Ebonite

Jul 12, 2012

16th June, Macau: Yannaphon Larpapharat of Thailand successfully defended the Men’s Open Masters title of the Macau China International Open 2012 while Chan Weng Sam captured the women’s crown for Macau for the first time.

Yannaphon, who was seeded No. 1 for the stepladder finals, needed the second match to beat challenger and No. 2 seed, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong, 263-175 to win the Men’s title for the second consecutive time.

The Thai had two splits and three opened frames in the first match to lose to Wu, 167-229 in the first match and was forced to go into the second deciding match. Yannaphon bounced back brilliantly to romp home a comfortable win over Wu, 263-175 to take a well-deserved victory.

“I knew that it was going to be a tough match against Wu especially when he is very good on freash oil and I’m not that comfortable,” said the 29-year-old Yannaphon, who won two titles in 2010.

Yannaphon Larpapharat with his champion’s trophy for the second time

“When Wu took a hugh lead in the first match and I new it would be difficult to catch up, I used the opportunity to experiment with different lines so that I can match him up in the second match.

“The carry down helped a lot and I was able to deliver my ball to the pocket and get the carry,” added the champion, who picked up the top prize of MOP70,000 (approx. US$9,000) for the win.

Wu, who settled for for MOP30,000 (approx. US$3,800), had earlier edged third-seed, Tim Mack of USA and winner of the first match, Hareb Al Mansoori of UAE, 182-164-132 to advance to the title match.

Hareb, who took home MOP15,000 (approx. US$1,930), defeated fifth-seed, Lin Pai-Feng of Chinese Taipei and fourth-seed, Wicky Yeung of Hong Kong, 209-197-137 in the first stepladder finals.

Yannaphon topped the Round 2 finals with a 16-game total of 3460, 57 pins ahead of Wu in second with 3403 and a further 3 pins ahead of Mack in third with 3400. Yeung, Lin and Hareb made the cut in fourth to six positions.

Meanwhile, national youth Chan Weng Sam did brilliantly to capture the Women’s Open Masters title for her country for the first time since the inception of the Macau China Open in 2009.

Chan only needed one match to beat challenger, Hong Hae-Ni of Korean National Sports University, 214-201 for her maiden international title. Both had clean games but it was Chan who rolled two double strikes to edge the Korean.

“I was worried that I would face another spinner in the final and when it turned out to be the Korean, I was a bit relaxed,” said the 18-year-old student who studies in Taipei.

First international title for Chan Weng Sam
“I had a good start with a double strike in the first two frames and when I had the lucky second double in the ninth and tenth frame, I knew I had the title sealed,” added Chan, whose major triumph was winning the 2011 Macau Cup and picking up a silver medal in 2009 Asian Intercity Championships.

Hong, who was seeded No. 3, outclassed second-seed and Round 1 leader, Putty Armein of Indonesia and winner of the first match, Chan Shuk Han of Hong Kong, 241-182-166 to face the top seed.

Chan won the first match after she beat fourth-seed, Ji Eun-Sol of Korean National Sports University and sixth-seed, Tang Joh Six of Malaysia, 237-212-209 to advance into the second stepladder match.

The champion earned MOP40,000 (approx. US$5,100) for the win while Hong settled for MOP18,000 (approx. US$2,300). Armein, who finished third took home MOP10,000 with Shuk Han, Ji Eun-Sol and Joh Six picking up MOP4,000, MOP3,000 and MOP2,000 respectively.

Three spinners and three hook-ball style players made the women’s stepladder finals. Chan topped the earlier Round 2 finals with 3271 followed by Armein in second with 3260 and Hong third with 3237.

More than 350 bowlers from 12 countries took part in the week-long Macau China International Open since June 10. The top 16 Asian men and top 16 Asian women qualified for tomorrow’s ABF Tour Macau leg.

Click here for more information.

Photo by: Terence Yaw in Macau

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