Wu and Wendy win ABF tournament of champions

Wu and Wendy win ABF tournament of champions

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Men's bowler Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong and women's bowler Wendy
Chai of Malaysia won the titles of the 2004 Asian Bowling
Federation (ABF) Tournament of the Champions here on Sunday.

Wu defeated Joone Gatchalian of the Philippines 235-227, while
Wendy overcame her teammate, teenager Esther Cheah 206-197 in the
finals at the Jaya Ancol Bowling Center in North Jakarta.

"I was glad to win the final. It was a tight match," Wu said
after the match.

Wu, who stopped Malaysian Adrian Ang 248-222 in the semifinals
earlier in the day, took the top prize of US$20,000, while
Gatchalian, who advanced to the final with a 236-223 win over
Malaysian Alex Liew, pocketed $6,000 as runner up.

Meanwhile, Wendy had looked to lose her women's final match
until, in frame ten, Esther made a blunder with a split.

Wendy also looked to stutter on the left lane, but her strong
run on the right lane gave her the momentum to keep Esther at
bay.

"I had problems on the left in the early frames, but bowled
better on the right," said.

A title for a Malaysian player had already been sealed even
before the final was played with four of the neighboring
country's players making it to the semifinals.

Wendy and Esther secured their final berths with a 195-183
over Sarah Yap and a 234-175 over Shalin Zulkifli respectively.

Wendy took the top prize of $10,000 and Esther took home
$4,000.

The four-day tournament of champions was the final of the
seven-leg Asian bowling competition, featuring 18 men and 16
women.

Indonesia's contenders Ryan Lalisang and his female compatriot
Putty Armein were stopped in the quarterfinals on Saturday while
the other women's player Happy Soediyono had crashed out early.