HK bowlers dominate Indonesia Bowling Tour

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Hong Kong tenpin bowlers won the US$25,000 Indonesian leg of the 2003 Aviva Asian Bowling Tour as Wu Siu Hong and Vanessa Fung scraped to victories in the finals at the Jaya Ancol Bowl Center here on Monday.

Fung defeated Indonesian favorite Happy Soediyono 225-214 in a tight game to win the women's competition.

Happy mounted a late fightback by booking three consecutive strikes in the last frame but it was too late to overturn Fung's score due to the Indonesian's disastrous second and ninth frames.

The victory earned Fung $2,500 and an additional 75 points in the overall rankings, while Happy pocketed $1,400 and 60 ranking points.

Despite her loss, Happy stays on the top with 153 points, with the final two legs of the tour to be played in Singapore in November and Hong Kong in December.

The top 16 bowlers in the final rankings are eligible to play in the Grand Slam finals in Singapore in January 2004.

Happy told The Jakarta Post that she would participate in the last two legs to ensure her berth in the Grand Slam finals. The Tour offers a total prize of US$226,000 spread over six competitions.

The preceding competitions were in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Wu won the men's competition by defeating Joonee Gatchalian of the Philippines 249-236 in the final game with both recording a number of strikes.

Up to the fourth frame, Wu led Gatchalian 109-98. However, Gatchalian somehow raised his game to match Wu's rattling run in the strikes. The Filipino reduced the gap to just three points by the eighth frame.

Convincingly, Wu continued his top form by notching four consecutive strikes in all of his last attempts, while Gatchalian could only made three.

Wu won US$5,000 and the 75 rankings points, while Gatchalian got US$2,300 and 60 points.

In the current rankings, Gatchalian still falls out of the top 16, but the runner-up was delighted to have outplayed teammate and favorite Purvis Granger 244-238 in the semifinal round earlier in the day.

His victory gained praise from Granger, who said that his opponent was a consistent player and found his game with Gatchalian satisfying.

Granger, who won the Philippine competition, said that he would not participate in Hong Kong, as he was assured of a place in the Grand Slam. He is ranked first with 135 points.