20th June, Macau: Overnight leader, Pak Kyung Rok of Korea remained firmly in the lead of the Men's Open Masters qualifying leaderboard at the 2018 Macao-China International Open with team-mates, Hwang Sung Hyun and Lee Won Seok making up the top 3.
Pak's two stunning 3-games series of 762 and 751 gave the Korea National Sport University student a 6-game tally of 1513. 2017 Men's Grade A champion, Hwang remained in second with 1507 while 2018 Thailand Open Men's Grade A champion, Lee finished third with 1501.
Scores continued to rise rapidly as qualifying rounds entered its final two days. 2017 World Championships Trios gold medallist, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong made no progress to topple the Korean trio and remained in fourth position with 1500.
Indonesia's Yeri Ramadona improved from 15th in the mixed pool to leapfrog into fifth position with 1497. 2014 and 2015 Macao-China Open champion, Tomoyuki Sasaki of Japan also improved from tenth in the mixed pool to sixth with 1493.
Men's Open top 3, Hwang, Pak and Lee
Zoe Dias Ma topped the local pool with a modest 1476 followed by Lei Hok Hin in second with 1457 and Lee Tak Man in third with 1454. Hong Kong's Tony Wong headed the mixed pool with 1471 as the cut in 16th position went to Mik Jun Seong of KNSU with 1436.
Last year's cut was 1448 and judging from this year's scores, this figure could easily go up to as high as 1460 with one day remaining for qualifying which will end tomorrow. The top 3 local and top 3 overseas qualifiers will earn a bye and automatically advance to Round 2 finals.
Local qualifiers positioned 6 to 10, overseas qualifiers positioned 4 to 10, the 16 qualifiers from the mixed pool and the defending champion will contest the Round 1 finals over 8 games. The top 12 finalists with the highest total pinfall after the 8 games will advance to Round 2 finals, joined by the 6 seeded qualifiers for another 8 games. The top 6 finalists with the highest pinfall after the 8 games will proceed to the stepladder shootout finals.
Meanwhile there were no major movements in the Women's Open division with Nerosha Keligit of Malaysia continuing to lead the standings with 1397. Japan's Misaki Mukotani finished second with 1343 while a second Malaysian, Alisha Iman Cheong improved to third position with 1340.
Macau's Hui Tong topped the local pool with 1226 ahead of Au Man Wai in second with 1180 and Che Weng Si in third with 1163. Japan's Yuri Sato headed the mixed pool with 1292 as the cut in 15th position went up slightly to 1230 by Hong Kong's Milki Ng.
The top 3 local and top 3 overseas qualifiers will automatically advance to Round 2 finals. Local qualifiers positioned 4 to 7, overseas qualifiers positioned 4 to 7, the 15 qualifiers from the mixed pool and the defending champion will contest the Round 1 finals over 8 games.
The top 18 finalists with the highest total pinfall after the 8 games will advance to Round 2 finals, joined by the 6 seeded qualifiers for another 8 games. The top 6 finalists with the highest pinfall after the 8 games will proceed to the stepladder shootout finals.
Women's top local qualifier, Hui Tong
The Youth and Senior Masters finals will be staged tomorrow morning while Open Masters Round 1 will be staged on June 22 and Round 2 finals on June 23. The top 16 Asian men and top 16 Asian women will also qualify for the 2018 ABF Tour second leg, Macau on June 24.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau, China.
Related stories:
Malaysian, Korean leads qualifying
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