22nd June, Macau: Newly-crowned Hong Kong Open Masters champion, Tun Hakim of Malaysia will be eyeing his second open title this year after topping the Men's Open Masters qualifying table at the 2023 Macao-China International Open while Macau's Hui Tong led the Women's local pool.

Hakim had the lead since Tuesday, June 20 with 1438 but was overtaken by Hong Kong's Tony Wong earlier today when the latter totaled 1442. The Malaysian had to sit out the first few squads of the day as there were very limited squad vacancies.

The wait paid off when he improved his lower series of 662 with a splendid 719 at the 4.00pm squad to take his 6-game tally to 1496. Hakim also had a chance to register the third perfect game of the tournament but was content with 279 in his third game.

Wong settled for second while two-time Macao-Open champion (2014 and 2015) Tomoyuki Sasaki of Japan, who rolled the tournament's second 300 yesterday, claimed third spot with 1433. Singapore youth, Aviel Chua rolled the first perfect game two days ago during his Youth Open qualifying round.

All the top four local qualifiers are also Macau's seeded qualifiers. The top 3 will earn a Round 1 bye and automatically advance to Round 2. Their 3 places will be given to other Macau qualifiers.

In the Women's Open division, Hui Tong of Macau headed the local pool with 1278, disloging early pace-setter and Hong Kong Open second runner-up, Veronica De Souza, who totaled 1244. Lou Si Hang made the cut for the bye in third with 1202.

Newly-crowned Hong Kong Open champion, Joey Yi of Hong Kong showed her brilliant form and her credentials to capture another title when she amassed a total of 1317 to lead the overseas pool. Gloria Yung of Hong Kong took second spot with 1249.

Debutant, Shin Hye Bin of Korean National Sports University (KSNU) moved into third spot with 1218. Like the Men's Open division, the top 3 local and top 3 overseas qualifers will skip Round 1 finals.