Australia’s Jason Belmonte is top seed going into the final rounds of the Asia Bowling Federation Tour’s Tournament of Champions currently underway in Jakarta, Indonesia. The ABF Tournament of Champions, which comprises eight Legs and the Grand Final, is the grand slam final for the 2006 Tour and will be telecast on some of the key television stations in the region.
Midway through today’s qualifying matches, the Aussie was in second place when Qatar’s Abdulla Al Qatan briefly overtook him and overnight leader, Chester King from The Philippines before a spectacular 290 game in the 14th game elevated Belmonte into a commanding lead.
After 15 games of qualifying, Belmonte finished on a 217 average, 44 pins ahead of Al Qatan, with Filipino Chester King just two pins further back. Malaysian bowlers Mohd Noer Said, Zulmazran Zulkifli and Alex Liew secured fourth to sixth places, ahead of Hong Kong’s Wu Siu Hong, with Kuwaiti bowler Fadhel Al Mousawi edging out the rest of the field to make the cut to the top eight.
In the women’s division, Thailand’s Angkana Netrviseth pipped Belmonte’s qualifying total by 32 pins, averaging 217.80 over the 15 games of round-robin competition going into tomorrow’s final rounds. Korea’s Kim Eun Jung and host nation’s Putty Armein finished 91 and 176 pins off the pace respectively, with Malaysian youngster Siti Safiyah overtaking several experienced Tour participants in the cut to the top eight.
A draw will be held by the Asian Bowling Federation to decide the bowlers’ player order for the Round 2 games, and qualifying bowlers will compete in one-game matchplay knock-out competitions in Rounds 2 and 3, and the Final round.
The winners of the first quarter-final matches on Monday will proceed to the semi-finals to determine the finalists and the Tournament of Champions winners in male and female divisions.
For full scores and details of the draw, see www.abftour.com
Midway through today’s qualifying matches, the Aussie was in second place when Qatar’s Abdulla Al Qatan briefly overtook him and overnight leader, Chester King from The Philippines before a spectacular 290 game in the 14th game elevated Belmonte into a commanding lead.
After 15 games of qualifying, Belmonte finished on a 217 average, 44 pins ahead of Al Qatan, with Filipino Chester King just two pins further back. Malaysian bowlers Mohd Noer Said, Zulmazran Zulkifli and Alex Liew secured fourth to sixth places, ahead of Hong Kong’s Wu Siu Hong, with Kuwaiti bowler Fadhel Al Mousawi edging out the rest of the field to make the cut to the top eight.
In the women’s division, Thailand’s Angkana Netrviseth pipped Belmonte’s qualifying total by 32 pins, averaging 217.80 over the 15 games of round-robin competition going into tomorrow’s final rounds. Korea’s Kim Eun Jung and host nation’s Putty Armein finished 91 and 176 pins off the pace respectively, with Malaysian youngster Siti Safiyah overtaking several experienced Tour participants in the cut to the top eight.
A draw will be held by the Asian Bowling Federation to decide the bowlers’ player order for the Round 2 games, and qualifying bowlers will compete in one-game matchplay knock-out competitions in Rounds 2 and 3, and the Final round.
The winners of the first quarter-final matches on Monday will proceed to the semi-finals to determine the finalists and the Tournament of Champions winners in male and female divisions.
For full scores and details of the draw, see www.abftour.com
