RI bowlers Ryan, Putty qualify for knockout stage

Moch. N. Kurniawan The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Indonesia's men's bowler Ryan Lalisang and his female compatriot Putty Armein qualified for the knockout stage in the US$75,000 Tournament of Champions after wrapping up their matches here on Friday.

Ryan suffered a dip in performance but he was still able to maintain the top place, ending the two-day round-robin matches with a total of 4,178 points.

"I was content to play safe today as I was simply looking to qualify for the knockout stage," Ryan said after the match at the Jaya Ancol Bowl Center in North Jakarta.

After winning all nine games on Thursday, Ryan suffered two losses in the remaining eight games on Friday. He lost 269-300 to Tyrone Ongpauco of the Philippines in game 13 and 215-233 to Shaker Al Hassan of Uni Arab Emirate in game 15.

Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong followed in second place with a total of 4,066, while Malaysian Adrian Ang was third with 4,023.

Asian number one Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar (4,014), Joone Gatchalian of the Philippines (3,965) Daniel Lim of Malaysia (3,947), Alex Liew of Malaysia (3,938) and Shaker (3,907) completed the top eight places in the knockout stage, which began on Saturday.

The Tournament of Champions featured 18 bowlers -- 16 top bowlers in the Asian Bowling Federation (ABF) Tour rankings and two wildcards -- in the men's division and 16 top women's bowlers.

In the women's division, which played seven games, Putty, who began the day's games on third place in the standings, scored only two wins but the Indonesian bowler survived the cut, finishing in sixth place with a total of 3,247 points.

However, Happy Soediyono, the only other Indonesian contender, failed to advance after ending up in 13th place with 3,024 points.

Putty looked shaky on Friday, bowling an average of 211 compared to 220 on Thursday.

"I did not bowl well today. It was my bad day. I might have been too overwhelmed by aspiration to keep the top eight place that I failed to play aggressively," she said.

Sarah Yap took over the first position from fellow Malaysian Wendy Chai.

Sarah scored a total of 3,416, followed by Liza Del Rosario of the Philippines with 3,398 in second place and Asian number one Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia was third with 3,380.

The other five players in the top eight included Wendy (3,368), Vanessa Fung of Hong Kong (3,254), Putty, Irene Garcia Benitez of Philippines (3,197) and Esther Ceah of Malaysia (3,161).

Quarterfinal pairings

Men's division Ryan Lalisang (Ina) - Joone Gatchalian (Phi) Ahmed Shaheen (Qat) - Daniel Lim (Mas) Adrian Ang (Mas) - Shaker Al Hassan (Uae) Wu Sio Hong (Hkg) - Alex Liew (Mas) Women's division Putty Armein (Ina) - Wendy Chai (Mas) Sarah Yap (Mas) - Vanessa Fung (Hkg) Shalin Zulkifli (Mas) - Irene Garcia Benitez (Phi) Esther Cheah (Mas) - Liza Del Rosario (Phi)