Malaysia made its presence felt in the women's open overseas division while Singapore continued to pace the men's open overseas category in the qualifying rounds of the Philippine International Open Tenpin Bowling Championships last Wednesday at the Coronado Lanes inside the Starmall in Mandaluyong.

After three days of qualifying action, Malaysian Nerosha Keligit scored 624 and  695, respectively,  for a combined tally of 1319 pinfalls to move into second place.

A silver medalist in the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games, Keligit was just one pin behind pacesetting Singaporean Jezreel Tan (1320) in the tournament organized by the Philippine Bowling Federation and sponsored by the Philippine Sports Commission.

The Malaysian eased out ertswhile Singaporean No. 2 Charmaine Chang (1317), who fell to third place.

Considered among the regional powers in the sport, three  others Malaysians  were among the top six in the women's open foreign division that will advance to the finals on Saturday.

Ester Chia Meilan (1288), Natasha Roslan (1264) and Siti Safiya (1256) were fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

Singapore's Darren Ong, a double bronze medalist in the Hanoi meet, wrested top spot in the men's open overseas division qualifiers with a remarkable six-game series of 1483 after sizzling with a 718 and 765, respectively.

He was 14 pins in front of compatriot Timothy Tam, who was equally hot and running second with a 1469 (712-757) while their teammate Ryan Toh was in third place with a tally of 1423 (681-742).

Among those who remained in the top 12 that will advance to the finals on Saturday were five Malaysians: Rafiq Ismail at No. 6 (1353), No. 8 Syafiq Ridwhan (1340), No. 9 Tun Hakim (1340), No. 10 Muhammad Syazirol (1339) and No. 12 Timmy Tan (1319).

Husain Al Suwaidi of the United Arab Emirates (1341) was in seventh place.