10th December, Doha: Back-to-back High Series Award winner, Talal Ali Al Marri of Qatar led the qualifying rounds of the H.H. Amir Cup Bowling Championships 2024 underway at Qatar International Bowling Center ahead of 2022 champion, Tomas Kayhko of Finland in second.

The 16-year-old Qatari won Day 4 High Series Award with 751 on December 7 and then another High Series Award on Day 5 with 765. He then added another superb series of 758 but lost the Day 6 Award by five pins to PWBA Bowler of the Year, Sin Li Jane of Malaysia.

His three best series gave Talal a total of 2274 to secure top spot in the qualifying standings. 2022 champion, Tomas Kayhko, who shot the tournament's second perfect game leapfrog into second spot with 2244. The Finn's 821 series was 222, 300 and 299 and Kayhko's 112nd career perfect game.

2023 World Championships Trios gold medalist, Tony Wong of Hong Kong, China also leapfrog into third position with 2217 with 755, 708 and 754 series. Defending champion, Kim Bolleby of Sweden took a respectable fourth position with 2178.

Newcomer, Noel Hagland Torgersen of Sweden impressed by finishing fifth with 2149 while sixth spot went to Qatari youth, Abdulrahman Hadi Al Doseri with 2147. The top 6 will skip Step 1 Finals and automatically qualify for Step 2 Finals.

Another newcomer, Nathan Ruest-Lajoie of Canada missed the top bracket by 4 pins to take up seventh position in the standings with 2143. 2025 IBF World Cup bound, Timmy Tan of Malaysia took up eighth position with 2132. 2023 Kuwait Open champion, Pontus Andersson of Sweden, who rolled the first perfect game finished ninth position with 2123.

Qualifiers positioned 7 to 28 along with top 2 qualifiers from the first two days of qualifying rounds and top 2 Qatari youths qualifiers not in 7 to 28 positions plus top 2 local Qatari qualifiers and top 2 from the desperado squad will contest Step 1 Finals on Friday, December 13.

The top 20 with the highest score after 8 games will be joined by the top 6 seeded qualifiers for Step 2 Finals. The top 5 with the highest score will advance to the Stepladder Finals Shoot Out Step 3, 4 and 5 to determine this year's champion. Qualifying will continue for another two days which will end on December 12.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha, Qatar.