23rd March, Kuwait: PBA pro, Jason Belmonte of Australia claimed the ABF Tour Kuwait 2011 title with a convincing victory over Thailand's Yannaphon Larpapharat, 245-212 at Cozmo Bowling Center on Wednesday.

>Belmonte, who was edged out in the semi-final match by Hussain Al Suwaidi of UAE in the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions last week, had his revenge when he thrashed the Emirati in Round 2 to reach the semi-final.

Jason Belmonte, who finished as the best Asian in the 8th Kuwait Open 2011 yesterday, cruised through to the second round when he ousted tour debutant, Hassan Al Zaabi of UAE, 214-158.

A re-match against newly-crowned ABF Tour Tournament of Champions, Hussain Al Suwaidi of UAE was a hard-fought encounter. The Aussie had to a double strike in the tenth frame but managed seven pins in his last throw.

A simple spare from the Emirati would be enough to knock out Belmonte but was unlucky to hit a split to hand the win to the Aussie, 202-211. Belmote sailed pass Ayad Al Amiri of Kuwait in the first semi-final match, 214-148 to set up the final against Thailand's Yannaphon Larpapharat.

In the final, Yannaphon had missed a single pin spare in the first frame but recovered with a double and a spare in the fourth frame to draw level. But another costly split from the Thai allowed his opponent to pull away after the Belmonte rolled three consecutive strikes.

Although Yannaphon responded with four strikes-in-a-row himself, Belmonte downed another three strikes to put the match beyond the Thai and sealing the match and the title, 245-212.

"I was very disappointed with my performance in the Kuwait Open but this win made some amends," confessed Belmonte, who finished eighth after the Kuwait Open matchplay finals.

"Yannaphon bowled extremely well to reach the finals and if not for his mistakes, it would have been a closer match. I had a lucky break when Hussain had a split in his last frame in Round 2 otherwise I would have been knocked out."

Yannaphon shot two back-to-back 257s, one in the semi-finals when he beat Cyrus Cheung of Hong Kong, 257-191 and the other against Mohammed Janahi of Bahrain, 257-177 in Round 2.

The Thai also shot a high game when he beat Kuwait's Fadhel Al Mousawi, 240-203 in the opening round. After two legs, UAE leg champion, Khaled Al Dubyyan heads the ranking with 93 points followed by Belmonte with 75.

UAE leg semi-finalist, Basel Al Anzi of Kuwait is third with 65 while Sayed Ibrahim Al Hashemi of UAE and Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong completed the top 5.

The next stop will be the Saudi leg on March 31 following the 5th Kingdom International Open in Riyadh from March 24 to 30. This year's ABF Tour consists of eighth legs - four in the Middle East without women division and four in East Asia with women division.

Bowlers will earn ranking points from each of the legs they contest and the top 16 men and top 16 women at the end of the final leg, will qualify for the Tournament of Champions.

For further information and details, please contact ABF Tour Committee at Tel: +852 2893 6039, Fax: +852 2893 6290; Email: hktbc@netvigator.com or info@abftour.com.