3rd July, Macau: Macau celebrated a second straight year victory after national bowler, Julia Lam captured the ABF Tour Macau leg women's crown and Michael Mak won his first-ever tour title for Hong Kong in the men's division on Sunday.

The finals between Julia Lam and Chan Weng Sam was quite evenly matched in the early stages but Lam opened up a big gap after she rolled three strikes in the row as Chan had a split in the fifth frame.

Although Lam had an opened frame in the eighth, the gap was simply to wide for Chan to mount any sort of comeback eventually going down to the champion, 171-212. The victory for Lam gave Macau their second straight win in the women's division.

Patricia Hui Tong had first won the women's crown for Macau last year after she beat Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung.

"My initial aim was not to be knocked out in the first round and therafter, I was focusing on trying to take one game at a time," said the delighted 35-year-old teacher, who turned from spinning to hook style last year.

"Reaching the finals was already a great achievement for me and to win is a bonus. I've to thank my coach, Daniel Yiu for so much guidance given to me during my transition from spinnng to hook."

The champion reached the finals after she narrowly defeated Chan Shuk Han, 216-212 in the second semi-final. Chan advanced to the finals by beating another Macau team-mate, Filomena Choi, 200-187 in the first semi.

Top seed, Milki Ng of Hong Kong was ousted by Filomena, 165-184 in the second round while Lam edged Thailand's Siraya Chongvarin, 171-160 in her Round 2 match.

In the men's division, Michael Mak won his first-ever tour title after he easily defeated team-mate, Eric Tseng 225-198 in the all-Hong Kong finals. Tseng had got off to a good start with a double but an opened frame in the third allowed Mak to level things up.

Mak managed to roll two double strikes in the 6-7 and 9-10 frames to make his opponent's task of catching up difficult and the youngster went on to take the match and the title.

"I'm very fortunate to have won this title especially after having to face still competition against Eric and also another team-mate, Rickle Kam in the semi-final," said the 17-year-old national bowler.

"The lanes were also kind to me and I had some luck along the way. I hope this win will give me added confidence as I head to Bangkok tomorrow for the Asian School Championship."

The champion defeated Rickle Kam, 213-181 to reach the finals and Thailand's Badin Lerdpiriyasakulkit, 200-190 in the second round to advance into the semi. Tseng took out another Thai, Surasak Manuwong, 195-159 in the other semi.

Ms Christine Lam, Department Chief of the Macau Sports Development Board was on hand to present the trophy to the champion of the women's division while Mr Fong Wan Man, President of Macau China Bowling Association gave the trophy to the men's champion.

The next leg will head to Hong Kong on July 18 and the final leg of this year's tour will be in Jakarta, Indonesia on July 26. Bowlers earn points in each of the leg contested and the top 16 men and top 16 women in the rankings will qualify for the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions.

For further information and details, please contact ABF Tour Committee at Tel: +852 2893 6039, Fax: +852 2893 6290; Email: info@abftour.com.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.