Jari Ratai, who reached the finals knocking out his country's national coach, Sami Konsteri 2-0 with scores of 190 and 180 to Konsteri's 171 and 172. The Finn outclassed his challenger, Zulmazran Zulkifli, 248-191 in the first game of the best of 3 matches men's final.
Photo Gallery: May 5
But in the third and deciding game, the Finn made the best of four strikes-in-a-row putting pressure on Zulmazran, which was evident when he made numerous mistakes opening the first, second and sixth frames. By the ninth frame, Jari had sealed the match and clinch his first-ever world title and ending the game with 212 to Zulmazran's 185.
"I'm good on short oil but because the finals were played on two different lane conditions, Sami (Konsteri) and I decided to use the urethane ball instead of a reactive one so that I could bowl on extreme right next to the gutter," said the estatic Jari Ratia during his interview with ESPN.
"I'm glad we made the correct decision and it paid off. I was very unlucky to shoot two unbelievable 7-10 splits in the final two frames but Sami told me to forget about it and go on to the next game.
The champion had qualified for the knockout stage in seventh position from the three days of qualifying rounds. He moved into the semi-final by dispatching second-seed, Lucas Legnani of Argentina in the quarter-final yesterday.
The runnerup, Zulmazran earned a crack at the title by ending Indonesia's favourite, Ryan Lalisang, 2-1 in the other semi-final. The fifth-seed Malaysian also disposed off Denmark's Jesper Agerbo, 2-1 in yesterday's quarter-final to move into the semis.
"When Jari (Ratia) had two consective 7-10 splits in the second game to give me a second chance, I just didn't take the opportunity," said Zulmazran after losing 1-2 to the Finn in the finals.
"I should have made the necessary adjustments earlier but didn't, so it is my fault. But I'm overall very pleased with my performance as I wanted to at least make the top 8. And to finish second is a great feeling too.
"I had high hopes for Zulmazran as he has been bowling extremely well but this is bowling and sometimes things don't go your way," said Malaysian national coach, Holloway Cheah. Zulmazran settled for US$5,000 while the chapion won US$10,000 for his victory.
When Marcano had a split in the third frame, Wendy took gained confidence to knock down four consecutive strikes to open up a 40-pin breather. But an open frame in the seventh from Wendy gave a slim chance to Marcano when she recovered with a double in the sixth and seventh frames.
But when the champion regained her composure to shoot a double strike in the next two frames, the match was more or less sealed giving the Malaysian her first-ever world title. Wendy had lost to a South American, Clara Guerrero in the 2005 World Ranking Masters to finish as runnerup.
"Although I lost the first game, I was a confident that I can win the next two games as Holloway has lined me up on which line to bowl when I was warming up," said Wendy when interviewed by ESPN after her historical victory.
"We both made the decision on the line to bowl before the start and it paid off handsomely," said the delighted national chief coach, Holloway Cheah. "During the practice, Wendy kept warming up on the short oil so that she will be stronger.
Wendy had disposed off fourth-seed, Krista Pollanen of Finland, 2-0 in the second semi-final to book her place in the finals while Karen Marcano ousted Latvia's Diana Zavjalova, 2-1 in the first semi.
Marcano had also ended Indonesia's hopeful, Putty Armein, 2-1 in yesterday's quarter-final while Wendy Chai also knocked out another Inodnesian youngster, Tannya Roumimper, 2-0 to move into the semi-final.
The champion took home US$10,000 as Marcano settled for US$5,000. Sami Konsteri, who won US$3,000 for finishing third, also won an extra US$3,000 for topping Squad A, Squad C and emerging as overall leader after the 24-games qualifying rounds.
Mubarak Al-Muaraikhi of Qatar won US$1,000 for topping Squad B. Tannya Roumimper won US$1,000 for topping Squad A, Krista Pollanen Squad B and Karen Marcano won US$2,000 for topping Squad C and as topseed after 24-games.
Photos by Terence Yaw.