7th December, Doha: Pole-sitter, Kim Bolleby of Sweden rolled the first perfect game of the H.H. Emir Cup 2023 to stretch his lead in the qualifying standings on Thursday.

The 2010 champion, who had topped the standings with 2174 yesterday, shot 300 in Squad 33 in his opening game followed by 216 and 279 for a stunning 795 series to extend his 9-game aggregate to 2262. The left-handed Swede remained firmly in pole position unchallenged.

Early pace-setter, Mostafa Al-Mousawi of Kuwait improved by 20 pins to regain second spot with 2167, 95 pins behind Bolleby. Eric Tseng of Hong Kong, China slipped one place down to third with 2160 ahead of fellow-countrymen, Wu Siu Hong and Ivan Tse in fourth and fifth positions with 2151 and 2145 respectively.

Defending champion, Tomas Kayhko of Finland is the cut in the top bracket in sixth position with 2143. His compatriot, Kaaron Salomaa topped Squad 34 with 761 to leapfrog and head the second bracket in seventh position with 2100.

The cut in 26th position before the final two squads of qualifying is Aseel Alroomi of Kuwait with 2022. Positions 27 and 28 are reserved for the top 2 Qatari youths, positions 29 and 30 are reserved for the top 2 qualifiers from the first two days and positions 31 and 32 will be the top 2 highest scorers from the one-game Desperado squad.

Step 1 finalists will bowl 8 games and the top 10 with the highest scores will advance to Step 2 finals for another 8 games, joined by the top 6 seeded qualifiers from the general standings.

The top 5 with the highest scores in Step 2 finals will proceed to the next step. Players positioned 3, 4 and 5 will bowl one game in Step 3. The winner will proceed to meet the second seed from Step 2 over one game in Step 4.

The winner in Step 4 will meet the top seed from Step 2 in the title match in Step 5. The winner of Step 5 will be declared the champion.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha, Qatar.