29th May, Manama: Defending champion, Tim Mack of USA successfully retained the Men's title of the 3rd Kingdom of Bahrain International Open while Shalin Zulkifli captured the Ladies' crown at Fun Land Bowling Centre.

Mack, the PBA professional defeated Mario Quintero 225-179 in the Men's final stepladder match, to retain the title he took last year and collected the top prize US$20,000.

The third-seed and Mexican settled for US$10,000 despite edging out second-seed Abdulla Al-Qattan of Qatar 216-213 in the first match. Al-Qattan took home US$7,000 for finishing third.

Earlier, the champion topped the Men's 8-game Round-robin Finals with a score of 5503 to take top-seed for the stepladder finals with Mario Quintero of Mexico in second with 5403 while Abdulla Al-Qattan took third spot with 5355. Hulaiman Al Hamli of UAE finished fourth and missed the cut by 16 pins on a total of 5339.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's Shalin Zulkifli won her second international title this year when she captured the Ladies' crown defeating Veronica H. Ordaz of Mexico, 215-197. Shalin, who won the Sinai Open in Cairo early this month, followed up on her fine form to bag the ABF Tour Thailand leg before taking home the top prize of US$5,000.

Second-seed Ordaz settled for runner-up and US$2,500 despite out-classing Malaysia's Sarah Yap, 227-186 in the Ladies' first stepladder match earlier.

Bahrain's Nadia Akeel and Alma Sulaiman finished fourth and fifth positions in the round-robin finals with Mexico's Sayuri Yamada taking up sixth spot.

Photos courtesy of Bahrain Bowling Association.

28th May, Manama: Defending champion, Tim Mack of USA looked set to retain the title by leading the top 8 into the Men's Round-robin finals of the 3rd Kingdom of Bahrain International Open while Shalin Zulkifli took top-seed in Ladies' division.

The PBA American professional was on a hot streak taking the lead with lines of 233, 210, 243, 233, 286, 209, 205 and 225 for a score of 1844. Adding to his Round 2 score of 1804, it gave the defending champion a total of 3648. Mack was a comfortable 112 pins ahead of Qataran Abdulla Al-Qattan, who settled for second with 3536. Another three pins away in third came UAE's Hulaiman Al Hamli, who totalled 3533.

Mexico's Mario Quintero finished fourth with 3513 followed by Qatar's Mubarak Al-Muraikhi in fifth with 3511.

Mohd Al Qubaisi (UAE-3481), Azidi Ameran (MAS-3472) and Aziz Jaffer (BHR-3396) made up the remaining three places to move into the Round-robin finals tomorrow from sixth to eighth respectively.

Meanwhile, Round 2 leader, Shalin Zulkifli also looked set to continue her fine form by occupying top-seed for tomorrow's stepladder finals after she totalled 3056 pinfalls. Despite only winning three of the 6-game Round-robin finals, she still accumulated a comfortable lead of 172 pins over second-seed, Veronica H. Ordaz of Mexico, who scored 2884.

Shalin's teammate, Sarah Yap made up the final stepladder spot finishing third with 2813 and will be looking forward to make an all-Malaysia finale.

The top 8 men will compete in tomorrow's 8-game Round-robin finals where the top three will make the cut for the stepladder finals. The Ladies' stepladder finals will also be played tomorrow, 29th May.

Photos courtesy of Bahrain Bowling Association.

28th May, Manama: Emir Cup champion, Abdulla Al-Qattan of Qatar and ABF Tour Thailand winner, Shalin Zulkifli led Men's and Ladies' Round 2 Finals of the 3rd Kingdom of Bahrain International Open.

Al-Qattan, who shot a perfect game two days ago during his qualifying round, scored 1839, to take a slender lead of 2 pins over second-placed Hulaiman Al Hamli of UAE. Another 5 pins further came top local bowler, Aziz Jaffer of Bahrain, who totalled 1832 over the 8-game Men's Round 2 Masters finals.

Malaysia's Azidi Ameran did well to stay with the leaders, knocking down 1822, while defending champion, Tim Mack of USA finished fifth spot with 1804.

Top European bowler, Lasse Lintila of Finland took sixth position, a further 15 pins away on 1789 followed by Qatar's Mubarak Al-Muraikhi with 1768. Newly-crowned Thailand Open champion, Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar failed to make it to the next round finishing a dismal 19th on 1638.

In the ladies' division, ABF Tour Thailand champion, Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia cruised to the lead by a comfortable margin of 202 pins over Mexico's Veronica H. Ordaz, who scored 1621 for second while Shalin's teammate, Sarah Yap took third spot with 1592.

Two local ladies, Alma Sulaiman and Nadia A. Akeel finished fourth and fifth with 1587 and 1555 respectively. Linda Haglund of Sweden, who recently scored a perfect game in the Aalborg International Open early this month, finished a distant eigtht on 1486.

The top 16 men will move onto Round 3 for another 8 games at the end of which the top 8 men will compete in the Round-robin matchplay finals. The top 6 ladies will move straight to the Round-robin finals.

Photos courtesy of Bahrain Bowling Association.

26th May, Manama: Emir Cup champion, Abdulla Al-Qattan of Qatar shot a perfect game to take over the Men's qualifying table lead of the 3rd Kingdom of Bahrain International Open.

The 27 year-old Qatari businessman shot the championship's first perfect game in his first 3-game series for 772, followed with 762 and 694 for a total of 2227 to take over the lead of the men's qualifying table. Al-Qattan led Qatari bowlers to a 1-2-3 finish with teammate, Khalifa Al-Kubaisi in second with 2197 while Mubarak Al-Muraikhi finished third with 2176.

World Championship Masters Bronze medalist, Mohammed Al-Qubisi of UAE dropped one place further down to fourth with 2162 followed by newly-crowned Thailand Open champion Shmed Shaheen of Qatar in fifth spot on a total of 2155.

Saudi Arabia's Rashid Al Anazi did well in a field of top Asian bowlers to take up sixth position with 2153 while Aziz Jaffer remained the best of the local bowlers in seventh position on 2142.

Finland's Lasse Lintila was the top European bowler challenging this strong field finishing 22nd position with 2085 while 2004 World Tenpin Masters champion, Tore Torgersen from Norway has yet to make the cut with 1985 in 49th place.

Andres Gomez was the only South American in the championship and the Columbian finished 18th with 2092.

The other only non-Arab competitor was Malaysia's Azidi Ameran who did well to finish 13th with a score of 2109. Qualifying will tomorrow (27th May) and the top 32 qualifiers will move into Round 2 on Saturday 28th May.

Meanwhile, there was not much changes in the ladies division with Malaysia's Shalin Zulkifli maitaining her top spot with 1877 followed by teammate, Sarah Yap with 1864. Bahrain's Alma Sulaiman snatched third spot with 1822 pushing down fellow-countrywoman, Nadia A. Akeel to fourth position, who scored 1818.

Early leader, Yasmine Al-Awadhi of Bahrain took up fifth spot with 1817 while Sweden's Linda Haglund finished seventh with 1653, behind Rose Ateeq, who totalled 1752 for sixth.

Photos courtesy of Bahrain Bowling Associaiton and Mr Lawrence Lustig.

25th May, Manama: Asian Championship Team Gold medalist, Mubarak Al-Muraikhi of Qatar scored 782, to slot into the Men's qualifying table second spot of the 3rd Kingdom of Bahrain International Open while Malaysia's Shalin Zulkifli took pole in the Ladies' division.

The Qataran knocked down 782 in his first 3-game series followed by 725 and 699 for a total of 2176 to slot into second spot behind fellow-countryman and leader, Khalifa Al-Kubaisi. The Arab Cup Gold medalist, Al-Kubaisi took the lead two days ago when he scored 2197 to take over the lead from Mohammed Al-Qubisi of UAE, who dropped to third with 2162.

Local bowler, Aziz Jaffer improved to fourth position with 2142 pushing down Emir Cup champion, Abdulla Al-Qattan of Qatar to fifth with 2138.

Ahmed Al Marri (UAE-2131), Fawaz Abdulla (bhr-2119), Khalid Al Emadi (QAT-2113) finished sixth to eighth positions while Malaysia's only male bowler, Azidi Ameran did well to take up ninth with 2109 followed by Khalifa Al-Khalifa in tenth with 2105. Newly-crowned, Thailand Open champion, Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar took 11th position on 2097 total.

ABF Tour Thailand champion, Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia took pole position in the Ladies' division when she scored 1877 with series of 646, 619 and 612.

Teammate, Sarah Yap completed a 1-2 for Malaysia when She totalled 1864, for second spot with Bahrain's Nadia A. Akeel in third place with 1818. Early leader, Yasmine Al-Awadhi dropped to fourth place with 1817 followed by fellow-countrywomen, Rose Ateeq in a distant fifth spot with 1752.

Qualifying continues through to 28th May and the Masters' finals will take place on the 29th and 30th May, 2004. The 3rd Kingdom of Bahrain International Open is an Asian Ranking tournament sanctioned by ABF.

Photos courtesy of Bahrain Bowling Association.

23rd May, Manama: Arab Cup Gold medalist, Khalifa Khalid Al-Qubaisi of Qatar took over the top spot of the Men's qualifying leaderboard of the 3rd Kingdom of Bahrain International Open.

The 28 year-old Al-Qubaisi scored 748, 730 and 719 in his three blocks of 3-game series to total of 2197 for the lead on Day 11 of this year's championship. Early leader, Mohammed Al-Qubisi of UAE dropped down to second on 2162, with local bowler, Aziz Jaffer of Bahrain, in third position with 2142.

Emir Cup champion, Abdulla Al-Qattan improved from 62nd to fourth with an impressive 2138 ahead of UAE's Ahmed Al-Marri, who finished fifth on 2132. Sixth place went to Bahrain's Fawaz Abdulla, who had 2119, 14 pins ahead of Qatar's Khalid Al Emadi on a score of 2105 in seventh.

Thailand Open and ABF Tour Thailane leg champion, Ahmed Shaheen also imporved from 40th to eighth spot with 2097 while Saudi Arabia's HRH Mohammed Bin Sultan and Mohammed Janahi of Bahrain tied for 10th position with 2090.

There was no changes in the ladies' division with, Bahrain's World Championship representative, Yasmine Al-Awadhi still in pole position with a score of 1817. The leader was a comfortable 65 pins ahead of fellow-countrywomen, Rose Ateeq, who totalled 1752 for second spot while Mariam Madara, also of Bahrain occupied a distant third with 1575.

ABF Tour Thailand leg champion, Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia, who arrived today, immediately took to the lanes to record 646 and 551 over two series for a total of 1197 to take up 8th spot. Shalin would need at least a third series of 620 or above to take the lead.

Her teammate, Sarah Yap scored 537 in her only first series and has two more series to complete beofre knowing where she stands in the table.

Qualifying continues through to 28th May and the Masters' finals will take place on the 29th and 30th May, 2004. The 3rd Kingdom of Bahrain International Open is an Asian Ranking tournament sanctioned by ABF.

Photos courtesy of Bahrain Bowling Association.

20th May, Manama: World Championship Bronze medalist, Mohammed Al-Qubisi of UAE and Bahrain's Yasmine Al-Awadhi topped the Men's and Women's qualifying round of the 3rd Kingdom of Bahrain International Open.

Al-Qubisi, who won the 2002 Bahrain Open title, scored 727, 721, 714 in the three blocks of 3-game series for a total of 2162, to top the Men's qualifying round on Day 8 of this year's championship. Twenty-seven pins behind the leader was local bowler, Aziz Jaffer of Bahrain, who totalled 2135 for second position followed by HRH Mohammed Sultan of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain's Mohammed Janahi joint-third with 2090.

Fifth place went to Bahrain's Fawaz Abdulla, who had 2089, just 1 pin ahead of UAE's Huliman Al-Hamli with 2088, in sixth.

Ahmed Al Noaimi (BHR-2063), Adel Q. Rasti (BHR-2034), Mohammed A. Al-Bazi (KSA-2032) and Ahmed A. Jabbar Al-Awadhi (BHR-2022) made up the top 10 from 7th to 10th places respectively.

In the ladies' division, Bahrain's World Championship representative, Yasmine Al-Awadhi took pole position with a score of 1817. The leader was a comfortable 65 pins ahead of fellow-countrywomen, Rose Ateeq, who totalled 1752 for second spot while Mariam Madara, also of Bahrain occupied a distant third with 1575.

Tim Mack of USA took the Men's title in last year's championship while World Championship Doubles Gold medalist, Kirsten Penny of England won the ladies' crown.

Qualifying continues through to 28th May and the Masters' finals will take place on the 29th and 30th May, 2004. The 3rd Kingdom of Bahrain International Open is an Asian Ranking tournament sanctioned by ABF.

Photos courtesy of Bahrain Bowling Association.