10th May, Taoyuan: Top-seed, Jeon Hae Min of Korea edged fifth-seed and challenger, Hiroki Tachibana of Japan, 235-218 in the Stepladder final match to bag the Open Masters title at the concluding 3rd Formosa International Bowling Classic 2026.

Hiroki set a cracking pace with three strikes-in-a-row to open up a 10-pin lead over Jeon. But the Korea responded brilliantly with four consecutive strikes to lead the Japanese by nine pins. Jeon crucially converted a two-pin split in the seventh frame to maintain a slender gap.

Hiroki could not respond and was unable to string together strikes to put pressure on Jeon. The Korean struck out in the tenth frame to seal victory with just one match.

Hiroki had earlier ousted second-seed, Dylan Lam of Hong Kong, China and third-seed, Jeremiah Camacho of Guam, 242-230-150 in the second stepladder match to advance to the final and face Jeon. Hiroki was on fire as he scorched the lanes with a perfect game in the first match, defeating fourth-seed, Ryou Ho Jun of Korea and sixth-seed, Naoki Tachibana, 306-217-192.

Jeon pocketed the top prize of NT$350,000 (approx. US$11,000) as champion. Hiroki and Lam took home NT$175,000 and NT$100,000 as first and second runners-up respectively. Camacho, Ryou and Naoki earned NT$70,000, NT$60,000 and NT$50,000 for finishing fourth to sixth.

In the earlier Round 2 finals, Jeon topped the field with 2001 to advance to the stepladder finals as top-seed. Lam settled for second with 1946 after setting the pace. Camacho took third spot with 1936 while Ryou, Tachibana siblings Hiroki and Naoki made up the stepladder finals from fourth to sixth position with 1874, 1854 and 1842 respectively.

A total of 311 bowlers from nine countries participated in this year's championship. Bowlers contested three blocks of five games each over three days divided into four squads. The top 44 plus defending champion and three from desperado squad contested 8-game Round 1 finals.

The top 26 with the highest pinfalls advanced to Round 2 finals along with the top three overseas and top three local seeded qualifiers from the overall standings for another eight games. The top six at the end of Round 2 made the cut for the stepladder shootout finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Taoyuan, Taiwan.

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