26th July, Shanghai: Chi Mingyu of China led from start to finish in the opening squad first block preliminaries of the 2019 Storm U22 China International Youth Bowling Open Championships underway at Hoa's Bowling Center.

China's Liu Guanyu got off to a cracking start by rolling a superb 253 in his opening game to lead Chi by 8 pins. Singapore's Dylan Teoh Zi Jun also registerd a splendid game of 243 to take up third as Jeremy Breitenstein of China and Althea Dang of Singapore followed in fourth and fifth positions.

Liu's lead lasted only one game despite adding 202 in his second game. Chi fired another big game of 254 to take over the running. Teoh moved into second spot with 245 while Dang also moved up to third and Liu dropping to fourth.

The 19-year-old spinner added back-to-back 220s to win the squad with 939 total. Breitenstein ended strongly to clinch second spot with 928, just 11 pins adrift while Natalie Ang Jie Min of Singapore stormed home to snatch third spot with 912.

Dang settled for fourth position with 910 while a third Singaporean, Javier Lim tied fourth spot with Dang. Teoh, who showed promise in the early stages, slipped down to sixth with 894. The players will resume their second block of four games tomorrow.

The top 44 with the highest pinfalls including a six pins handicap allocated to the girl's division, will qualify for the finals scheduled for July 28. The finalists will bowl four games with pins carried forward from the preliminaries.

The top 16 with the highest pinfalls at the end of the finals will advance to the best-of-three Round of 16 knockout matches. The winners will advance to the quarter-finals, again in the best-of-three knockout matches.

The winners will then proceed to the semi-finals and subsequently the final, again in the best-of-three knockout matches to determine the champion. The top 3 winners will be awarded trophies with attractive cash prizes.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Shanghai, China.