16th August, Kaohsiung: 2017 Chinese Taipei champion led 2016 champion, Huang Chiung-Yao and two-time winner, Chien Hsiu-Lan to a 1-2-3 finish in the Ladies' Open Round 1 finals of the 19th Koahsiung International on Friday.

2018 Asian School All Events and Masters gold medallist, Quek Lu Yi of Singapore got off the round with a cracking 232 to lead Chinese Taipei's Li Hsiao-Pin and Korea's Kim Yeon Woo, who shared second spot, eight pins adrift.

Quek added another strong game of 228 to extend her lead to 25 pins as a second Korean Kim Ju Hyeong took over second. Li dropped off after a poor 185 while Wang Ya-Ting moved up into third spot.

Kim rolled 213 to take over the running after the Singaporean stumbled to a poor 167 in the third game but held second spot. Wang remained in third. Two-time Chinese Taipei Open winner, Chien, who had 200, 214 and 197 in her first three games, posted a superb fourth game of 247 to become the third leader.

Wang improved with 213 to take up second while Kim slipped to third and Singapore's Jermaine Seah, who registered 205, 224 and 216, knocked down 202 to moved up into fourth. Quek continue to slip out of contention.

Kim regained the lead after the fifth game when all the front runners posted sub-200 games but Chien bounced back in the sixth game to back up into the lead as 2016 champion, Huang and Wang both added identical 227 to stay close to the leading duo.

Chien was still leading after the seventh game but ended with a disastrous 157 to slip to third with 1600. Wang stormed home with 235 to snatch the win with 1651 while Huang finished second with 1623. Kim and her team-mate, Hwang Yeon Ju completed the top 5.

Kim Yeon Woo made the cut for the next round in 16th position with 1512. Khattiya Ngoenkham of Thailand missed the cut by 15 pins finishing 17th with 1497. The top 16 advanced to Round 2 finals joined by the six seeded qualifiers for another 8 games tomorrow morning. The top 6 finishers will proceed to the Stepladder shootout finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei.