15th January, Jakarta: Malaysian women put up a devastating performance to out knock all their opponents making it an all-Malaysian semifinals in the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions after the quarter finals were played at Jaya Ancol Bowl this afternoon.

Wendy Chai, the ABF Tour Malaysia leg champion, got the ball rolling when she defeated local favourite and Inodensia leg champion, Putty Armein 234-222 to take up the first semifinals spot. The 26-year-old did not put a foot wrong the the match against Armein in the match while the Tour ranked No. 1 had an open frame in the 8th.

At the same time, top-seed Sarah Yap edged Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung 182-165 to join Chai as Malaysia's second women semifinalist. Asian

Ranked No. 1, Shalin Zulkifli then took on Filipina, Irene Benitez in the third women's quarter final match and earned for her semifinal spot with a score of 206-193.

The final spot went to Esther Cheah, who outclassed Asia's top women bowler, Liza Del Rosario 225-204 to make it an Aall-Malaysian semifinals.

"I am extremely pleased with the performance of our bowlers, especially the women," said Chris Batson, Malaysian national chief coach. "We will sure have a champion in the women's division but I am also confident that Alex or Adrian may stand a chance to take the men's title as well."

"Good spirit was displayed by our bowlers especially Esther Cheah and young Adrian. Esther was struggling on the first day but after telling her to push the ball more forward when releasing it gave her better control and was therefore able to make up grounds on the second day and make the cut."

While the men's first quarterfinal match started with Daniel Lim loosing to Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong 157-213, Malaysia bounched back when Alex Liew demolished former World Cup champion and current Asian ranked No. 1, Ahmed Shaheen, 258-163 to take the first Malaysia' semifinal spot.

The highlight of the match was probably between local hero, Rayn Lalisang and Filipino, Joonee Gatchalian. Both bowlers traded strikes after strikes but an open frame in the fourth by Lalisang made way for Gatchalian to close the door on Lalisang. Gatchalian went on to clinch the match, 238-224 for a well-earned semifinal slot.

15-year-old Adrian gave Malaysia the best outing todate when he cruised to take up the final semifinal spot and Malaysia's second in the men's division knocking out UAE's Shaker Al-Hassan, 226-177.

Sarah Yap will meet Wendy Chai while Shalin Zulkifli is matched up against Esther Cheah. Two southpaws, Joonee Gatchalian and Alex Liew, are matched in the men's first semifinals while Adrian Ang will face Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong.

The ABF Tour comprises six Legs and a Grand Final, the Tournament of Champions. Each Leg was staged over two competition days where the top 16 men and 16 women bowlers from the preceding International Open Masters Event (Open Grade) competed in a one-game match play knock-out competition for the individual men's and women's titles.

The Tournament of Champions will be staged over four competition days where the top 16 men and 16 women bowlers (based on ABF Tour ranking points), plus two additional wildcard entries from the West Asia region (thus totalling 18 men in the men's division), will qualify to compete over four rounds of competition for the coveted men's and women's ABF Tour Champion titles.

The ABF Tour - Tournament of Champions will be televised LIVE on Malaysia's Astro Supersport, Singapore's Starhub and Indonesia Metro TV. Highlights of the finals will also be televised later on local television stations of the six countries where the tour is being held. It will also be broadcast later in parts of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, China and Australasia with an estimated audience of around 90 million.

For further information and details please contact ABF Tour Committee Marketing and Event Management Division at Tel: (852) 2810 5191; Fax: (852) 28105192; Mr. Ritchie Lai (Mobile: (852) 93598669; email: ritchie.lai@tndgroup.com) or Mr. Kelvin Pong (Mobile: (852) 9100 0958; email: Kelvin.pong@tndgroup.com).