30th July, 2002: Asian No. 1 ranked, Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia, four-times World champion, Paeng Nepomuceno of Philippines bagged the Pre-Asian Games Storm Cup Korea Open Masters titles at Homeplus Asia Bowling Centre in Busan, Korea.

Shalin, who qualified top in the overseas pool before the Masters finals, was lying 20th after the 1st block of 10 games yesterday. She fougth back galantly today in the second block to top the 16-games finals with a tota score of 3,481 pinfalls before going into the step-ladder finals. She defeated 17th Asian Championship Masters Gold medalist and overnight leader, Cha Mi Jung (3,470) of Korea 218-177 to win her third international title this year. She had won the 28th Thailand International Open Masters just two months ago in Bangkok.

In the first step-ladder match between 4th-place Jojo Canare (PHI - 3,459), 5th-placed Wendy Chai (MAS - 3,441) and sixth-placed Park Jin Hee (KOR - 3,409), Wendy took the match easily with 225 against Jojo' 205 and Park's 159. In the second match, Wendy was close to progressing further when she tied with third-seed Cha Mi Jung (KOR - 3,470) on 190 but lost the match 29 to 30 in the ninth and tenth-frame roll-off. Second-seed Lai Kin Ngoh (MAS - 3,470) scored only 180 to bow out and miss a chance of meeting Shalin.

Four-times World champion, Paeng Nepomuceno (PHI - 3,498) took the Men's title when he defeated top-seed and CGU Asian Bowling Tour Philippines leg champion, Purvis Granger (PHI - 3,504) 213-182. In the earlier match between second-seed and over-night leader Dong Sang Gon (KOR - 3,502), third-seed Paeng, sixth-seed and winner of the first match, Tom Hahl (SIN - 3,443), Paeng again easily won with 212 against Dong's 172 and Hahl's 194.

The first match was won by Tom Hahl after he defeated fourth-seed Remy Ong (SIN - 3,494) and fifth-seed Daniel Lim (MAS - 3,455) 204-170-199.

Click here to download the full results of the Women's and Men's Open Masters finals.

29th July, 2002: Korean bowlers, Dong Sang Gon and 17th Asian Championship Masters Gold medalist, Cha Mi Jung topped both Men and Women Masters 1st block finals of the Pre-Asian Games Storm Cup Korea Open at Homeplus Asia Bowling Centre in Busan, Korea.

Cha Mi Jung, who won two Gold medals in the 17th Asian Championship, maintained her form to lead the Women's Masters 1st Block finals with a score of 2,166 over 10 games. Just 15 pins behind Cha was PBAP International Classic champion, Lai Kin Ngoh of Malaysia and Philippines' Jojo Canare sharing second spot with 2,151. Another Malaysian, Wendy Chai did well to stay with the pack in fourth with 2,134 with the next four places occupied by Korean women. The best of the Chinese Taipei bowlers, Chou Miao Lin finishing 9th with 2,096.

In the Men's division, newcomer Dong Sang Gon of Korea took the lead with 2,282 just one pin ahead of Malaysia's Daniel Lim in second while Cathay Bowl Super Calssic champion, Remy Ong of Singapore in third with 2,200. Four times World champion, Paeng Nupomuceno of the Philippines did well to be placed fourth with 2,185 while CGU Asian Bowling Tour Philippines leg champion, Purvis Graner took fifth spot with 2,179.

Another newcomer, Cha Ji Hyun of Korea lies sixth on 2,177 with Singapore's Tom Hahl in close company one pin away in seventh.

The bowlers will continue their 2nd Block finals of six games tomorrow (30th July) and the top 6 bowlers from each category will proceed to the step-ladder grand finals to determine the champion.

28th July, 2002: Asian ranked No. 1 Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia took over lead in Women's Masters qualifying table while C.J. Suarez of the Philippines maintained his lead in the Men division of the Pre-Asian Games, Storm Cup Korea Open at Homeplus Asia Bowling Centre in Busan, Korea.

Shalin found her form this morning when she took the lead in the Women's Open Masters overseas pool qualifying table with a superb 1,011 total. Bowling her third attempt in the qualifying, Shalin knocked down scores of 247, 269, 247, and 248 to average an impressive 252.75. Overnight leader, Huang Chiung Yao of Chinese Taipei dropped to second with 946 while Japan's Mari Kimura put up a strong performance to move up to third with 935.

PBAP Philippines International Classic champion, Lai Kin Ngoh (908) of Malaysia was fourth while her teammate, Wendy Chai (904) lies fifth. Last year's Asian Bowling Tour China leg champion, Yap Seok Kim (902) of Singapore also improved to sixth with Japan's Nachimi Itakura (896) in seventh. Malaysia's Lisa Kwan (895), who laid off bowling for 7 years and winning a Team Gold medal in the 17th Asian Championship in her comeback last month made the top 8.

Filipino bowlers continue their impressive performances taking the top two positions of the Men's division with C.J. Suarez (972) maintaining the lead with Asian Championship Doubles Gold medalist, Biboy Rivera (969) in second. Cathay Bowl Cuper Classic 2002 champion, Remy Ong (965) lies third with Malaysia's best performer and Pesta Penang 2001 champion, Gerald Samuel (956) in fourth.

Malaysia's Azidi Ameran (952) and last year's Asian Bowling Tour Thailand leg champion, Andrew Frawley of Australia sharing fifth spots while former World champion, Tom Hahl (950) of Singapore took seventh place. CGU ABT Philippines leg champion, Purvis Granger (942) was eigth with four-times World champion, Paeng Nepomuceno (937) in ninth and Malaysia's Ben Heng (936) making up the top ten.

The final squad of the qualifying rounds will end tonight at midnight and the qualifiers will commence their first block of the Masters finals on Monday 29th July and the second block on Tuesday 30th July.

27th July, 2002: C.J. Suarez of the Philippines and C.Y. Huang of Chinese Taipei leads the Men and Women Open Masters qualifying table respectively in the Pre-Asian Games, Storm Cup Korea Open at Homeplus Asia Bowling Centre in Busan, Korea.

The Filipino scorched the lanes to chalk up a score of 972 pinfalls over the 4-games qualifying rounds for an impressive 243. Tim Mack, who is the defending champion and a Storm bowling staff travelling around Asia to help promote Storm bowling balls, is a favourite whereever he appears because of his prolific bowling style.

Equally impressive was Cathay Bowl Super Classic champion, Remy Ong scoring 965 to be placed second in the table while 28th Penang Pesta champion, Gerald Samuel of Malaysia lies third in the table with 956. In joint-fourth is another Malaysian, Azidi Ameran just four pins behind Gerald on 952 and Australia's Andrew Frawley. Sixth was CGU Asian Bowling Tour Philippines leg champion, Purvis Granger on 942.

In the women's division, Chinese Taipei's Huang Chiung Yao topped the overseas table with a score of 946 followed by PBAP International Classic champion, Lai Kin Ngoh of Malaysia in second with 908. Third was Philippines' Jojo Canare on 892 with Singapore's Valerie Teo in fourth with 888. Taipei's Wang Yu Ling comes next in fifth on 887 with Irene Garcia in sixth with 886. Hong Kong's newcomer, Jenny Ho was five pins away in seventh while Rena Teng of Singapore was eighth with 873.

No scores were available from the organisers for the local pool qualifiers in the Men's and Women's Open Masters. Qualifying continues through to the 28th July and the Masters finals will be contested on Monday, 29th and 30th July.