5th September, Bangkok: Timothy Tham and Shayna Ng of Singapore led the Men's and Women's Open final squad of the first block qualifying rounds at the 46th MWA-Singha Thailand International Open late Monday evening.

Singapore newcomer, Nu'Man Syahmi B Yusri got off the block with a superb 256 to lead team-mate, Marcus Tan in second by nine pins. But Nu'Man lost the lead to a third Singaporean, Jackie Chan Wen Long after the second game.

Chan added a stunning 268 to his 227 opener for the lead ahead of Tham moving up to second and Nu'Man slipping down to third. Chan remained in the lead for another game before ex-Malaysian international, Muhd Nur Aiman shot 279 to share the lead with the recovering Nu'Man.

Tham ended the first block with a sizzling 289 to finish top of the squad with 1182. Aiman settled for second with 1169 despite a strong 238 in his final game. Chan held on to third with 1163. Tham only managed a fifth place finish in the combined scores of all four squads.

Singapore's Colleen Pee, who led Squad D earlier with 1162, overtook Squad A leader, Sin Li Jane of Malaysia to become the new leader as Ng ended up in third.

Squad B leader, Pinmanus Khumchaipoom of Thailand led Chawakorn Wutti and Nisanart Taseethong to occupy the top three local qualifiers in the general standings with 950, 933 and 916 respectively. Pee, Sin and Ng occupied the top three overseas spots and will automatically advance to Round 3 finals.

Natasha Roslan, who was second to Sin in Squad A, led the mixed pool while the last qualifying position 22nd went to Indonesia's Putty Armein with 979. Positions 23 to 26 are reserved foe the top four desperado qualifiers for Round 2 finals.

Qualifying will resume with the second block of five games tomorrow and a final third block on September 7. Round 2 and Round 3 finals will be contested on September 8.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Bangkok, Thailand.