29th June, Macau: Macau national bowler, Wong Son Ian denied Chinese Taipei a clean sweep of the Women's Open Round 1 Masters finals of the 2024 Macao China International Bowling Championships by finishing ahead of Su Shu Wen, Huang Hsin Tsen and Chou Chia Chen.

Wong had a moderate start with 183 inn her opening game as 2014 Macao China Open champion, Sharon Limansantoso of Jawa Timur, Indonesia set the pace with 227 to lead Chinese Taipei's Chou Chia Chen by 12 pins. Wong fired a big game of 245 in the second to surge into the lead with the Indonesia behind.

But she stumbled to another poor game of 170 to slip down the field. Chou took over the running with a second Indonesian, Putty Armein sharing the lead. A second Taiwanese, Su Shu Wen was second, 16 pins adrift. Su added 200 in her third to move into the lead.

Chou trailed in second 15 pins behind. For the next three games, Su, Chou and a third Taiwanese Huang Hsin Tsen were battling for the lead and look like the trio will end the finals by sweeping the top three spots. But Wong shot a sizzling 268 in her eighth and final game to snatch the lead with 1624.

Su and Huang settled for second and third with 1615 and 1574 respectively while Chou ended up in fourth with 1556. The best Korean was Jeong Hye Gyeong competing the top five with 1545. Last year's first runner-up, Yuri Sato had to face Chinese Taipei's Peng Hsiao Ting in a one-game roll-off to break the tie in 12th position.

The Japanese defeated Peng in a nerve-wrecking roll-off, 164-148 to qualify for the next round. The top 12 will be joined by the three local and three overseas seeded qualifiers for another 8 games in tomorrow's Round 2 finals.

The top 6 with the highest pinfalls will proceed to the Stepladder Shootout finals with the first match amongst 4th-seed, 5th-seed and 6th-seed. The winner will advance to face the 2nd-seed and 3rd-seed for another one game in the second match. The winner of the second match will meet the top seed over a beat-twice format and declared as champion.

Related stories:
Hong Kong national takes Round 1 finals
Korean student takes over top spot
Macau girl captures Youth title
Macau national eying Men's Open title
Singaporean, Japanese leads qualifying rounds
Hong Kong national goes top in qualifying

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau, China.