17th March, Kuwait: Two-time Asia No. 1, Hussain Al-Suwaidi of UAE captured the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions Men's title while ex-Malaysian national bowler, Lai Kin Ngoh returned to the winning circle with victory in the women's division.

Hussain Al-Suwaidi, who finished second last year, started off with a vengence as he struck twice in his two opening frames against Asian Championship Masters gold medalist, Khaled Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait, who only spared two frames.

Despite a split in the third frame by Hussain, the Emirati rolled three consective strikes to open up a gap of 20 pins as the Kuwaiti continued to struggle in the early stages.

Khaled bounced back with four strikes-in-a-row to draw level at the eighth frame and needing another in the tenth to have any chance of sealing the match.

But Hussain responded by striking out from frame nine to take the match and the coveted title, 233-213. The champion had edged PBA pro, Jason Belmonte of Australia, 195-194 to reach the finals.

"The match against Jason was crucial and I made sure I put in 110 percent focus," said the delighted 29-year-old Hussain. "Khaled was having a good run to the finals and I knew it will be tough match."

"It was very close right up to the end and I needed to strike in the tenth frame to stand a chance of winning. Luckily I kept my nerves and I guess my previous experiences helped me pull it through."

Khaled sailed into the finals with a comfortable victory over Bahrain's Yousif Falah, 207-168 in the first semi-final match. Khaled was equally impressive in the quarter-finals when he ousted Thailand's Phiriyahbhoon P., 256-217.

Belmonte shot the tournament's highest game when he beat No. 3 seed, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong, 265-200 in the other quarter-finals and Hussain knocked out defending champion, Ryan Laisang of Indonesia, 195-170 in his quarter-final match.

Meanwhile, ex-Malaysian national bowler, Lai Kin Ngoh returned to the winning circle after she edged Hong Kong's Milki Ng in the low-scoring women's final, 168-156 to capture the women's crown.

Both Lai and Ng had an opened frame each and were locked together at the sixth frame. Two more open frames from Ng gave the Malaysian a lead of 23 pins by the time they reached the eighth frame. Lai went on to beat Ng, 169-156 to win the women's crown.

The champion also eliminated defending champion, Sharon Limansantoso of Indonesia, 200-193 in the second semi-final to advance while Ng beat Korea's Kim Eun Jung, 184-161 in the other semi.

"I came here without any high expectations and my target was to make the top 8 finals," said 35-year-old Lai, whose only victory in the tour was the 2008 Indonesia leg. "I wanted to come and renew my friendship with some of the Asian bowlers.

"To go home with this victory is simply fantastic. I don't bowl as much as I use to when I was a national bowler so the win is beyond my expectation really."

Lai won US$10,000 as champion while Ng took home US$5,000 as runnerup. Both the losing semi-finalists settled for US$3,000 each. Hussain pocketed the biggest prize of US$20,000 for his victory.

Khaled won US$8,000 with Belmonte and Yousif settling for US$4,000 each for finishing third and fourth positions. The top 16 men and top 16 women had qualified for the tournament of champions through eight legs contested in 2010.

Mr Kevin Dornberger, WTBA president presented the trophy to the women champion while Sheikh Talal Al-Sabah, ABF and Kuwait Bowling Federation president gave away the trophy to the men champion.

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