11th July, Hong Kong: Malaysia's Adrian Ang and Zulmazran Zulkifli finished 1-2 in the Men's Masters finals to win the gold and silver medal at the concluding 20th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championship while Korea's Choi Jin-A won the women's crown.

Second seed and challenger, Adrian Ang blitzed the lanes at Hong Kong Bowling City in the first game with 279 to beat top seed and team-mate, Zulmazran Zulkifli in the all-Malaysian title match over two games to take a commanding lead of 63 pins.

Both started off well with four strikes in a row but a bad mistake in the fifth frame put the top seed off his momentum to end with 196. Adrian struck till frame 8 and went on to take the first game comfortably.

Despite an opened frame in the fifth and a split in the last frame of second game, Adrian won the coveted Masters gold medal with a two-game total of 458 to Zulmazran's 413. Adrian outclassed third seed, Zhang Peng of China, 214-166 in the first match to earn a crack at the title.

"I've faced Zulmazran in stepladder finals many times but this time is different and challenging with the gold medal at stake," said the delighted Adrian. "I'm glad I had a head start with a high game so I took it easy in the second game. To win the gold in the Masters finals of an official championship is something I'll treasure for a long time.

"I started off well in the first four frames of the first match but I made a bad shot in the fifth frame and the gutter ball in the next frame and not being able to spare it really put me off my momentum," remarked Zulmazran.

"Adrian did so well in the first match and for being behind 63 pins, it was extremely difficult to catch up. I'm not really disappointed because we have done well overall here. We've proved that we're the best team in Asia and this will be a good start for the world championship in August.

Zulmazran ended the second block finals in the lead with 3865 followed by Adrian Ang in second and Zhang Peng third. All Events bronze medalist, Hussain Al-Suwaidi missed the cut finishing fourth.

Malaysia's third men in the finals and last championship Masters silver medalist, Alex Liew ended up in tenth despite scoring higher than the first block.

Meanwhile, Korea again demonstrated their prowess by sweeping the three medals at stake in the women's division. Perfect gamer, Choi Jin-A, who has won the team gold and two silver medals so far, finally nailed her first individual gold defeating team-mate, Gye Min-Young, 472-445 in the women's title match.

Choi, who snatched pole position in the earlier 8-game second block finals with 3751 from Gye and first block leader, Jeon Eun-Hee, sailed through the first game 236-187 but lost the second game 236-258.

Her 48 pins margin she had built up allowed her to win the gold medal 27 pins ahead. Gye, who edged Jeon in the first match 203-190, settled for the silver medal with Jeon the bronze. Hwang Sun-Ok and Kim Yeau-Jin finished fourth and fifth in the earlier round.

Malaysian women failed to make any headway and the best performer was Siti Safiyah Amirah in eighth. Shalin took tenth place while Esther Cheah finished a dismal 16th and last.

Korean women won 5 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals while the men won 1 gold and 1 bronze to emerge the overall champion. Malaysia emerged the men's champion and finished second overall with 3 gold and 4 silver medals. The women brought 1 gold and 1 silver to better the barren run in 2006. Detailed scores: Men's Stepladder and Women's Stepladder.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

10th July, Hong Kong: Adrian Ang topped the Men's first block Masters as Siti Safiyah Aimirah finished fifth in the Women's division to emerge as favourites for the Masters title in the 20th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championship.

World Ranking Masters first runnerup, Zulmazran Zulkifli of Malaysia, who won the Team gold medal yesterday, blazed the lanes at Hong Kong Bowling City with a scintillating 267 opening match to lead All Events silver medalist, Rauol Miranda of the Philippines.

But his lead was short-lived as UAE's Hussain Al-Suwaidi shot 275 in the second match and a 225 in the first to take over pole and 24 pins ahead of the Malaysian. Hussain continued his blistering pace with 259 and 226 to maintain his lead at the halfway mark while Zulmazran continue to trail the Emirates.

Two poor 180 and 171 from Hussain in the next two matches saw his lead being overtaken by China's Zhang Peng, who surged forward to take second spot and 34 pins adrift leaving Zulmazran in third. However, two massive games of 269 and 268 propelled Adrian Ang of Malaysia into contention.

With another high game of 248 in the eighth moved the youngster into pole with a total of 1919 from 6 wins. Zhang hung on to second with 1829, 90 pins adrift as Zulmazran finished third with 1811. Pace-setter, Hussain dropped to fourth followed by the third Malaysian, Alex Liew rounding up the top 5 with 1721.

"I didn't have the best start and my games were not consistent throughout the first 5 games," said the 19-year-old who will turn 20 next week. "When the lanes got drier, I was able to have better carry," added Adrian, who will move into the second block on his stronger side on short oil.

Meanwhile, our strongest challenger in the women's division is Siti Safiyah Amirah after the 17-year-old championship debutant ended the first block in fifth position and the best Malaysian female with 1726.

Siti Safiyah was trailing the leader, triple gold medalist, Jeon Eun-Hee of Korea by one pin after the sixth game but two average games in the seventh and eighth dropped her to fifth. Jeon totaled 1801 to lead the field followed by Team bronze medalist, Jazreel Tan of Singapore in second with 1771.

The Singapore split the Korean's continued domination to finish ahead of perfect gamer, Choi Jin-A, who finished third with 1751 with another Korean, Gye Min-Young in fourth with 1740. The other three Malaysian women in the finals were Esther Cheah, Wendy Chai and Shalin Zulkifli, who finished eighth, ninth and 12th position respectively.

The men and women will resume with another 8 games in the second block tomorrow morning at 9.00am. The top 3 from each division will advance to the stepladder finals for the final two gold medals of the week-long championship. Detailed scores: Men's 1st Blk Masters and Women's 1st Blk Masters.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

9th July, Hong Kong: Malaysia and Korea successfully retained the Men's and Women's Team Team title they won at the last championship after ending the second block of the Team of 5 event at Hong Kong Bowling City on Wednesday evening.

Malaysia had led the first block of 3 games on short oil condition bowled yesterday morning ahead of today's 3 games on long oil. Apart form rookie, Muhd Nur Aiman shooting a lowly 160, the rest of his team-mates, Alex Liew, Adrian Ang, Aaron Kong and anchorman, Zulmazran Zulkifli managed to cover the youngster for a team game of 1048.

Qatar's Bandar Al-Shafi, Mansour Al-Awami, Fahad Al-Emadi, Mubarak Al-Muraikhi and Saeed Al-Hajri shot a slightly better second game of 1062 to reduce the gap to 16 pins. The leader then shot another 1048 while the Qataris downed 996 to give the Malaysians a 68 pin breather going into the final game.

Despite the mounting pressure, the team's spirit was high and inspired by their women team-mates cheering them on, they delivered their promises to bring home the team gold medal with a final game of 1073.

The champion also completed a third record-breaking performance to erase the record of 6320 set by the Taiwanese with a 6-game total of 6596. Qatar, who finished second to the Malaysian two years ago in Jakarta, againt settled for the silver medal with 6458.

Korea snatch the bronze medal from the Philippines in their final game by 12 pins on a total of 6438. Chester King won the All Events gold medal for Philippines after topping the standings with 5534. Raoul Miranda took the silver with 5444 while UAE's Hussain Al-Suwaidi settled for the bronze with 5366.

Alex Liew finished fifth, Zulmazran Zulkifli 9th and Adrian Ang 13th. All three have made the top 16 cut for the Masters finals which commence on tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, the Korea women also succesfully defended the title they won at the last meet with 6463, a massive 263 pins ahead of the Malaysian women. Esther Cheah led her team-mates, Wendy Chai, Siti Safiyah Aimirah, Zandra Aziela and Shalin Zulkifli to win the silver medal with 6200.

Singapore overhauled the Taiwanese to claim their second bronze medal with 6186. The Korean women occupied the top 5 positions of the All Events standings to sweep all the three medals.

Perfect gamer, Jeon Eun-Hee won the gold with 5502 ahead of another perfect gamer, Choi Jin-A settling for the silver with 5397 while Kim Yeau-Jin claimed the bronze medal with 5389.

Four Malaysian women made the top 16 cut with Esther Cheah in 6th, Shalin in 8th, Siti Safiyah 13th and Wendy Chai 15th position. Zandra and rookie, Sin Li Jane finished 19th and 40th positions. Detailed scores: Men's Team 2nd Blk and Women's Team 2nd Blk.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

8th July, Hong Kong: First block leader, Aaron Kong, Muhd Nur Aiman and Adrian Ang of Malaysia, were overwhelmed by a record-smashing display from Philippines to settle for the silver medal in the Men's Trios event of the 20th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championship.

Leading only by a single pin in the yesterday's first block, the Malaysians lost the lead after the first game of the second block resumed at Hong Kong Bowling City. Philippines' Chester King, Raoul Miranda and Frederick Ong shot 711 to Malaysia's 633 forcing the latter to trail by 77 pins.

The Filipinos then turned their magic with a stunning 780 in the fifth game to stretch their lead over Aaron, Aiman and Adrian to a massive 161 pins. The 780 erased the 721 one-game record set by Malaysia in 2000.

The leader went on to cruise to an comfortable victory with another scintillating 706 in their final game to secure Philippines' first gold medal with another record-breaking 6-game total of 4193, 276 pins ahead of the Malaysian trio.

Their outstanding run also smashed the 3-games record of 2009 set by Korea in 2002 with 2197. Chester, who chalked up an individual 6-game score of 1535, shot 279, 289 and 279 in the second block to give his team the comfortable victory.

"We tried our best to chase the Filipinos but they were simply too good on the day," said Adrian Ang, who reeled in a high 6-game individual score of 1335. Rookie, Muhd Nur Aiman could hold up his head high with a superb 1282 while Aaron shot 1300 giving the team a total of 3917.

"We knew we were up against a strong field but we never expected that Philippines could bowl that good," remarked Aaron. "But we're still happy to win the silver medal.

Malaysia's second trio of Daniel Lim, Alex Liew and Zulmazran Zulkifli came so close to picking up the bronze medal but were pipped to the finishing line by Singapore. Eugene Low, Jason Yeong-Nathan and Shaun Ng took the bronze medal with 3898, just 28 pins ahead.

After 21 games contested and with three games left in the Team second block, Alex Liew and Zulmazran are fifth and eighth in the All Events standings and looked set to make the cut for the Masters finals.

Aaron dropped to 18th with Aiman a further three spots down the field in 21st. The duo need to pick up their pace in order to join Alex and Zulmazran. There is still a slim chance for young Adrian in 26th while Daniel Lim is out of contention.

Meanwhile, Malaysian women failed to win a medal after Esther Cheah, Zandra Aziela and Shalin Zulkifli finished fourth in the Women's Trios event completed earlier. The other trio of Wendy Chai, Sin Li Jane and Siti Safiyah Amirah took eighth spot.

Korea completed a 1-2 finish to claim the gold and silver medal with 4147 and 4128 totals. Their junior trio of Gang Hye-Eun, Jeon Eun-Hee and Gyr Min-Young upstaged their senior trio of Choi Jin-A, Hwang Sun-Ok and Kim Yeau-Jin to emerge the champion.

Esther Cheah (5th), Shalin Zulkifli (7th), Siti Safiyah (12th) and Wendy Chai (14th) look fairly secured to make the Masters finals cut in the All Events table. Zandra is in the borderline in 16th and will need to improve to ensure joining her team-mates.

Detailed scores: Men's Trios 2nd Blk and Men's All Events.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

8th July, Hong Kong: The Malaysian men dazzled their opponents with an awesome display of raw power as they topped the Men's Team of 5 first block at the 20th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championship on Tuesday morning.

As expeted, the mighty Koreans surged into the lead with a 1129 opening game as Malaysia posted 1090 to take up fifth spot behind Philippines in second and the home team, Hong Kong in third.

Malaysia was drawn with Saudi Arabia in the second game and the two teams went on a strikefest. Singles silver medalist, Alex Liew led the team as the first bowler and the southpaw reeled off 8 consecutive strikes.

Liew's opposite player, Fahad Al-Juraifani of Saudi Arabia also chalked up 8 consecutive strikes. By sheer coincident, the second and third bowlers of Malaysia, Daniel Lim and Adrian Ang both knocked down 6 consecutive strikes so did their opposite players, Faisal Al-Juraini and Hassan Halwani.

As Liew and Fahad was going for the perfect 300, Yannis Argyros of Egypt beat them to it when the 53-year-old shot his career first and the championship's third perfect game four lanes away.

Liew ended the game with 267, Daniel Lim 268, Adrian Ang 279, Aaron Kong 247 and Zulmazran Zulkifli 190 giving the team a total of 1251. The game posted by the Malaysian fabulous five smashed the one-game record of 1197 set by Korea in 2002 which gave them the lead, 73 pins ahead of Hong Kong.

The leader held on to their lead after posting a conservative 1086 and a first block total of 3427, again smashing the 14-year-old 3-games record of 3236 set by Chinese Taipei in 1994.

"Apart from an average first game, the boys really put in an incredible performance today," said the Malaysian team manager, B.C. Cheah. "They were simply awesome and their team spirit was unbelievable. We're confident that they will carry their from into the next block and prove that they're the best team in Asia.

Qatar's Bandar Al-Shafi, Mansour Al-Awami, Fahad Al-Emadi, Mubarak Al-Muraikhi and Saeed Al-Hajri snatched second place with 3397 as the home team of Cyrus Cheung, Rickle Kam, Michael Tsang, Eric Tseng and Wu Siu Hong amassed 3337 finished third with 3337.

With six games more to play (3 in the Trios and 3 in the Team of 5), Alex Liew is fourth in the All Events standings with 4038. Leading the table is Mubarak Al-Muraikhi with 4118. Aaron Kong has hauled himself up to 11th and Zulmazran Zulkifli 12th.

Debutante, Muhd Nur Aiman is 18th, just 10 pins from the cut for the Masters finals. Aiman will be moved back with the team in an effort to let his team-mates push him to post higher scores in the second block. Daniel Lim will make way for the youngster. Detailed scores: Men's Team 1st Blk

Photos by Terence Yaw.

7th July, Hong Kong: A record-breaking performance by our Malaysian women put them poised for a gold medal in the Women's Team of 5 event at the 20th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championship on Monday evening.

Singapore's Amanda Ng, Bernice Lim, Cherie Tan, Jasmine Yeong-Nathan and anchored by Jazreel Tan stunned the favourites of mighty Korea and Malaysia with 1147 opening game and smashing the one-game record of 1117 set by Australia in 2000.

Women Doubles gold medalist of Esther Cheah and Shalin Zulkifli joined by Wendy Chai, Siti Safiyah Amirah and Zandra Aziela, who were third after the first game, also broke the 8-year-old record with 1141 in their second game to trail the Singapore team by 55 pins.

The third and final game of the first block was indeed tense as Korea and Malaysia were drawn on the same pair of lanes while Singapore were drawn with a pacer team. Mounting pressure caused the Singaporeans to struggle while supporters cheer on Korea and Malaysia side by side.

Malaysia looked set to overhaul Team Singapore with another scintilating game of 1065 the crowd was silenced as Choi Jin-A stepped up to make her 12th and final frame after reeling 11 consecutive strikes in the third game. She made a perfect pocket ball but left a pin 7 but lady luck was with the Korean as a messenger pin came flying in to take out pin 7.

Choi's career seventh perfect game helped her team-mates, Jeon Eun-Hee, Gang Hye-Eun, Hwang Sun-Ok and Kim Yeau-Jin, to amassed a final game of 1137 to snatch the lead from Singapore with a total of 3309.

The three-game total also erased the 3100 record set by China in 2000. Malaysia pipped Singapore to claim second spot with 3256, 53 pina adrift the Koreans while Singapore took third spot with 3226.

Four Koreans occupied the top 4 spots in the All Events standings after 15 games contested with Choi Jin-A leading with 4158. Esther and Shalin took fifth and sixth positions with Wendy, Zandra, and Siti Safiyah in 11th, 14th and 16th spots. Detailed scores: Women's Team 1st Blk and Women's All Events

Photos by Terence Yaw.

7th July, Hong Kong: Malaysian underdog Aaron Kong, Muhd Nur Aiman and Adrian Ang upstaged the favourites to take pole in the Men's Trios frist block of the 20th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championship on Monday afternoon.

Hong Kong's Men Doubles gold medalist, Eric Tseng and Cyrus Cheung teamed up with Wu Siu Hong to take an early lead with a superb opening game of 707 at Hong Kong Bowling City. The Malaysian trio of Aaron Kong, Muhd Nur Aiman and Adrian Ang also posted a high game of 702 to trail the leader by 5 pins.

The Malaysian team surged ahead of the field with another sizzling 680 while the Hong Kong threesome struggled on a lowly 594 and dropping to third behind Philippines' Chester King, Frederick Ong and Singles bronze medalist, Raoul Miranda in second.

With 60 pins margin and despite posting only 615 in their last game, Aaron, Muhd Nur Aiman and Adrian were able to retain the lead and ending the block with a team total of 1997. The consistent Filipino trio

almost snatched the lead from the Malaysians but fell short by one pin to claim for second with 1996.

"I did well on short oil in the singles but not too good on the long oil in the doubles. So I'm very happy with my performance today on the Trios long oil," said the lanky Aaron. "And with the second block on the short oil, we will be stronger.

"My strength is also on the short oil and we have a good team here so hopefully we can maintain our lead," said the debutante, Muhd Nur Aiman.

"We hope to carry our momentum into tomorrow's second block. I'll definitely give my best and hopefully win a medal," remarked Adrian Ang in a video interview.

Eric, Cyrus and Wu settled for third with a recovering 697 in the final game on a total of 1980, just 17 pins adrift the Filipinos. Egypt and Singapore rounded up the top 5 in fourth and fifth spots with 1970 and 1868 respectively.

In the Women's Trios first block completed earlier, Women Doubles gold medalist, Shalin Zulkifli and Esther Cheah team up with Zandra Aziela to finish sixth with a total of 1807. The second trio of Wendy Chai, Sin Li Jane and Siti Safiyah Amirah amassed 1764 to take up 12th position.

The mighty Koreans bounched back by finishing 1-2 with Choi Jin-A, Hwang Sun-Ok and Kim Yeau-Jin topping the field a record-breaking 3-games first series of 1963. Gang Hye-Eun, Jeon Eun-Hee and Gye Min-Young finished second with 1940.

Wang Yu-Ling, Chien Hsiu-Lan and Hang Chiung-Yao of Chinese Taipei, who led after the second game, claimed third spot with 1925. Detailed scores: Men's Trios Blk 1 and Women's Trios Blk 1

Photos by Terence Yaw.

6th July, Hong Kong: World Championship Singles champion, Esther Cheah partnered PBA rookie, Shalin Zulkifli to strike Malaysia's first gold medal in the Women's Doubles event of the 20th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championship.

The strong Malaysian women, who drew blank in yesterday's singles event, rebounded back with the victory in the doubles event to end Korea's domination so far. The Malaysian pair knocked down a team total of 2699 smashing two Asian Championship records en-route to their victory.

Esther and Shalin posted a second-half 3-games series of 1401 erasing the 1302 set by the Koreans in 1998 in Taipei. The duo also bettered the 2560 set by the Aussies in 2000 in Doha, Qatar.

The dynamic duo did not have the best of start trailing Korea's first pair of Hwang Sun-Ok and Kim Yeau-Jin in the first half but picked up their pace with 494, 478 and 429 to romp home a comfortable victory over the Koreans with 98 pins margin.

"I was struggling a bit in the first three games but fortunately Esther bowled well to cover me," said Shalin Zulkifli, who did not compete in the last championship in Jakarta. "The singles yesterday wasn't that good either and I'm actually surprised that I could do better in the long oil conditions.

"I'm glad we have won the first gold medal so early in the competition," remarked the delighted Esther. "This will make up for the disappointing first day and in the last championship where we went home empty handed.

Gye Min-Young and perfect gamer, Jeon Eun-Hee settled for the silver medal with 2601 while the surprise pair was China's Chen Dongdong and Wu Suqin who stormed home to clinch the bronze medal with 2572.

Early pace-setter and Korea's first pair of Singles gold medalist, Hwang Sun-Ok and Kim Yeau-Jin, fizzled off to end up in fourth place with 2569 ahead of their team-mates and Korea's third pair in fifth.

Malaysia's second pair of debutantes, Siti Safiyah Amirah and Sin Li Jane, who was amongst the leader in the early stages, dropped off to eighth while the third pair of Zandra Aziela and Wendy Chai only managed a 19th place finish. Detailed scores: Women's Doubles

Photos by Terence Yaw.

5th July, Hong Kong: Alex Liew of Malaysia won the silver medal in the Men's Singles event of the 20th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championship at Hong Kong Bowling City smashing the 2004 record.

In the earlier Men's Singles Squad A, Adrian Ang set a blistering pace to take the lead but two lowly games thereafter had put the Malaysian down the field. Despite rebounding with another scintilating 268, Ang just could not bring home consistent games to stay in contention.

Ang finished a disappointing 14th behind Squad A leader, Kim Tae-Young of Kore, who shot 1425 to lead the field followed by Chinese Taipei's Chen Chun-Chieh and China's Zhang Peng in second and third respectively.

In Squad B, previous championship Masters silver medalist, Alex Liew of Malaysia and Malaysian Open champion, Zulmazran Zulkifli blazed the lanes in their opening games of 269 and 258 to take the top 2 posts.

Korea's Choi Ki-Bong grabbed the lead from game 2 but was soon overtaken by UAE's Naif Oqab with a 15 pin margin from Filipino Raoul Miranda and India's Vijay D locked in second at the halfway mark.

Liew rebounded with another superb 268 to shoot to the front followed by Mubarak Al-Muraikhi of Qatar, just 1 pin closely behind the Malaysian. Despite posting 247 and 216 in the last two games and totaling 1454, Choi's higher 259 and 249 gave the Korean his first individual gold medal.

Liew settled for the silver medal with Miranda taking home the silver with 1437. Naif and Mubarak, both surpassed the 1,400-mark to finish in the top 5.

"I had all my shots in the pocket in the second game but it just didn't knock down all the 10 pins when I ended up with just 208," said the slightly disappointed Liew. "And after three better games, I thought I had won the gold when I shot 216 in the final game.

"But Choi was simply better. A silver medal is a good start for Malaysia. Tomorrow is another day and I believe we can bounch back stronger.

In the Women's Singles bowled in the morning, Esther Cheah, Shalin Zulkifli and Zandra Aziela were Malaysia's best performers finishing fifth to seventh positions. And despite smashing the 2004 record set by Ann-Marie Putney of Australia in Bangkok, the trio missed the podium.

Korean women totally over-powered their opponents by taking the top 4 positions. Hwang Sun-Ok snatch the gold medal with 1497, just 3 pins from team-mate and pace-setter, Choi Jin-A, who settled for the silver with 1494.

Jeon Eun-Hee, who shot the championship's first perfect game in her last game, won the bronze medal with 1479 while Kim Yeau-Jin finished fourth with 1448. Reigning World Ranking Masters champion, Wendy Chai could only finish 18th.

Championship debutante, Sin Li Jane and Siti Safiyah Amirah finished 30th and 35th positions respectively. Another debutante, Muhd Nur Aiman put in a promising performance with a 12th place finish but Aaron Kong and Adrian Ang ended up in 26th and 41st spots. Detailed scores: Men's Singles and Women's Singles.

Photos by Terence Yaw.