8th August, Hong Kong, China: Top-seeds, Ahmad Muaz Fishol and Nur Syazwani Sahar delivered and double victory for Malaysia after winning the Men's and Women's Open Masters titles of the 49th Hong Kong International Open Bowling Championships on Saturday.

Muaz was forced into a sudden-death decider after he lost the first match, 189-231 to team-mate and challenger, Hafiz Zainuddin. But Muaz bounced back in the second match to edge Zainuddin, 207-199, ending an almost decade-long drought for his victory.

Zainuddin, who had earlier ousted two Hong Kong nationals, second-seed, Tony Wong Kwn Yuen of Hong Kong and winner of the first stepladder match, Louis Lam Ka Yiu, 268-242-245 in the second stepladder match to face his fellow-countrymen in the final.

Lam survived a ninth and tenth frame tie-breaker, with a 49-48 win after he tied with team-mate, Jovi Ma Ka Yin on 224 in the first stepladder match to advance to the next match as Tun Hakim of Malaysia crashed out with 169. Muaz pocketed HKD60,000 (approx. US$7,600) as champion while Zainuddin settled for HKD30,000 as first runner-up.

In the Women's Open division, Nur Syazwani Sahar completed Malaysia's double victory after defeating challenger, Wong Son Ian of Macau, 223-211 in the second deciding match. Won had edged Syazwani, 209-187 in the first match to force the tie into a sudden-death title match.

Wong put in an outstanding performance by ousting two Malaysians, second-seed, Natasha Roslan and Nut Hazirah Ramli, 264-202-257 in the second stepladder match to earn a crack at the title against Syazwani. She also sialed past fourth-seed, Teng Jo Yu of Chinese Taipei and another Malaysian, Nada Nawwarah, 235-228-228 to advance to the second match.

Syazwani won HKD32,000 (approx. US$4,000) as champion while Wong earned HKD16,000 and Roslan HKD8,000 as first and second runners-up. Nur Hazirah, Teng and Nawwarah picked up HKD4,000, HKD2,700 and HKD2,000 for finishing fourth to sixth positions respectively.

In the earlier 8-game Stage 2 finals, Malaysians swept the top three positions of the Women's Open division with Syazwani topping the field with 1972 followed by Roslan in second with 1948 and Nur Hazirah third with 1864. Teng, Wong and Nawwarah made the cut for the stepladder finals in fourth to sixth positions.