Choi Jin-A from Korea and Adrian Ang, Malaysia, were crowned women's and men's Masters champions in 20th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships Friday afternoon at Hong Kong Bowling City in Hong Kong, China.

In an all Malaysian men's final, Ang (pictured left), the No. 2 seed, flew past top seeded Zulmazran Zulkifli, 449-413, to earn the biggest title of his career.

The youngster, who will celebrate his 20th birthday next week during the World Youth Championships in Orlando, Fla., took an 83-pin lead in the first game thanks to a 279 game and never looked back.

Ang easily defeated third-seeded Zhang Peng (pictured left), China, in the opening match of the three-player stepladder finals, with 214-166. Zhang, a lefty who bowls in the traditional style, earned the bronze medal.

In an all-Korean women's championship round, No. 1 seeded Choi Jin-A, defeated Gye Min-Young, the No. 2 seed, with back-to-back 236 games, 472-445, to claim the Masters title.

Gye (below left) eliminated her compatriot Jeon Eun-Hee in the opening match, 203-190, for the right to bowl Choi for the title.

The Korean women have swept all individual medals in Singles, All Events and Masters of the 20th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships.

With five gold, five silver and three bronze they left Hong Kong Bowling City two medals shy of the maximum as they usually cannot win more than one gold in team and gold and silver in Trios (what they did). The only medals the six Koreans failed to earn were gold and bronze in Doubles.

However, they were just a 9-count instead of a strike away from winning an unprecedented six gold medals without winning all six titles as the two trios missed to tie for gold by just 19 pins.

The comment from the national coaches of the other countries reached from "they bowled as if they were from another planet" to "they aren't human".

The 32 finalists of the Masters competition at the 20th Asian Championships spearheaded by leaders Jeon Eun-Hee (left), Korea, and Adrian Ang (right), Malaysia, will return on Friday morning for the second match play round on short oil starting at 9am at Hong Kong Bowling City.

The top 3 men and women after 16 games round robin including bonus will advance to the stepladder finals at 1pm (women) and 2 pm (men), respectively.

Based on how they performed on short oil, Jeon and team mate Choi Jin-A are the bookmakers favorites for the first two spots in the women's finals. The contenders for the third spot are Esther Cheah, Malaysia and Hwang Sun-Ok and Kim Yeau-Jin, Korea.

Based on the stats on short oil, men's All Events champ Chester King will take the top spot and Ang would fell to second. However, it is questionable if King can repeat his outstanding performance from Thursday. Zulmazran Zulkifli, Malaysia, and Hussain Al-Suwaidi have good chances to make the finals. Don't count Alex Liew, Malaysia, and Zhang Peng from China out, who might catch up with the help of the bonus points.

Men Masters - Standings after the first block of 8 games on long oil

Women Masters - Standings after the first block of 8 games on long oil


The 20th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships will end with the Victory Banquet on Friday evening at the Xi Shan Chinese Restaurant at EMax, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong, China.