohsiung Open third runner-up, Mike Chan of Hong Kong, 224-210 in the opening round.

Syaffique on the other hand, posted back-to-back 278 to beat Jimmy Cheung of Hong Kong, 278-243 in yet another all-lefty second semi-final match to reach the final. The first runner-up was also impressive with a Round 1 victory over Xu Zhe-Jia of Chinese Taipei, 244-232.

Lee's win added 75 tour ranking points to his 33 earned in Macau allowing him to qualify for the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions in second position with 108, behind tour leader and Hong Kong leg champion, Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia.

In the women's division, Su Shu-Wen had to work hard for her first-ever tour title with victory over her compatriot, Tsai Hsin-Yi by winning the 9 and 10 frame tie-breaker roll-off when both ended the all-Taiwanese final with 233 a piece.

Su knocked down 8 pins which she subsequently spared and finished off with a strike for 48. Tsai struck in the ninth frame and all she needed was 9-pin spare in the tenth to seal the match. But she stumbled to a 4-9 split to end with 39 pins.

Su breezed past ABF Tour Thailand leg champion, Wang Ya-Ting, 266-234 in the first all-Taiwanese semi-final match to make the finals. She edged compatriot, Pan Yu-Fen, 190-189 in Round 2 and newly-crowned 18th Kaohsiung Open chanpion, Julia Lam of Macau, 230-224 in Round 1.

The first runner-up Tsai ousted Hong Kong's Chan Shuk Han, 243-224 in the other semi-final to face Su. Tsai also defeated another compatriot and 18th Kaohsiung Open second runner-up, Lin Yi-Heng, 222-170 in her second round match to reach the semi.

Su's victory earned her 50 points and not 75 as there were only three countries in this leg but placed her in 13th position to make the top 16 for the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions. Wang Ya-Ting added 32 points to her Thailand victory and topped the standings with 107 points.

Mr Wu Fu-Lung, President of Chinese Taipei Bowling Association was on hand to present the trophy and a prize of US$500 to the Men's champion. Mr Michael Seymour, Vice President of Asian Bowling Federation gave away the trophy and prize of US$500 to the Women's champion.