16th December, Doha: 2013 USBC Queens winner, Diana Zavjalova of Latvia overcame an 18-pin deficit to win the PBA-WBT 16th Qatar Bowling Open 2016 by beating Pontus Andersson of Sweden, 474-427 in the two-games total pinfalls championship match.

Fourth-seed, Zavjalova had a good start with a spare in her first frame followed by three consecutive strikes in the opening game as Andersson stumbled to an aweful start with two opened frames in his first three to trail by 32 pins.

But the Swede recovered with four strikes-in-a-row to draw level after six frames. Although the Latvian rolled another double in the seventh and eighth frames, a split in the ninth proved costly as Andersson struck out to take the first match, 222-204 for an 18-pin lead.

Andersson had a better start in the second game with a turkey from frame 2, but Zavjalova was on a roll knocking down four strikes. And when the Swede suffered a split in the fifth frame, Zavjalova ran away with five more strikes.

Although Andersson recovered with a double, the gap was just too much for the Swedish youngster to overcome. Zavjalova went on to win the game, 270-205 and took victory on a two-game total of 474-427.

"It's been tough for me since winning the USBC Masters back in 2013 and I haven't won anything since. I'm so glad that I've ended this three-year drought," said the delighted Zavjalova, who picked up a big pay cheque of US$40,000.

"I've come to Doha many many times and have never done well. Making the Step 2 finals was already a breakthrough and to win is really beyond my expectations. It's been a long two weeks here and I'm looking forward to celebrating with my family when I get home."

The champion progressed into the final after she dispatched top seed and three-time USBC Masters champion, Jason Belmonte of Australia, 484-442 in the first semi-final.

Andersson, who settled for US$20,000 as first runner-up, edged third-seed and qualifier from the desperado squad, Ahmad Muaz of Malaysia, 492-469 in the other semi to face Zavjalova in the final.

Belmonte had earlier topped the Step 2 final with 1449 and shooting the tournament's sixth 300, to lead Andersson in second with 1434. Muaz finished third with 1420 while Zavjalova secured a spot in the semi-finals with 1415, just one pin ahead of Russia's Aleksei Parshukov.

The Aussie, who finished as second runner-up and the Malaysian as third runner-up earned US$7,000 each. Danielle McEwan of United States failed to repeat the form she showed by topping Step 1 final ending in 20th position. Defending champion, Cameron Weier of United States managed only 18th position while top qualifier, Osku Palermaa of Finland finished seventh.

The PBA-WBT 16th Qatar Bowling Open is also the final stop of the 2016 European Bowling Tour. Although Zavjalova if a PBA member, she would not be awarded a PBA title sice she competed with handicap. Richard Teece of England and Laura Beuthner of Germany won the men's and women's 2016 EBT titles with 634 and 757 points respectively.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

16th December, Doha: Six out of eight women made the cut for the next stage of the PBA-WBT 16th Qatar Bowling Open 2016 with H.H. Emir Cup champion, Danielle McEwan of United States winning Step 1 final ahead of Sweden's Martin Larsen and Malaysia's Sin Li Jane in second and third.

Larsen got off the 6-game final with a scorching 268 to lead Russia's Aleksei Parshukov by one pin followed by Jenny Wegner of Sweden, a further four pins away in third. Desperado squad qualifier, Ahmad Muaz of Malaysia and Christopher Via of United States was fourth and fifth having rolled high games of 258 and 257.

Muaz took over the lead after adding 254 in the second game two pins ahead of McEwan, with the Swede in third. McEwan shot a big game of 277 to move up to second and Larsen slipping to third.

But there was no stopping the American as she fired another strong game of 266 to take over the running and Parshukov trailed in second, 8 pins behind. Larsen and Muaz kept pace with the leading duo while Li Jane remained in fifth.

McEwan ended the final with 214 and 247 to top the field of 33 finalists with 1514 (scratch average of 244.33), including a 48-pin handicap. Larsen settled for second with 1490 while Li Jane ended with a big game of 277 to clinch third spot with 1475.

Malaysians finalists put in an impressive performance with Timmy Tan, Siti Safiyah, Ahmad Muaz, Rafiq Ismail and Esther Cheah taking up fourth, sixth, seventh, 11th and 17th positions respectively. The other two women to make the cut was Sandra Gongora of Mexico and Diana Zavjalova of Latvia.

Parshukov rounded out the top five with 1450. Siti, Muaz and two-time PBA Player of the Year, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland all registered totals past the 1400-mark.

Three-time Canadian national champion, David Simard clinched the 18th and final cut position for the next stage with 1348. Mathieu Berges of Switzerland and Rocio Respreto of Colombia were unlucky to miss the cut by one and two pins in 19th and 20th positions respectively.

The top 18 advanced to Step 2 final, joined by the ten seeded qualifiers from the general standings for another 6 games scratch starting at 1.45pm local time. The top 4 at the end of the final will advance to the stepladder final.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

15th December, Doha: Three-time USBC Masters winner, Jason Belmonte made amends from his previous attempt to win the opening Squad 15 with 1511 and moved into the top bracket of the PBA-WBT 16th Qatar Bowling Open 2016 overall standings in second.

The 33-year-old two-handed Aussie reeled in 239, 254, 289, 238, 244 and 247 to finish 50 pins ahead of his nearest rival, Yousif Falah of Bahrain in second. Yousif tied second spot with Colombia's Jamie Gonzalez with 1461.

Sweden's Daniel Fransson shared fourth position with Malaysia's Siti Safiyah on 1431 followed by Diana Zavjalova in sixth position with 1410.

A second Malaysian, Ahmad Muaz finished seventh with 1405 while 2016 World Singles gold medallist, Jesper Agerbo of Denmark rounded out the eight who totaled over 1400 with 1401.

2016 USBC Masters champion and 2016 World Youth triple gold medallist, Anthony Simonsen of United States, who held the cut at 34th position with 1390, improved with 1458 to win Squad 16.

His compatriot, Marshall Kent finished second with 1449 to leapfrog from 47th position and made the cut. Third perfect-gamer, Richard Teece of England was the third qualifier in the squad to total past 1400 with 1421 and improved from 39th to also make the cut.

In the final squad of the tournament, 2016 World Singles bronze medallist, Michael Mak of Hong Kong left it late with a comprehensive effort to post 1467 thanks to two 279s not only qualifying but cracked the top bracket.

Sweden's Martin Paulsson finished second to with 1437 to secure his place in Step 1 final. Christopher Via of United States and Shota Kawazoe of Japan tied third spot with 1391.

Day 5 high-series award winner and overnight leader, Osku Palermaa of Finland remained at the top of the leaderboard with 1523. Belmonte took second spot with 1511 while Day 4 high-series winner, Rodolfo of Costa Rica was third with 1485.

Squad 7 winner, John Wells of England shared fourth position with John Janawicz of United States with 1475. Last squad winner, Mak and Gonzalez earned a bye in sixth and seventh positions, followed by Yousif in eighth.

Defending champion, Cameron Weier shared ninth position with Simonsen completing the top 10 and skipping Step 1 final. Zavjalova was pushed down to head the 24 qualifiers in the general standings. The changes from the three squads affected several positions towards the cut line.

2016 H.H. Emir Cup winner, Danielle McEwan of United States clinched the 34th and the cut position with 1406 forcing compatriot, Kendle Miles to claim the top spot of Day 3 early bird squads.

Aleksei Parshukov of Russia, who slipped into 40th position, claimed the Day 3 early bird second spot. Christopher Via and Mathieu Berges of Switzerland qualified from the Day 2 early bird squads in first and second.

Two Malaysians, 2016 World Singles silver medallist, Rafiq Ismail and Sin Li Jane claimed the Day 1 early bird squads in first and second. In the desperado squad held after Squad 17, Hassan Alkharusi of Oman rolled the fifth 300 of the tournament to qualify in first.

Two additional Malaysians, 2012 QubicaAMF World Cup champion, Syafiq Ridhwan and 2016 Indonesia Open champion, Ahmad Muaz finished second and third with 268 and 256 respectively to also qualify for the final.

The top ten qualifiers will earn a bye and advance automatically to Step 2 final. Qualifiers positioned 11 to 34 (total 24 players) together with the top 2 qualifiers from each of the first three days (6 players) and three from the desperado squad totaling 33 qualifiers will compete Step 1 final over 6 games from scratch.

The top 18 finishers will be joined by the top 10 seeded qualifiers (total 28) for another 6 games in Step 3 final from scratch. The top 4 finishers will then advance to the Step 3 final in which the top seed will meet the fourth-seed and the second-seed will face the third-seed over a two-games total pinfalls.

The losers will be ranked third and fourth accordingly while the winners will comtinue to Step 4 title match, again over a two-games total pinfalls.

The champion stand to win the top prize of US$40,000 with the first runner-up taking home US$20,000. The second and third runner-ups will be awarded US$7,000 each.

The 16th Qatar Bowling Open is a World Bowling Tour and an European Tour stop. If the champion is a member of PBA, he will be awarded a PBA international title.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

14th December, Doha: 2015 Bowling World Open champion, Osku Palermaa of Finland became the first qualifier to surpass the 1500-mark on Day 5 of qualifying rounds to go top of the leaderboard at the PBA-WBT 16th Qatar Bowling Open 2016.

The 33-year-old two-handed Finn got off the mark with a sizzling 276 to lead another two-handed and 2016 USBC Masters champion, Anthony Simonsen of Texas, USA by nine pins. Malaysia's Alex Liew and defending champion, Cameron Weier followed in third and fourth.

2016 PBA Team Challenge winner, Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash., rolled the tournament's second 300 in the second game to move into the lead and 19 pins ahead of Palermaa with a second Malaysian and 2016 Asian Championships Singles gold medallist, Timmy Tan in third.

The Finn fought back with another 276 in the third to regain the lead as Kent slipped 42 pins behind. 2016 World Youth All-Events gold medallist, Pontus Andersson of Sweden moved up to third.

Despite managing 200 in the fourth game, Palermaa held on to the lead as Simonsen recovered with a superb 268 to trail by 31 pins and Tan stayed close to the leading duo in third.

Palermaa ended strongly with 269 and 258 in his last two games to take the squad with 1523. Tan finished with 246 and 257 to snatch second spot with 1418 while Andersson stormed home with 266 and 255 to secure third spot with 1408. Simonsen faded off to end in fourth with 1390.

In Squad 13, defending champion Cameron Weier of Federal Way, Wash., snatched top spot with 1458 thanks to two big games of 278 in the second and fifth. Pace-setter, Wicky Yeung of Hong Kong stumbled to a poor 182 in his final game to settle for second with 1439.

Martin Larsen of Sweden finished third with 1427. 2016 European Bowling Tour ranked No. 2, Richard Teece of England rolled the tournament's third 300 in his opening game but ended in fourth with 1398. Colombia's Manuel Otalora rounded the top five with 1392.

In the day's final Squad 14, three-time USBC Masters champion, Jason Belmonte of Orange, NSW, set a blistering pace with 258 and 257 to lead 2016 EBT ranked No. 19, Markus Jansson of Sweden by 35 pins.

The two-handed Aussie added 215, 224 and 247 and was on course to crack the 1400-mark. Bahrain's Osama Abdulrahman trailed in second and Jansson third. Belmonte ended with a disastrous 176 to total only 1377.

Jansson shot the tournament's fourth 300 to snatch pole of squad with 1443. Two-time QubicaAMF World Cup champion, Clara Juliana Guerrero of Colombia was unlucky to finish with 200 and 207 for a total of 1376 in third position.

Palermaa took over the lead of the overall standings with 1523 pushing down Day 3 high-series award winner with 1485, Rodolfo Madrz of Costa Rica into second. Day 2 high-series award winner, John Janawicz of USA occupied third with 1475.

Squad 12 leader, Weier took up fifth with 1458 behind Squad 7 winner, John Wells of England in fourth with 1475. Squad 4 winner, Diana Zavjalova of Latvia, Squad 8 winner, Cristian Azcona of Puerto Rico and Squad 3 winner, Jenny Wegner of Sweden finished sixth to eighth.

Squad 14 winner, Jansson and Sandra Gongora of Mexico completed the top 10 of the top bracket with 1443 and 1439 respectively. Wicky Yeung headed the rest of the 24 qualifiers with 1439 he posted in Squad 13.

The cut at 34th position went up by 28 pins from last night's 1362 to 1390 held by Simonsen. Qualifying will end tomorrow with three more squads. A one-game Desperado squad will be held to add three more qualifiers with the highest single-game score.

The top ten qualifiers will earn a bye and advance automatically to Step 2 final. Qualifiers positioned 11 to 34 (total 24 players) together with the top 2 qualifiers from each of the first three days (6 players) and three from the desperado squad totaling 33 qualifiers will compete Step 1 final over 6 games from scratch.

The top 18 finishers will be joined by the top 10 seeded qualifiers (total 28) for another 6 games in Step 3 final from scratch. The top 4 finishers will then advance to the Step 3 final in which the top seed will meet the fourth-seed and the second-seed will face the third-seed over a two-games total pinfalls.

The losers will be ranked third and fourth accordingly while the winners will comtinue to Step 4 title match, again over a two-games total pinfalls.

The champion stand to win the top prize of US$40,000 with the first runner-up taking home US$20,000. The second and third runner-ups will be awarded US$7,000 each. The 16th

Qatar Bowling Open is a World Bowling Tour and an European Tour stop. If the champion is a member of PBA, he will be awarded a PBA international title.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

13th December, Doha: Three-time Canadian national champion, David Simard rolled Day 4 high-series of 1435 in Squad 9 to make the top bracket of the PBA-WBT 16th Qatar Bowling Open overall qualifying standings in eighth position.

Pontus Andersson of Sweden took an early lead at the start of Squad 9 with 266 to lead Wicky Yeung of Hong Kong by eight pins. Richard Teece of England and Anthony Balabbo of Philippines also knocked down strong games of 248 and 239 to keep pace in third and fourth.

The Swede added a second game of 233 to continue to set the pace as Yeung added another good game of 234 to remain in second. Simard took over third with 258 and Bahrain's Yousif Falah rolled 266 for fourth.

Yeung took over the running after another superb game of 225 in the third to lead Andersson by eight pins. Yousif moved up to third with 226 while Simard managed only 201 to slip down to fourth.

The lanky Bahraini fired a splendid game of 256 to take over the running and Simard bouncing back with 257 to take up second as Yeung slipped to third, five pins adrift.

Top Japanese pro, Shota Kawazoe rolled the tournament's first 300 in the fith but was well off the pace. The 35-year-old Simard ended with 233 and a huge game of 267 to snatch top spot with 1435. Yeung fought back with 255 but ended poorly with 189 to settle for second with 1374. Yousif finished third with 1370 and Kawazoe fourth with 1330.

In the subsequent Squad 10, double-handed Irish, Christopher Sloan rolled 216, 248, 191, 225, 290 and 258 to take the squad with 1428. Pace-setter and Day 1 high-series award winner, Oliver Morig totaled 1414 to take up second.

Colombia's Rocio Respreto finished third in the squad with 1399 while Kawazoe made another attempt to claim fourth with 1398. Malaysia's Siti Safiyah rounded out the top five with 1370. Two-time PBA Regional title winner, Andrew Cain of USA topped the final squad of the day with 1416, thanks to a big game of 279 in his last game.

2016 H.H. Emir Cup champion, Danielle McEwan of USA finished second with 1406 and Saudi Arabia's Abdullah Aldolijan took third spot with 1347. Day 3 high-series award winner, Rodolfo Madriz of Costa Rica remained in the lead of the overall standings after 11 squads with 1485. Day 2 high-series award winner, John Janawicz of USA is second with 1475.

Squad 7 leader, John Wells of England, Squad 4 leader, Diana Zavjalova of Latvia and Squad 8 leader, Cristian Azcona of Puerto Rico rounded out the top five with 1475, 1453 and 1453 respectively. Squad 3 winner, Jenny Wegner of Sweden, Sandra Gongora of Mexico and Simard took up sixth to eighth positions.

Germany's Morig and South Africa's Francois Louw completed top ten, earning automatic qualifications into Step 2 final. Two-time PBA Player of the Year, Mika Koivuniemi of Finalnd slipped to head the 24 qualifiers for Step 1 final.

Current cut with two more days left for qualifying at 34th position, went to Bahrain's Osama Abdulrahman with 1362 (average of 227.00), nine pins more than last year's cut at 1353. With many more international players arriving tomorrow, the cut could reach as high as 1390.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

12th December, Doha: 2010 PABCON Youth Championships Masters gold medallist, Rodolfo Madriz of Costa Rica moved into the top of the leaderboard of the PBA-WBT 16th Qatar Bowling Open after winning the Day 3 high-series award with 1485.

Yaqoub Alshatti of Kuwait set off to a blistering start with 268 in his opening game to lead Japanese pro, Shota Kawazoe by two pins. Mathieu Berges of Switzerland was third with 258 followed by Russia's Alena Egel and Belgium's Mats Maggi in fourth and fifth positions.

Berges added a 235 in the second game to move into the lead as Rodolfo Madriz rolled 253 to take over second spot, 13 pins behind the Swiss. Malaysia's Esther Cheah and Venezuela's Karen Marcano kept close to the leading duo.

Madriz became the new leader after another superb game of 248 at the halfway mark to lead Marcano by 11 pins. Berges and Marcano continued to keep pace in third and fourth.

But his lead was short-lived as a second Malaysian, Sin Li Jane shot into the lead after the fourth game.

The 23-year-old Costa Rican managed only 212 to slip three pins behind followed by Cheah in third. Madriz bounced back with a sizzling 266 to regain the lead going into the sixth and final game. Mexico's Sandra Gongora also shot a big game to take over second spot, 37 pins pins adrift with Sin slipping to third. Mazdriz ended the squad with another scintillating 279 to take the squad and secured top spot with 1485.

The Malaysian finished higher than the Mexican to take up second spot with 1395 while Congora settled for third with 1380. Berges and Cheah rounded out the top five with 1363 and 1352 respectively.

Meanwhile in the following Squad 7, England's John Wells had a chance to over take the Costa Rican after he nearly rolled the tournament's first perfect game. Wells reeled off 11 consecutive strikes but had a wash-out in his final throw to managed 296.

Wells only needed 234 or more but was unlucky to end with only 224 in his final game after stumbling to two open frames and finishing his squad with 1475. Mexican Gongora made another attempt to improve her total to 1439 when she finished second to Wells.

American debutant, Kendle Miles also improved his previous 6-games total of 1361 to 1406 after he finished third in the squad. Russia's Aleksei Parshukov and Colombia's Manuel Otalora completed the top five with 1400 and 1374.

In the 8th and final squad of Day 3 qualifying, Cristian Azcona topped with 1453 after finishing on a second high series of 783 with 256, 258 and 269. Pace-setter, Abdulla A Karim of Bahrain settled for second with 1426 while Khalid Al-Emady took third spot with 1395.

Rodolfo now leads the overall qualifying standings after the third day with 1485 and picking up the high-series award of US$300. Overnight leader after five squads, John Janawicz slipped to second with 1475. Wells tied with the American but settled for third on a lower sixth game.

Squad 4 leader, Diana Zavjalova of Latvia and Azcona rounded out the top five with 1454 and 1453 respectively. Squad 3 leader, Jenny Wegner of Sweden secured sixth with 1450, Gongora seventh with 1439, Day 1 high-series award winner and Oliver Morig of Germany eighth with 1434.

Francois Louw of South Africa took up ninth position with 1430 while two-time PBA Player of the Year, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland completed the preliminary top ten finishers and potentially earning a bye to automatically qualify for Step 2 final.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

11th December, Doha: 2016 PABCON Championships triple gold medallist, John Janawicz of United States took over pole position of the qualifying standings of the PBA-WBT 16th Qatar Bowling Open on the last squad of the day to win the daily high-series award of US$300.

>Newly-crowned QubicaAMF World Cup champion, Jenny Wegner of Sweden led the opening squad on the second day of qualifying rounds with 1450 including a handicap of 8 pins per game. The Swede, who made the last eight of the World Singles Championships, had series of 207, 278, 200, 270, 246 and 201.

Rocio Respresto of Colombia and Christopher Via of United States finished second and third behind Wegner with 1416 and 1398 respectively.

In the second squad of the day, Diana Zavjalova of Latvia totaled four pins more than Zavjalova and topped Squad 4 with 1454. The Latvian got off the block with back-to-back 267 followed by 201, 234, 216 and 221 to become the new leader.

Janawicz patiently waited to make his attempt in the third squad in the evening and set a cracking pace with 254 and 229 to lead compatriot and debutant, Kendle Miles by 39 pins.

The American added two big games of 279 and 263 to extend his lead to 179 pins ahead of his nearest rival. Despite a 214 in the fifth game, Janawicz only needed 215 or more to overhaul Zavjalova for the overall lead. The Amercan ended with a splendid 236 to seal pole position with 1475 which will earn him the day's high-sereis award of US$300.

Osama Abdulrahman of Bahrain finished second with 1252, 223 pins adrift while Miles stumbled to a lowly 173 to take up third in the squad with 1246.

Zavjalova settled for second in the general standings with 1454 followed by Squad 3 leader, Wegner on 1450. Overnight leader and winner of Day 1 high-series award, Oliver Moriq of Germany slipped down to fourth with 1434.

Francois Louw of South Africa, who trailed Zavjalova in Squad 4, rounded out the top five with 1430. Mika Koivuniemi of Finland, Esther Cheah of Malaysia, Rocio Respreto of Colombia, Rafiq Ismail of Malaysia and Christopher Via of USA completed the top 10 bracket.

Sin Li Jane of Malaysia headed the second bracket in 11th position with 1396. The current cut at 34th position after five squads went to Ziyad Alkhelawi of Saudi Arabia with 1274 (averaging 212.33).

Last year's cut at 34th was 1355 and the cut for the top 10 was 1414. Qualifying will continue for another four days up to December 15 with the finals to be contested on December 16.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

10th December, Doha: Oliver Morig of Germany set the early pace on the opening day of qualifying at the PBA-WBT 16th Qatar Bowling Open underway at Qatar Bowling Centre on Saturday and picked the daily high-series award of US$300 with 1434 pinfalls.

2016 Hong Kong Open champion, Esther Cheah of Malaysia got off the mark in the opening squad with a sizzling 279 followed by Russia's Aleksei Parshukov and Qatar's Khaled Al-Dosseri, who tied second spot with 248. Morig shared fourth position with Kuwait's Yaqoub Al-Shatti on 244.

Morig quickly shot into the lead by adding a superb game of 247 to his 244 opener. Cheah managed only 187 to fall behind the German by nine pins. World Singles Championships 2016 silver medallist, Rafiq Ismail of Malaysia also added a 244 to his 221 opener to take up third.

The leader then shot a big game of 278 to extend his lead to 63 pins over the recovering Cheah after the third game.

A third Malaysian, Sin Li Jane moved into third, 20 pins ahead of Rafiq as Peter Hellstrom of Sweden joined the leading trio in fourth.

Cheah regained the lead with 257 in the fourth game when Morig managed only 178 to slip 26 pins behind the Malaysian. Rafiq blazed the lanes with a splendid 268 to remain in third. The three-way battled turned out in favour of the German as he bounced back with 243 and 244 to end the block with 1434. Cheah finished second with 1419 including an 8 pin handicap per game. Rafiq finished with back-to-back 235 to take up third with 1400. Li Jane and Hellstrom completed the top five with 1396 and 1373 respectively.

In the second squad of the day, newly-crowned World Singles Championships 2016 gold medallist, Jesper Agerbo of Denmark set the pace in the first four games before stumbling to 178 and 188 in his last two games to drop down to third with 1376.

Two-time PBA Player of the Year, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland took the squad with 1429 but fell five pins short of overhaulling Squad 1 leader, Morig, who won the first day's high-series award of US$300. Martin Paulsson of Sweden finished second with 1381.

Debutant, Kendle Miles of United States and Yousif Falah of Bahrain completed the top five of the second squad with 1361 and 1331 respectively.

Participants may make multiple entries in the 6-game qualifying rounds commencing December 10 through to December 15. The top ten qualifiers will earn a bye and advance automatically to Step 2 final.

Qualifiers positioned 11 to 34 (total 24 players) together with the top 2 qualifiers from each of the first three days (6 players) and three from the desperado squad totaling 33 qualifiers will compete Step 1 final over 6 games from scratch.

The top 18 finishers will be joined by the top 10 seeded qualifiers (total 28) for another 6 games in Step 3 final from scratch. The top 4 finishers will then advance to the Step 3 final in which the top seed will meet the fourth-seed and the second-seed will face the third-seed over a two-games total pinfalls.

The losers will be ranked third and fourth accordingly while the winners will comtinue to Step 4 title match, again over a two-games total pinfalls. The champion stand to win the top prize of US$40,000 with the first runner-up taking home US$20,000.

The second and third runner-ups will be awarded US$7,000 each. The 16th Qatar Bowling Open is a World Bowling Tour and an European Tour stop. If the champion is a member of PBA, he will be awarded a PBA international title.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.