8th December, Doha: 2019 Asian Championships Singles and All-Events gold medalist, Timmy Tan of Malaysia won the Step 1 final of the H.H. Emir Cup 2023 on Friday ahead of Timmie Ahl of Sweden in second and Ali Al-Haider of Kuwait in third.

Tan, who had a disastrous start with 164 in his opening game, crawled his way back up to third after following it up with 257 and 234 in his next two games. William Svensson of Sweden got off to a brilliant start with 262 and 225 in his first two games to lead the field of 26 finalists.

The two-hander Swede stumbled to a poor 178 in the third game allowing his compatriot, Timmie Ahl to move closer in second and Tan up in third, a further 2 pins adrift. Ahl added a superb 249 to take over the running while Tan overtook Svensson for second spot past the half-way mark.

Svensson bounced back with 248 in the fifth game to regain the lead with Ali Al-Haider of Kuwait quietly moving up to second and Ahl slipping into third. Qatari youth Saad Al Sulaiti moved up to fourth and Tan dropping down to fifth.

There was no stopping Tan as he eased home with 226 and 215 in his last two games to win the final with 1777. Ahl also finished strong with 195 and 254 to take up second with 1739, 38 pins behind.

Al-Haider stormed home with 266 in his final game to snatch third spot with 1734. Keith Mark of Hong Kong, China finished well to take up fourth with 1717 while Svensson settled for fifth with 1710.

Khaled Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait survived the cut in tenth position with 1623 while Al Sulaiti missed the cut by five pins in 11th with 1619. Aidas Daniunas of Lithuania finished 12th with 1618, a further one pin away.

The top 10 advanced to Step 2 finals for another 8 games tomorrow, 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.