South Koreans sweep Masters titles in 19th Asian Youth Bowling tilt

MANILA - South Koreans Park Jeon Ha and Lee Jung Min were crowned boys and girls Masters champions on Saturday at the close of the 19th Asian Youth Bowling Championships at the Coronado Lanes, Starmall EDSA in Mandaluyong City.

Seeded No. 1 after the 16-game Masters elimination series, Park rolled games of 225-248 to beat Malaysian Paolo Hernandez (171-245), 473-416, and claim the gold medal in the tournament organized by the Philippine Bowling Federation headed by Steve Hontiveros.

Hernandez, the No. 2 seed, made it to championship round after defeating his compatriot and No. 3 seed Billy Muhammad Islam, 277-197 in the one-game playoff.

Meanwhile, No. 3 Lee defeated second seed Malaysian Faten Najinah, 258-211, in the stepladder finals to arrange a title showdown with No. 1 Malaysian Nur Amira Auni, a silver medalist in the singles and team events.

Lee rolled a two-game series of 212-234 to prevail over Auni (163-218), 446-381, to pocket the gold medal in the tournament hosted by the Philippines for the second time.

South Korea has collected a total of seven golds, one silver and two bronze medals.

Malaysia, the overall championship when the tournament was held in Macau two years ago, placed second with one gold, three silvers and one bronze while Japan was third with one gold, one silver and one bronze.

The Philippines only had one medal, a bronze coming from Bea Hernandez and Nina de Vera in the girls doubles event. In 2015, the Filipinos managed two silvers and two bronzes. (PNA)