28th February, Doha: Two-time PBA Bowler of the Year, Chris Barnes captured his second international PBA Tour title after coming from behind to defeat fourth-seed and challenger, New Hui Fen in the title match of the PBA-WBT #7 H.H. Emir's Cup 2014.

Both Barnes and Hui Fen started the first match of the championship tie matching strikes for strikes up to the sixth frame and after both spared their seventh frame, there were little separating the duo.

The American doubled in the eighth and ninth but the Singaporean went one better by striking thrice and a spare for 275 which included an 8 pin handicap against Branes' 257.

In the second match, again both matched stride for stride with strikes up to the fourth frame when Hui Fen stumbled into a big 6-pin split. Barnes struck twice in the fifth and sixth frames while his challenger had another 6-pin washout but managed to spare it.

By the eighth frame, Barnes had only reduced his 18 pins deficit from the first match by 2 pins and was still trailing by 14. Barnes struck out to end the game with 236 for a total of 493.

All Hui Fen needed was to mark her tenth frame to win but encountered a huge 7-10 split resulting in her ending the game with 200 and with the 8 pin handicap plus the 275 from the first game, her two game total was only 483.

"I didn't do that well during the qualifying rounds the last two days and I had to spent sometime with my equipment and practice on the lanes," said the 44-year-old winner of three majors from Double Oaks, Texas.

"I left it very late too in the Step 1 finals to make the top 10 cut but in today's Step 2 finals, I was a little bit more comfortable with the lanes.

"In the first match against the Singaporean newcomer, she bowled well and was able to match my stride, which I find a little surprise. I made a small mistake in the seventh frame of the first match and that allowed her to win and take an 18 pin lead.

"In the second match, I thought I made a good shot in the third frame but it turned out to be a split and when she had four bagger, I was really on my back foot and playing catchup. Luckily for me, I managed to strike out to keep my hopes.

"It had to come down to the very last frame and she had a bad break with the big 7-10. It has been a while since I made a TV final and I'm happy to win my first international PBA title.

The champion had earlier sailed past another Singaporean and third-seed, Shayna Ng, 521-445 in the second match of the Step 3 Finals while Barnes' compatriot and top seed, Bill O'Neill was beaten by the fourth-seed, Hui Fen, 397-489 in the other Step 3 Final match.

Barnes pocketed the top prize of US$25,000 for his victory leaving Hui Fen with US$12,000 as first runner-up. O'Neill finished as second runner-up and Ng third runner-up but were awarded the same prize of US$6,000 each.

Mr Salman, Honorary Life President of Qatar Bowling Federation together with Mr Abdul Salam, current President of QBF and Mr Kevin Dornbeger, WTBA and FIQ President were on hand to present the prizes and trophies to the winners.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

28th February, Doha: American PBA pros stamped their mark in the PBA-WBT #7 H.H. Emir's Cup 2014 Step 2 Finals with a one-two finish and will have a showdown with two Singapore women, Shayna Ng and New Hui Fen in the Step 3 finals later today.

Seeded qualifier, Bernice Lim of Singapore and O'Neill got off to a cracking start both rolling 279 in their opening game but the lead went to the Singaporean, thanks to an 8 pin handicap as John Szczerbinski rolled 268 for third.

Lim managed only 222 in her second game to hand the lead to O'Neill after the latter followed it up with 243 as a third Amercian PBA pro, Chris Barnes closed in on the leading duo.

O'Neill set a blistering pace with 257 in the third to extend his lead, 25 pins over Barnes, who took over second spot and Lim struggled with 182 to drop out of contention.

Despite another strong game of 246 in the fourth, his fellow-compatriot was able to close the gap to just 3 pins. At this stage, Shayna Ng of Singapore and Santiago Mejia of Colombia began to make their move with bigs games of 268 and 269.

O'Neill rounded off with a splendid game of 258 to cement top spot for the Step 3 finals with 1282. Barnes was content with second position on 1274 and Ng earned third spot with 1178. A fourth Singapore women, New Hui Fen left it late but stormed home to snatch fourth and final stepladder spot with 1175.

The Colombian missed the cut by 4 pins and ironically with 1171 total, the same score for the top 10 in yesterday's Step 1 finals. Step 1 leader, Jason Belmonte of Australia never got any running at all to finish 16th position.

The top seed, O'Neill will face Hui Fen in the first of two semi-finals while Chris Barnes will square off with Ng in the other semi making it a USA-Singapore showdown which will commence later at 4.30pm local time.

The winner will meet in the title match and the higher loser in the semi-finals will claim third spot. All matches will be played over a two-game total pinfalls.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

27th February, Doha: Jason Belmonte of Australia carried his form from winning the USBC Masters last week to top the Step 1 Finals of the PBA-WBT #7 H.H. Emir's Cup 2014 follwed by Shayna Ng of SIngapore and Mika Koivuniemi of Finland in second and third.

Debutant, Brad Angelo of USA led the field of 30 finalists with a superb 278 in his opening game, 29 pins ahead of PBA-WBT Saudi Open champion and fellow compatriot, Tommy Jones in second.

Jones took over the running with 259 in the second game following his first game of 249 as Kuwait's Basel Al Anzi moved up into second spot with a matching 248 and 257 while Angelo felled off with just 193.

Two-time USBC Masters champion, Jason Belmonte became the new leader after the two-handed Aussie shot a superb 265 in the third followed by Mika Koivuniemi in second, just 6 pins adrift.

Belmonte extended his lead slightly to 27 pins from his nearest rival when he almost rolled the tournament's fifth perfect game but missed with a stubborn pin 10 on 299. The leader rounded off a superb display with 278 for a 1330 series.

"My target for today's finals was to make the cut for the next stage and that's exactly what I've done," said the newly-crowned USBC Masters champion.

"My goal for tomorrow is to bowl as well as today and try to beat today's score by 1 pin and I'm confident that with that, I'll be able to make the stepladder finals."

2012 AMF World Cup champion, Shayna Ng of Singapore stormed home with 279 to snatch second spot with 1222, 118 pins adrift the Aussie. Koivuniemi settled for third spot with 1218.

American PBA pro, Chris Barnes, who struggled in the early stages, also rolled a big game of 278 to finish a creditable fourth position with 1201 while newcomer, Santiago Mejia of Colombia rounded out the top 5 with 1195.

Yousef Al-Jaber gave host Qatar plenty to cheer when he made the cut in sixth position with 1194 with perfect gamer, Craig Nidiffer and Tommy Jones sharing seventh position with 1175.

A second Singapore women with a handicap of 40 pins took ninth position with 1172 while Kuwait's Khaled Al-Dubyyan clinched the tenth and final Step 2 spot with 1171.

Desperado qualifier, Michael Mak of Hong Kong was perhaps the most unlucky finalist missing the cut by just 2 pins despite shooting a big game of 275 in his final game.

Some of the big named PBA pro including Sean Rash of USA, Andres Gomez of Colombia, Angelo, Osku Palermaa of Finland and Tom Hess failed to progress.

The top 10 finishers will join the 6 seeded qualifiers for another 5 games in Step 2 finals. The top 4 will advance to the stepladder shootout finals and a chance to pocket the top prize of US$25,000 and 50 valuable World Bowling Tour ranking points.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

26th February, Doha: Asians stole the limelight again after Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong and Singaporean women, Bernice Lim and Jazreel Tan took the top three spots of final qualifying standings at the PBA-WBT #7 H.H. Emir's Cup 2014 on Wednesday.

Debutant and PBA pro, John Szczerbinski got off with the tournament's fourth 300 at the opening game of the second block to take over the lead from Day 3 High Series award winner, Wu Siu Hong.

But the overnight leader matched the American's stride with a stunning 290 in the second game to regain the lead as Szczerbinski managed only 227 to trail by 48 pins. Wu followed it up with another splendid 278 to pull away from his closest rival to 90 pins after the third game.

The 2013 East Asian Games Masters gold medalist and second runner-up of the PBA-WBT Abu Dhabi Bowling World Tour blazed the lanes with 245 and 267 for a highest 5-game series of 1335 and a two block total of 2603.

"I thought I was very lucky yesterday as the line I was bowling on held well throughout the 5 games," said the delighted Hong Kong top national bowler, Wu Siu Hong.

"The line again was good but I had to make some adjustments along the way though. Of course, I'm a little surprised but more importantly, I made the top 6 to earn a bye for Step 2 finals."

Szczerbinski posted 1225 for a total of 2463 to tie with fellow-American PBA pro, Tom Daugherty in second. A third PBA pro, Bill O'Neill took third spot in the squad with 2438 while PBA-WBT Saudi Open champion, Tommy Jones rounded out the top 5 with 2434.

Wu topped the overall qualifying standings ahead of two Singapore women, Bernice Lim and four-time US Collegiate Bowler of the Year, Jazreel Tan with 2511 and 2465 respectively. Szczerbinski and Daughtery ties fourth with O'Neill clinching sixth position in the top 6 bracket.

Jones missed the top 6 bracket by 4 pins in seventh position ahead of Osku Palermaa of Finland in eighth with 2428 and newly-crowned USBC Masters champion, Jason Belmonte of Australia in ninth with 2426.

A third Singapore women and 2013 AMF World Cup first runner-up, Cherie Tan completing the top 10 with 2412. Several top PBA pros also made the cut for Step 1 finals including Sean Rash of USA in 11th, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland in 12th and third perfect-gamer, Craig Nidiffer of USA in 13th.

Singapore National rookie, Joey Yeo clinched the 28th and final qualifying spot with 2276, just 4 pins ahead of 2010 Emir's Cup champion, Mubarak Al Muraikhi of Qatar in 29th.

But the Mubarak and Yousef Al-Jaber qualified as top 2 Qataris outside the top 28 in 31st and 32nd positions. Ahmed Al-Deyab and Jassmin Al-Muraikhi also qualified as the top 2 Qatari youths in 29th and 30th positions.

40 bowlers registered for the one-game desperado squad in which 2013 Milo International All Stars champion, Keith Saw of Singapore topped the squad with 268. 2013 PBA-WBT Saudi Open first runner-up, Michael Mak and his team-mate, Eric Tseng tied with 267 while the fourth and final spot went to Andres Gomez of Colombia with 254.

The qualifiers will contest the 5-games Step 1 Finals tomorrow and the top 10 will advance to Step 2 finals joined by the top 6 seeded qualifiers for another 5 games on Friday, February 28. The top 4 finishers will advance to the Step 3 and 4 Finals.

The top seed will face the fourth seed and the second seed will meet the third seed over a two-game total pinfalls shootout. The loser will finish third and fourth while the winners will meet in the title match, again over two-game total pinfall.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

25th February, Doha: Asians took the limelight in the second squad of the qualifying rounds at the PBA-WBT #7 H.H. Emir's Cup 2014 with Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong and Basel Al-Anzi of Kuwait taking up the top two positions.

American PBA pro, Tom Daugherty rolled the tournament's second 300 in his opening game of the squad to lead Basel Al Anzi by 21 pins and Joonas Jehkinen of Finland in third position, a further 19 pins away.

Daugherty conitnued his hot pace with 249 to remain in the lead as a second American, Craig Nidiffer shot the third 300 to move up into second, 27 pins behind his compatriot while the Kuwaiti slipped down to third.

Both the Americans held one-two positions at the third with just 23 pins separating them with Wu Siu Hong, two other American PBA pros Bill O'Neill and John Szczerbinski closing in.

Daugherty remained in the lead after the fourth game as Wu fired a superb 277 to move up into second spot and trailing by just 12 pins.

But the leader failed to carry his momentum into the fifth and final of the block managing only 189 to drop down the field while Wu brought home a 247 to end the block with 1268 and in the lead.

Basel bounced back with 247 and 256 to tie second spot with O'Neill on 1241. Szczerbinski finished fourth with 1238 while pace-setter, Daugherty rounded out the top 5 with 1222.

With Squad B still to complete their second block of 5 games, Wu led based on an average of 253.6 followed by Squad A leader, Bernice Lim of Singapore on a 251.1 average and Basel third with 248.2 average.

O'Neill, Szczerbinski and Squad A second-placed finisher, Jazreel Tan of Singapore rounding out the top 6 with 248.2, 247.6 and 246.5 respectively.

Daughtery headed the rest in seventh position on 244.4 followed by Nidiffer in eighth with 243.4. Debutant, Brad Angelo of USA and Finn Jehkinen completing the top 10.

The current cut at 28th position belong to Joey Yeo of Singapore with an average of 227.6 behind her team-mate and 2013 AMF World Cup first runner-up, Cherie Tan in 27th position. Positions 29-30 are reserved for the top 2 Qatari youths.

Positions 31-32 are reserved for the top 2 Qatari qualifiers outside the top 28. Positions 33-36 will go to the top 4 qualifiers from the one-game desperado squad.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

24th February, Doha: Singapore women put up another dominating display as Bernice Lim, Jazreel Tan and New Hui Fen took the top 3 spots of the PBA-WBT #7 H.H. Emir's Cup 2014 after the second qualifying block on Monday.

Jazreel Tan, who snatched top spot in the first block yesterday, continued where she left off with a splendid 277 in the opening game of the second block to extend her lead over team-mate, Bernice Lim to 27 pins.

The four-time US Collegiate Bowler of the Year became the first bowler to roll a perfect game with 300 in the second game but could not widen her margin as Lim also shot another perfect game with 299.

Tan lost the lead after managing a lowly 184 in the third as Lim downed 224 to take over the running. Lim ended the second block with 198 and 238 to lead the squad with 2511. The leader also picked up the US$200 Day 2 high series award with 1266.

Tan settled for second position with 2465 after a lower 1203 second block series. A third Singaporean, New Hui Fen took third spot with 2384, a further 127 pins away.

The top male performer was UAE's Shaker Al Hassan, who totalled 2343 while Daphne Tan, who was third yesterday, rounded out the top 5 with 2333.

Cherie Tan of Singapore slipped two places down from fifth to seventh with 2279 while Joey Yeo improved from 12th to eighth with 2276. Singapore Bowler of the Year, Shayna Ng made up the most ground from 29th to 12th with 2154.

Lim, Tan and New occupied the top 3 positions followed by Shaker and Daphne. Newly-crowned Arab Cup champion, Khaled Al Dubyyan of Kuwait took sixth position with 2286.

A maximum of 60 bowlers have been registered for Squad B comprising more than 30 PBA professionals, six Hong Kong national bowlers, other GCC bowlers and a handful of re-entries. They will bowl two blocks of 5 games each over the next two days.

Top 6 qualifiers will earn a bye into Step 2 finals. Qualifiers positioned 7 to 28 plus two top Qatari youths, two Qataris outside the top 28 and four from the desperado squad will make the cut for Step 1 finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

23rd February, Doha: Singapore women dominated the opening squad of the PBA-WBT #7 H.H. Emir's Cup 2014 underway at Qatar International Bowling on Sunday by taking the top 5 positions in their first block qualifying round.

Bernice Lim got off to a cracking start with an opening game of 279 to lead team-mate, Daphne Tan by 12 pins and Cherie Tan, a further 8 pins away in third. The nearest non-Singaporean was 2013 Indonesia Open first runner-up, Yaqoub Al Shatti of Kuwait in fourth.

Daphne took over the running with 238 following her 267 in the opening game as Lim slipped down to second and Cherie third. Lim bounced back with 259 to regain the lead, 17 pins ahead of a fourth Singaporean, Jazreel Tan moving up to second after she rolled a stunning 279 with Daphne hanging on to third spot.

By the fourth game, Lim extended her margin at the top to 25 pins as Jazreel managed only 198 to drop down to third behind Daphne, who regained second spot.

But Jazreel fired her second 279 in the fifth and final game to leapfrog her two team-mates to win the daily high series award of US$200 and led the first block with 1262. Lim settled for secod spot with 1245, 17 pins adrift.

Daphne took third position with 1212 as a fifth Singaporean, New Hui Fen snatching fourth spot with 1160. Cherie completed the top 5 positions dominated by the Singapore women with 1159.

Mohammed Al Masri of Jordan was the best men taking up sixth position with 1138 followed by 2010 EMir Cup champion, Mubarak Al Muraikhi of Qatar in seventh position with 1130.

Singapore's best male performer was 2013 Milo All Stars champion, Keith Saw finishing outside the top 10 in 11th position with 1095 ahead of Joey Yeo in 12th position with 1091.

52 bowlers in Squad A will resume with their second block of 5 games tomorrow at 4.00 pm local time. Bowlers registered for Squad B will commence their first block of 5 games on February 25 and second block on February 26.

The top 28 in the qualifying standings plus top 2 Qatari youths and top 2 Qatari qualifiers outside the top 28 and four from desperado squad will make the cut. Bowlers position 7 to 36 will contest Step 1 finals over 5 games on February 27.

The top 10 finishers from Step 1 finals plus the top 6 seeded qualifiers will contest Step 2 finals over another 5 games from scratch on February 28. The top 4 will advance to the stepladder shootout finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.