18th September, Hong Kong: Lady luck was certainly shinning on tour debutant, Michael Tsang of Hong Kong as he captured the Men's title of the ABF Tour Hong Kong leg while Filipina, Liza Del Rosario ended Lai Kin Ngoh's hope of a back-to-back women title.

The 16-year-old Tsang became the youngest-ever winner of the tour after he edged his fellow-countrymen, Chung Him in what must be the lowest-ever final, 156-148 while Rosario took the women's title by outclassing Lai, 221-197.

Tsang started off his final match well alternating strike and spare in the first four frames but as he realised that he could win the match, nerve must have started to creep into the youngster. A split in the fifth frame and a disasterous miss in the sixth allowed his opponent, Chung Him a chance to close the gap.

Chung missed the opportunity with a miss in the seventh frame to give some breather to the champion but as Tsang drew nearer to the end, another miss in the ninth frame made the game wide open. Tsang eventually ended the match with a 156 and all Chung needed to do was to spare his last frame to win.

But lady luck was shinning on the youngster as Chung missed the crucial frame to hand the title to Tsang. The champion had earlier defeated Malaysia's Aaron Kong, 191-160 to book his place in the finals while the runner-up trashed Indonesia's Ryan Lalisang, 242-189 in the first men's semifinal match.

ABF Tour Indonesia leg champion, Lai Kin Ngoh of Malaysia was hoping to win her back-to-back title but was defeated by Filipina, Liza Del Rosario in the women's final match, 197-221. Rosario set a fast pace with a double and then followed it up with a four-bagger from frame 5 onwards.

Lai could not response until the seventh frame where she had a double. The 29-year-old needed at least another two more strikes in order to close the gap but was unlucky to see a stubborn pin-7 standing on her ninth frame.

An open frame in the ninth frame by the champion did not matter as she was cruising to a comfortable win to capture her first title this year. Rosario had a lucky break in the first semifinal match against Malaysia's

Paulette Choy when her opponent had one split and three opened frames to hand the match to Rosario, 180-169.

The runner-up edged teammate and Women's World Championship Singles Gold medalist, Esther Cheah, 201-196 in the other all-Malaysian semifinal match. Cheah just did not have the luck without any connecting strikes while Lai struck home for the win.

The win has given Michael Tsang 75 valuable ranking points to put him in 13th in the table and stand a chance to make the cut for the Tournament of Champions in Jakarta in January next year. Lai Kin Ngoh has streched her lead in the women's table with 214 points followed by Paulette Choy in second with 140 points.

The ABF Tour - Hong Kong was telecast LIVE on Hong Kong TVB Jade (Sports World) and will be shown later on local television stations of the six countries where the tour is being held. It will also be broadcast later from parts of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, central Asia, China and Australasia with an estimated audience of around 90 million.

For the latest schedules, program information and scores on ABF Tour, visit www.abftour.com.

Photos by Terence Taw, MTBC.

17th September, Hong Kong: A change of name would perhaps give Paulette Choy Poh Lai a change of fortune as she leads two other Malaysian women, Lai Kin Ngoh and Esther Cheah into the semifinals of the ABF Tour Hong Kong on Day 1 at Thunder Bowl.

Paulette ended Hong Kong's charge when she edged Cookie Lee, 177-175 in Round 2. The 24-year-old, who is making her third semifinal appearances in this year's tour, will be hoping to win her first-ever title to give her confidence a much needed boost for the SEA Games in November.

Paulette had earlier knocked out teammate, Zandra Aziela, 175-151 in Round 1 before taking the first women's semifinal spot. Newly-crowned ABF Tour Indonesia leg champion, was equally fortunate after she was handed a win by Hong Kong's Melody Yeung, 186-145 in Round 2. Lai won her first match defeating third-seed, Putty Armein of Indonesia, 208-170 in Round 1 earlier.

Hong Kong's last hopeful, Janet Lam failed to impress when she was beated by Women's World Championship Singles Gold medalist, Esther

Cheah, 160-188 in Round 2 to give Malaysia three out of four semifinal spots. Cheah also took out teammate, and second-seed, Wendy Chai, 212-202 in Round 1.

In the men's division, Malaysia's strong men representative were less fortunate. Hong Open runner-up, Zulmazran Zulkifli was the first casualty when he lost to tour debutant, Michael Tsang, 192-202 in Round 1. Tsang went on to knock out teammate and local favourite, Wu Siu Hong, 246-136 in Round 2 to book his semifinal place.

Aaron Kong salvaged some pride and hope for Malaysia when he claimed his semifinal berth defeating teammate, Azidi Ameran, 190-170 in Round 2. Kong had also knockout his teammate and current Asian ranked No. 1, Alex Liew, 193-190 in the earlier round.

Newly-crowned Hong Kong Open, Remy Ong impressed in his first match defeating Takahiro Yoshida of the Philippines, 223-201 but found Indonesia's Ryan Lalisang a tougher opponent loosing the second match, 162-237 to give Lalisang a place in the semifinal.

The last spot went to Hong Kong's veteran, Chung Him who ousted Malaysia's Daniel Lim, 199-187 in Round 2. Daniel Lim was again unlucky not to make progress despite winning his first match, 182-175 against Filipino, Biboy Rivera.

Paulette Choy will meet Filipina, Liza Del Rosario in the first women's semifinal match while the other will be an all-Malaysian match between Lai Kin Ngoh and Esther Cheah. Ryan Lalisang will face off with Chung Him while Malaysia's Aaron Kong will meet favourite, Michael Tsang.

The ABF Tour - Hong Kong will be telecast on TVB Jade (Sports World) LIVE tomorrow and on local television stations of the six countries where the tour is being held. It will also be broadcast later from parts of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, central Asia, China and Australasia with an estimated audience of around 90 million.

For the latest schedules, program information and scores on ABF Tour, visit www.abftour.com.

Photos by Ritchie Lai, TND Group.