Hong Kong and Korea clinched the final two Gold medals as Wu Siu Hong and Nam Bo-Ra triumphed in the Men's and Women's Masters stepladder finals at the concluding 19th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championship Tuesday afternoon.

It was a sweet revenge for the 23-year-old Wu as he outclassed his arch rival, Alex Liew of Malaysia, 506-414 in the two-game stepladder match to win Hong Kong's only medal on the last day of the Championship. Wu had lost to Liew on four occasions - twice in 2005 at the same venue in the Indonesia Open and ABF Tour, and again just last month at Jaya Ancol Bowl in the Indonesia Open and ABF Tour.

The champion trashed his opponent, 248-166 in the first match and romped home a convincing 269-237 win in the second match to earn his Gold medal. Liew settled for the silver despite easily knocking out local hero, Ryan Lalisang, 267-214 in the first match.

"I'm very happy that I can finally beat Liew after loosing to on four occasions," said the delighted Wu. "I must admit that I went into the finals a bit worried

and nervous, but my coach kept reminding me that I can beat my opponent. I tried not to think about it and just went on with my game making sure that I make good shots.

"I was great in the first game when I beat Ryan but somehow I guess I was too eager when I met Wu in the finals," said Liew. "When I changed to a different ball in the second match against Wu, I knew I made a bad choice and the change was probably too late. Overall, I'm very pleased with my performance. I'll work harder for my next assignment in Korea."

At the end of the 15-game round-robin matchplay finals played over two days, Wu finished in the lead 43 pins ahead of Qatar's Saeed Al-Hajri in second and Alex Liew third, another three pins further. Lalisang was fourth and trailing Liew by 36 pins.

"There is a lot of pressure bowling on home ground and in front of so many supporters. There is high expectation from everyone here," said the slightly disappointed Lalisang. "But I'm still very happy to win 1 Gold and 2 Bronze medals and especially contributing to Indonesia becoming joint-overall champion.

"I wish to thank my team-mates, especially Putty Armein and Tannya Roumimper, our coaches, the Indonesian Bowling Congress for a great championship, and to my parents for their continuous support. We need to improve on our team events if we want to be successful in the Doha Games."

In probably one of the closest ever position-round match, Wu just managed to defeat Saeed, 194-172 to keep his lead, while Lalisang stormed home with a 268-203 win over Liew. Both Lalisang and Liew managed to overtake Saeed Al-Hajri to make the cut for the stepladder finals in second and third.

Overnight leader, Biboy Rivera struggled on short oil condition, dropping out of contention while the All Events Gold medalist, Azidi Ameran of Malaysia finished a disappointing 12th.

In the all-Korean Women's final stepladder matches, second-seed, Nam Bo-Ra edged top-seed and compatriot, Kim Yeau-Jin, 394-379, in two games to win her first-ever Asian Championship Masters title. Nam's only other Masters Gold came from the Far East Championship in China four years ago.

The champion had earlier ousted third-seed, Ayano Katai of Japan, 201-195, to earn a crack at the prestigious Masters title. Nam’s gold and Kim’s silver also allowed Korea to emerge joint-champion with host nation, Indonesia on 3 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze medals.

"I hope my victory here will give me chance to be selected into the Doha Games squad," said the champion, who trains and bowls full-time for Korea. "I like to thank all my team-mates and coaches for helping us achieve what we set out to do here.

"I'm not so disappointed since I lost to my team-mate," said Kim Yeau-Jin. "I didn't feel good in the second match and I felt that my rhythm was completely out and I just cannot make good shots. I'll have to work harder on this before the next championship."

Korea also emerged as women overall champion dislodging Indonesia into second while Malaysia claim the men's overall title with 2 Gold and 2 Silver medals ahead of Qatar in second with 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze medal.

Photos & text by Terence Yaw.