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The Korean duo of Choi Bok-Eum and Kim Kwang-Wook set the target of 5,006 for the remaining B squad to beat for the gold medal in the men’s doubles event in the 18^th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships at the PS Bowl in Bangkapi on Thursday evening.

After three of the final six games the Koreans score looked impregnable but Wu Hao-Ming and Wang Tien-Fu of Chinese Taipei certainly had other ideas about that. Cruising through the earlier games a little behind the pace, they upped the ante in the fifth game with an outstanding doubles game of 473 and left themselves the target of just 414 in the last game to clinch the gold medal and demote the Koreans to second-place. They started out well and that shiny gold medal looked to be in their grasp. Maybe the pressure was too great, maybe the bowling gods were not pleased. Maybe, maybe? Anyway, disaster struck with splits and open frames and the desperate duo fell short of their target by the unforeseeable narrow margin of 41 pins on 4,965 and they had to settle for silver. Had they won the gold, the Chinese Taipei incentive scheme might have seen them some $10,000 U.S. the richer.

A second Chinese Taipei team, Kao Hai-Yuan and Cheng Sao-Cheng, will stand alongside their team-mates to receive the bronze medal at the Friday evening presentation ceremony, sneaking into third place on 4,956.

The final standings show three Chinese Taipei teams in the top six positions.

Choi Bok-Eum, 17, a high school student in Yeosu City, is now mighty pleased with himself. Not only can he boast the gold medal with his partner in the doubles, he won bronze in the Singles and leads All-Events, the total scores of the Singles and Doubles with a score so far of 5,116, an average of 213.

The top 16 men and women with total aggregate scores in the Singles, Doubles, Trios and Five-person Team events will advance to the Masters and, perhaps, the Stepladder Final on Tuesday.

Nobody in the Men’s Doubles managed to take away the glory of the Championship’s individual high game which is still held by Shalin Zulkiflii of Malaysia with a 279.

Friday’s action on the PS Lanes in Bangkapi will see the Trios teams, competing over six games, three on the short oil condition, three on long. The event will be completed on Friday evening.

MEN'S DOUBLES - FINAL STANDINGS: