8th April, Riyadh: Singaporean Remy Ong had a dream debut by winning the 4th Saudi International Open title in convincing fashion and undefeated throughout the final stages on Thursday.

Remy Ong, who made the double elimination knockout finals in ninth position in yesterday's Semi-finals, won the first game against challenger, Patrick Healey of USA 229-196 for a 35 pins margin in the two-game total pinfalls title match.

Both the title contenders were struggling in the early stage of the first match especially on the fresh lanes. While Ong hit the pocket most of the time but could not get the carry, Healey was struggling to find the pocket.

Ong sailed through the second game with 235-187 for a 464-383 victory to take title along with the top prize of US$25,000. The Singaporean also made history by becoming the first champion to win undefeated in all the stages.

"Starting on the fresh lanes for the title match was not easy," said the delighted 32-year-old champion, Remy Ong, who won the title in convincing fashion undefeated throughout the final stages.

"I had to make a lot of adjustments and was only able to find the proper line to bowl so that I can get the carry. Both of us were struggling in the early stages. I was struggling to get the carry and I could see that my opponent was struggling to find the pocket.

"This victory has definitely made up for the disappointment in the Dubai Open and Emir Cup which I had a good opportunity to win. But I' happy to come away with the win especially this championship being my first.

Ong beat Norwegian Mads Sandbaekken in the all-lefty Stage 6 encounter, 463-396 after edging Kuwait Open champion, Osku Palermaa of Finland, 384-375 in Stage 4. Ong first ousted Malaysia's Zulmazran Zulkifli, 400-355 in Stage 2 then beat Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia 435, 407 in Stage 3.

Healey beat Kuwait's Mohammed Kamel, 462-409 in Stage 6 finals before thrashing Sandbaekken, 424-296 in Stage 7 to advance to the Stage 8 title match against Ong. The 41-year-old former PBA settled for US$13,000.

"I'm not too disappointed for finishing second," said the former AMF World Cup champion and 2008 Emir Cup champion, Patrick Healey Jnr.

"Considering that I did lose a match in the second stage, I was able to win all my other ties to get me to the finals.

"This is quite an achievement by my standards. It's good to know that you still having some bowling left in me especially when I' already 41. I'm also delighted that I can still compete even though I'm a coach.

"To finish second ahead of so many top European and Asian bowlers has given the satisfation and to get me to work even harder. I'm hoping that I can do well in future tournaments this year.

Sandbaekken took home US$8,000 with Mohammed Kamel winning US$5,000 for finishing fourth. Dominic Barrett of England and Osku Palermaa won US$3,500 each for finishing fifth and sixth places respectively.

The only Saudi in the knockout stage, HRH Prince Abdul Hakim did well to reach Stage 4 finals to crash out to Healey, 407-421 and ended up in eighth position behind Semi-finals leader, Ryan Lalisang.

The top 16 Asian finishers qualified for the second ABF Tour - Saudi leg which will be staged tomorrow at 2.00pm and will be telecast LIVE over Saudi TV.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Riyadh.

7th April, Riyadh: Newly-crowned ABF Tour TOC winner, Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia outclassed the field in the Round 1 Semi-finals of the 4th Saudi International Open Bowling Tournament taking pole position and advancing into the double elimination stage.

Armed with just a bonus pins of 30 after having only made the semi-finals in 22nd position in the last squad late last night, Ryan Lalisang got off moderately with 198 and was in midfield as Norwegian Mads Sandbaekken led the field thanks to a 130 pins bonus as the fifth highest qualifer.

The lead changed hands four times as England's Dominic Barrett led after the second game, Kuwait's Mohammed Kamel after the third, UAE's Shaker Al-Hassan after the fourth and USA's Tim Mack after a sizzling 290 in the fifth game.

The PBA pro held on to the lead for just another game when Lalisang took over the running after a series of consistently good games at the

seventh and then ended the semi-finals with a comfortable margin of 78 pinc over the American.

Lalisang amassed 1937 with Mack taking second spot with 1889. Pace-setter, Sandbaekken finished a distant third with 1838 while Osku Palermaa of Finland and Niaf Oqab of UAE rounded the top 5 positions.

"I had struggled so much in the qualifying rounds and I nearly gave up," said the 29-year-old Lalisang, who after winning the TOC had a disappointing performance in the Kuwait Open last week. "But I gave it a final shot last night and finally assured myself a place in the semi-finals.

"Today, I changed my release a little and my timing was good and I could get better carry and had more strikes. I got more and more confident as the finals got on. The double elimination is totally different and I hope to maintain my good form."

The final cut for the Stage 1 elimination rounds was HRH Prince Abdul Hakim with a total of 1721 on a scratch average of 215.13. Squad 6

leader, Kong Jin-Seok of Korea missed the cut in 13th position with 1589.

The top 12 will be joined by the top 4 seeded qualifiers - Biboy Rivera of the Philippines, Andrew Frawley of Australia, Patrick Healey Jnr of USA and Zulmazran Zulkifli of Malaysia for the two-game total pinfalls knockout Stage 1 later today.

Photos by Terence Yaw at Riyadh.

6th April, Riyadh: 2008 Saudi Open and ABF Tour Saudi champion, Shaker Al-Hassan of UAE topped Squad 7 in the 4th Saudi International Open Bowling Tournament to move up into 11th spot in the overall qualifying standings on Tuesday.

Shaker Al-Hassan, who won back-to-back 2008 Saudi Open as well as the ABF Tour Saudi title, improved on his earlier effort of 1625 by rolling 1683 to haul himself up from 20th position in the overall qualifying standings to a respectable 11th spot.

The Emirati got off to a good starting five games with 203, 237, 193, 215 and 214 but stumbled in the following two games managing only 181 and 184. Shaker was fortunate to finish strongly with 256 to give himself a total of 1683.

Shaker topped the squad followed by Chester King in second with 1680 promoting the Filipino from 33rd position up into 12th place, just one spot off Shaker. Current European Tour leader, Dominic Barrett of

England also made the finals in 13th after he took third spot in the squad with 1679.

"I had 62 over after the fifth game and I felt good but then I was unlucky in the sixth and seventh games when I had many pocket shots and was not able to carry the pins leaving many pin 7s and pin 10s," said the Emirati national veteran, Shaker.

"When I didn't have the carry, I moved slightly and it was the same. But in the last game, I move more boards and it had the carry so I was lucky to finish with a high game."

Newly-crowned ABF Tour Kuwait champion, Hussain Al-Suawaidi joined Shaker in the finals after finishing fourth to take up 17th position in the overall standings, up from 34th. Singapore's Remy Ong made his third attempt but failed to better his 1702.

Biboy Rivera of the Philippines sat firmly in pole with 1778 followed by Andrew Frawley in second with 1768. Patrick Healey Jnr of USA and Malaysia's Zulmazran Zulkifli joined the two to earn bye into the second round semi-finals being the top 4 qualifiers.

Remy Ong led the rest of the qualifiers into the first round semi-finals with 1702. The Singaporean will have a bonus of 130 pins being the fifth seed. Other qualifiers will also receive bonus points from 120 downwards right up to the 26th qualifier with 10 pins.

The Round 1 semi-finals will be staged at 10.00am on Wednesday, April 7 when the field will be cut to top 12 to join the top 4 seeded qualifiers in the two-game total pinfalls elimination knockout Stage 1 on Thursday April 8.

Photos by Terence Yaw at Riyadh.

5th April, Riyadh: Korean PBA, Kong Jin-Seok took Squad 6 of the 4th Saudi International Open Bowling Tournament qualifying round for seventh position overall at Universal Bowling Centre on Monday night.

Kong Jin-Seok rolled lines of 226, 214, 177, 220, 247, 195, 206 and 208 to top the final squad of the third day of qualifying rounds with 1693. Qatar's southpaw, Khalid Al-Doseri posted 1684 to finish second.

American PBA pro, Tim Mack shot 1676 to take up third in the squad while Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong failed to improve his best 1667 when he managed only 1649 for fourth position. Kong's fellow-compatriot, Choi Won-Young completed the top 5 with 1630.

Squad 2 and 3 leader, Biboy Rivera of the Philippines remained firmly atop the leaderboard with 1778 ahead of Squad 1 leader, Andrew Frawley of Australia in second with 1768. Squad 5 leader, Patrick Healey of USA was third with 1756.

Kuwait Open first runnerup and two-time Malaysian Open champion, Zulmazran Zulkifli of Malaysia, who finished second to Healey, took fourth and final spot for a bye in the Semi-final Round 1 with 1743.

2009 Qatar Open champion, Remy Ong of Singapore will not be complaining as he will have a maximum of 150 pins when he contest the Semi-final Round 1 finals as tp op seed having qualified in fifth with 1702.

Newly-crowned Kuwait Open Champion, Osku Palermaa of Finland will be hoping to add another title to his collection after taking up sixth in the standings with 1696 with Squad 6 leader, Kong Jin-Seok in seventh.

Mohammed Kamel of Kuwait (8th-1689), Naif Oqab of UAE (9th-1687) and Khalid Al-Doseri of Qatar (10th-1678) completed the top 10. Tim Mack came in 12th while current EBT leader, Dominic Barrett of England finished 18th.

There will be two final squads left for tomorrow's final day of qualifying. A desperado squad will be held as a last chance for two bowlers with the highest single-game score to join the Semi-final Round 1.

Photos by Terence Yaw at Riyadh.

4th April, Riyadh: Filipino, Biboy Rivera topped Squad 3 of the 4th Saudi International Open Bowling Tournament to take pole position in the overall qualifying standings while Singapore's Remy Ong finished first in Squad 4.

Biboy Rivera, who had a disappointing run in last week's Kuwait Open, came to Riyadh to compete in the 4th edition of the immensely popular Middle-East stop to make amends.

The Filipino had topped Squad 2 last night with 1720, notched up an improved 1778 to take over the overall pole position from overnight leader, Andrew Frawley of Australia. Rivera got off the block with a superb 236 and 263 in the second.

He followed it up with 204, 202, 220, 232 and eased off his pace in the final game to amassed an 8-game total of 1778. ABD Tour TOC champion, Ryan Lalisang failed to improved his earlier 1616 scoreline despite taking up second in the squad with 1528.

Debutant and 2009 Qatar Open champion, Remy Ong of Singapore also made good progress in his first attempt to land top spot in the Squad 4 with 1702. Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong, who recovered from an illness in the Kuwait Open, took second spot with 1667.

Meanwhile, 2009 H.H. Emir Cup champion, Patrick Healey of USA grabbed pole in Squad 5 played at 1.00pm after kncoking down 1756. Kuwait Open runnerup, Zulmazran Zulkifli of Malaysia finished second with 1743 ahead of newly-crowned Kuwait Open champion, Osku Palermaa of Finland third with 1696.

After five squads contested, Biboy Rivera led the field relegating Aussie, Andrew Frawley into second while Healey took third spot. Zulmazran and Remy Ong rounded up the top 5 with Palermaa in sixth position.

Three more squads remained before the desperado squad at 12 midnight will be held after the final Squad 8. The top 2 in the single game squad will join the other qualifiers in the Semi-final Round 1.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Riyadh.

3rd April, Riyadh: Andrew Frawley of Australia took the early overall qualifying lead of the 4th Saudi International Open Bowling Tournament underway at Universal Bowling Centre on Saturday.

Andrew Frawley, who had not competed in any tournament since capturing the 2008 ABF Tour Tournament of Champions in January 2009 in Jakarta, amassed a total of 1768 in the opening squad of the qualifying rounds..

The 46-year-old Kuwait head coach posted lines of 188, 247, 197, 258, 229, 197, 215 and 237 to lead the qualifying standings. Debutant, Biboy Rivera of the Philippines, who topped the 7.00pm Squad 2 with 1720 finished second..

Kuwait's Mohammed Kamel finished second behind Rivera and took third overall with 1689 while UAE's Naif Oqab, who was second to Frawley in Squad 1, finished fourth with 1687.

Newly-crowned ABF Tour TOC champion, Ryan Lalisang rounded up the top 5 with 1616. The Indonesian had failed to make the top 32 finals in the Kuwait Open last week, will be hoping to erase his disappointing showing in Kuwait.

The top 4 in the qualifying standings will earn bye to Semi-final Round 2 while positions 5 to 26 will be joined by two qualifiers from the Squad 1 and 2 (who are not in the Top 32), top 2 qualifiers from desperado squad, best Saudi qualifier and top qualifier from the local tournament.

These 28 will have to battle it out in the Semi-final Round 1 where the field will be cut to 12 and will join the top 4 seeded for the two-game total pinfalls Stage 1 elimination round.

Photos courtesy of Universal Bowling Centre.