19th December, Doha: Stuart Williams of England captured his second Asian title this year after he defeated challenger, Mai Ginge Jensen of Denmark, 422-401 in the championship match to win the 10th Qatar Bowling Open on Sunday.

Williams, who was seeded No. 1, took the first game against fourth-seed, Sayed Al-Hashemi of UAE, 247-222 and despite losing the second, 202-220, his total of 449 was good enough to edge the Emirati by 7 pins and to advance to the championship match.

The first game against challenger, Mai Ginge Jensen of Denmark in the champinship match was a nerve-wrecking affair for the Englishman as he had two opened frames while his opponent struck three times to take a 28 pin lead.

But Williams struck five times forcing Jensen an opened frame in the eighth and then another in the tenth frame to hand the game to Williams, 198-202.

Williams repeated the error again in the second game with two opened frames while Jensen had a four bagger to lead 31 pins midway through the game. Again Williams recovered by striking home from frame six to seal the game, 220-211 and the match, 422-401 to take victory.

"Dominic and I discussed what was needed and we decided to stick to one ball for both the lanes and move alot more to the left," said Stuart Williams after his victory. "He also calmed me down quite a bit and I settled down to bring those strikes back.

"This is by far my biggest win, apart from winning the 2007 World Ranking Masters title. It's also quite a while now since winning my first Asian title in Bahrain back in May so it's good to win again," added Williams, who picked up €30,000 top prize.

Jensen, who defeated Step 3 leader and No. 3 seed, Dominic Barrett of England, 498-485 in the other Step 5 Finals, settled for second and winning €15,000.

"My target was to qualify for the finals and do as best as I can," said Mia Ginge Jensen after receiving her prize. "I'm happy to finish this far. Of course it would be nice to win but that's bowling. Now I can go home and do some last minute Christmas shopping and enjoy the holiday break."

Dominic, who finished third and picked up €5,000, also won the EBT top men prize of €2,000. Sayed Al-Hashemi also went home with €5,000 for finishing fourth. Nina Flack of Sweden won the EBT top women prize of €2,000.

In this morning's Step 3 Finals, Dominic Barrett led UAE's Naif Oqab, Mia Ginge Jensen and five other finalists into Step 4 Finals. Williams came out tops in the Step 4 Finals ahead of Jensen, Barrett and Sayed.

The Honorary President for QBF, Salman Abdul Ghani was on hand to present the prizes to the top 2 winners. QBF President, Abdul Salam Abbas gave away the third and fourth prizes while EBT DIrector, Kim Jensen gave away prizes to the EBT winners.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

18th December, Doha: Dominic Barrett put in a strong performance at the 10th Qatar Bowling Open after the European Tour winner topped the Step 3 Finals ahead of UAE's Naif Oqab in second and Mai Ginge Jensen of Denmark third.

Mai Ginge Jensen of Denmark and Joline Persson-Planfors of Sweden gave the women a great start in the opening game of the Step 3 finals. Jensen downed 244 and Persson-Planfors 232 to take the early lead.

Jensen continued to roll back-to-back 223 to remain in the lead as top qualifier, Sayed Al-Hashemi of UAE closed in on the Dame, just 9 pins adrift midway through the finals.

But it was the European Tour winner, Dominic Barrett of England who went into top gear reeling in back-to-back 268 to take over the running and opened up a gap of 52 pins over second-placed Sayed.

The Englishmen rounded off the round with 233 and a total of 1441 for pole position going into the next stage with pins carried forward. Southpaw, Naif Oqab of UAE stormed home with 268 to snatch second spot with 1393.

The top female, Jensen settled for third spot with 1374 while Sayed slipped down to fourth with 1354. Jouni Helminen of Finland, Persson-Planfors, Mattias Wetterberg of Sweden and Stuart Williams of England completed the top 8 who made the cut.

Step 2 Finals leader, Krista Pollanen of Finland was unlucky missing the cut by just 7 pins in ninth position.

The top 8 will bowl another 6 games with pins carried forward from this round. The top 4 will qualify for the Step 5 finals in which the top seed will meet the No. 4 seed and No. 2 seed meet No. 3 seed over two-games total matchplay.

The loser will be ranked based on their seedings while the winner will advance to the championship match and a chance to win the top prize of €30,000.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

18th December, Doha: Krista Pollanen led another Finish one-two in the Step 2 Finals of the 10th Qatar Bowling Open on Saturday with compatriot Jouni Helminen in second and Sweden's Jenny Johansson in third ahead of another Finn, Osku Palermaa in fourth.

Day 1 high series award winner, Karl Wahlgren of Sweden took an early lead at the start of the Step 2 finals with a superb 245, just 1 pin ahead of PBA champion, Mike Fagan of USA in second.

Two consistent games of 225 and 229 from the earlier Step 1 finals second-place finisher, Jouni Helminen gave the Finn the lead as Fagan continued to trail in second. The Finns were showing the way when two-hander EBT champion, Osku Palermaa shot into the lead with a scintilating 257 at the halfway mark.

But Fagan returned with a stronger 263 to take over the lead as defending champion, Remy Ong of Singapore rolled the highest game of the finals with 279 to take up second.

The American kept the lead despite managing only 180 in the fifth game with Helminen closing the gap to just 9 pins and Krista Pollanen in third a further 1 pin way.

The 37-year-old Pollanen finished much stronger with 236 to end the finals in pole position with 1345 while Helminen again finished second with 1343 for another Finish one-two. Jenny Johansson of Swden took third spot with 1334.

Palermaa finished fourth with 1305 ahead of pace-setter, Fagan completing the top 5 with 1298. The third female to make the top 10 cut was Joline Persson-Planefors of Sweden by taking sixth position with 1292.

Asia's sole survivor was Remy Ong, who took seventh position followed by three Swedes, Mattias Wetterberg, Karl Wahlgren and Peter Ljung completing the ten who would advance into Step 3 finals.

Malaysia's Syed Muzzaffer Moshin missed the cut by just 4 pins so did PBA champion, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland, who was 12th, a further 17 pins away. Step 1 finals leader, Perttu Jussila failed to make the cut after finishing 22nd position.

The top 10 will be joined by the six seeded qualifiers for the next stage for a final 6 games from scratch. The top 8 will advance to Step 4 Finals for another 6 games with pins carried forward.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

16th December, Doha: Finns are flying high as Perttu Jussila and Jouni Helminen finished one-two and another two Finns in fourth and fifth position in the Step 1 finals of the 10th Qatar Bowling Open at Qatar Bowling Centre on Qatar national day.

Perttu Jussila had a cracking start in his opening game with a stunning 268 to take the early lead, 32 pins ahead of Peter Ljung of Sweden in second. But another Swede, Mattias Wetterberg quickly grabbed the lead after rolling 237 and 258, 11 pins ahead of Jussila.

A sizzling 276 from Denmark's Thomas Larsen in the third game put the Dane in the lead as others dropped their pace slightly. With the pace quickening, Larsen could only hold it for another game before Jussila bounced back to regain the lead after another 269 in the fifth game.

The 19-year-old Finn eased off with 246 to end the finals in the lead with 1430. Jouni Helminen gave Finland a one-two finish after storming home to take up second spot with 1386, 44 pins adrift.

PBA champion, Mike Fagan of USA finished a creditable third with 1367 followed by a third Finn Mika Koivuniemi and fourth Finn, Krista Pollanen in fifth with 1353 and 1337.

Khalil Al-Mothen of Qatar squeezed into Step 2 finals in the 18th and final spot with 1249. Yousif Falah of Bahrain missed the cut despite tieing with the Qatari based on the higher last game count.

2008 champion, Nina Flack failed to make the cut finishing 20th while favourite and PBA champion, Chris Barnes failed to advance and managing 24th position. The top 18 would be joined the second top 6 qualifiers from the standings for another 6 games scratch in the Step 2 finals.

The top 10 at the end of Step 2 will advance into tomorrow's Step 3 finals joined by the top 6 qualifiers from the standings for another 6 games scratch.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

17th December, Doha: Kuwait's Basil Al-Anzi ended the qualifying rounds of the 10th Qatar Bowling Open by topping the final Squad 18 and making the Stage 1 finals in 36th position late Friday evening.

Basil had a great opening game of 245 to trail Finland's Joonas Jahi by 1 pin but slipped down after only managing 203 and 173 in his next two games as Australia's Andrew Frawley took over the running at the halfway mark.

Frawley continued to lead the next game ahead of another Finn, Krista Pollanen in second while Basil recovered slightly to stay close to the leading duo. A strong 259 from the Kuwaiti took him into the lead going into the sixth and final game.

Basil ended the squad with another superb 235 to take pole position with 1318 followed by Pollanen in second with 1289. Johan Hellden finished third in the squad with 1283 as Frawley and Jahi dropped off the top 3.

Basil, who had dropped into the reserves in 48th position, made up grounds and crucially qualified for the Stage 1 finals in 36th position.

The top 6 qualifiers remained unchanged after the final squad with Sayed Al-Hashemi of UAE leading Stuart Williams of England in second. Mai Ginge Jensen of Denmark, Dominic Barrett of England, Jimmy Mortensen of Denmark and Naif Oqab of UAE advanced into Stage 3 finals.

Tore Torgersen of Norway headed the next 6 who would advance into Stage 2 finals. Patrick Healey Jnr of USA, Remy Ong of Singapore, Osku Palermaa of Finland, Mansour Al-Awamy of Qatar and Jenny Johansson of Sweden followed Torgersen.

Swedes Ida Andersson and Johan Hellden tied top spot in the desperado squad with 265 while Adil Lootah of UAE and Kamilla Kjeldsen of Denmark were the other two who made the finals with 259 and 253.

The other six qualifiers who made Stage 1 finals from the first three days of qualifying were Yaqoub Al-Shatti of Kuwait, Fahad Al-Emadi of Qatar from Day 1, Harep Al-Mansouri of UAE and Ricardo Macatula of the Phillipines from Day 2.

The last two were Abdulla Haroon of Qatar and Mathias Arup of Sweden from Day 3. The Stage 1 finals comprising 36 finalists will be held tomorrow at 3.00pm over 6 games. The top 18 will advance to Stage 2 finals for another 6 games together with the second six from the qualifying standings.

The top 10 plus the top six from the qualifying standings will contest the Stage 3 finals for another 6 games on December 19 when the field will be cut to top 8 for another 6 games with pins carried forward.

The top 4 will then qualify for the Stage 5 finals where the top seed will meet the fourth-seed and the second-seed to meet the third-seed over two-games total pinfall. The losers will ranked according to their seedings while the winners will meet in the championship match to decide the champion.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

17th December, Doha: Stuart Williams became the second Englishman to make it into the top 6 qualifying positions of the 10th Qatar Bowling Open after topping Squad 17 and crucially earning a bye into Stage 3 Finals.

Williams had a moderate opening game of 207 as Canadian Mark Buffa set the opening pace with 238 to lead the field of 52 bowlers in the penultimate squad. A sizzling 279 from Williams in the second game put him into the lead.

From then on, the Englishman turned on a fast pace to register 237, 245, 231 and 237 ending the squad with a superb 1436. His third effort fell short by 8 pins to overtake leader, Sayed Al-Hashemi of UAE.

"I was following Dom's (Dominic Barrett) line and it worked well for me," said the 29-year-old Stuart Williams of Ellesmere Port, who won his first Asian title when he captured the Bahrain Open crown in May this year. "I already had 1350 was in 21st position but I'm glad I was able to move into the top 6."

Debutant, Syed Muzzaffer Moshin of Malaysia put in second best performance to register 1363 and was 73 pins behind Williams. A third Englishman, Paul Moor finished third with 1358 bettering his earlier best by 6 pins.

Sayed Al-Hashemi remained in the lead with his 1464 total from yesterday's Squad 13 followed by Williams in second. Squad 16 leader, Mai Ginge Jensen dropped to third with 1435 followed by Dominic Barrett of England fourth with 1420.

Jimmy Mortensen of Denmark and Naif Oqab of UAE completed the top 6. Williams move into the top 6 forced Norway's Tore Torgersen to head the second six qualifiers. The current cut is 1311 held by Mark Buffa in 38th position.

Squad 18 will be the final qualifying squad followed by the desperado squad which will allow the top 4 single-game scorer to join Stage 1 finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

17th December, Doha: Mai Ginge Jensen became the first women to lead a squad at the 10th Qatar Bowling Open when the Dame posted a splendid 1435 to move into second position in the overall qualifying standings.

Mai Ginge Jensen rolled 216, 241 and 213 in her first 3-games series to tie with PBA champion, Chris Barnes of USA in fifth behind leader Joline Persson-Planefors of Sweden. A stunning 290 moved her into the lead after the fourth, just 3 pins ahead of Joline.

The Dame ended the squad with 216 and 211 to top it with a splendid 1436, thanks to an 8-pin handicap she received competing against the men.

Joline settled for second with 1375 after the Swede fell 183 and 187 in her two final games. Barnes, whose previous best was 1315, notched up 1335 to finish third while Britt Brondsted of Denmark and Krista Pollanen of Finland completed the top 5.

Jensen's lead in Squad 16 moved her up to second in the overall qualifying standings behind overall leader, Sayed Al-Hashemi of UAE, who topped Squad 13 with 1464 yesterday. Dominic Barrett of England slipped down to third on 1420.

Perfect gamer, Jimmy Mortensen of Denmark, Naif Oqab of UAE and Tore Torgersen of Norway completed the top 6 qualifiers. Patrick Healey Jnr of USA, Remy Ong of Singapore, Osku Palermaa of Finland, Mansour Al-Awamy of Qatar, Jenny Johansson and Karl Wahlgren, both of Sweden made up the second top 6 qualifiers.

Squad 15 was cancelled and there will be two more squads remaining when qualifying ends later today. The desperado squad will be staged with the top 4 finishers having a rare opportunity to join the qualifiers for Stage 1 finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

16th December, Doha: Scores got higher by the day as UAE's national bowler, Sayed Al-Hashemi set a new benchmark of 1464 after topping Squad 12 of the 10th Qatar Bowling Open at Qatar Bowling Centre on Thursday evening.

Last year's second runnerup, Helen Johnsson of Sweden set a cracking pace with a sizzling 262 opening game of Squad 12 to lead a packed squad of 64 bowlers, 15 pins ahead of 2010 Bahrain Open champion, Stuart Williams of England.

But it was PBA champion, Mike Fagan who took over the running immediately after the second game, 7 pins ahead of Johnsson and a further 2 pins away from Williams tieing with UAE's Sayed Al-Hashemi in third.

A back-to-back scorcher of 274 and 279 from Sayed propelled the Emirate to the front and leading his nearest rival, Fagan by 73 pins. Sayed shot 214 and 237 topping the sqaud and taking the overall lead.

"I couldn't get big games in my four previous attempt so my coach and I decided that I should change my ball to a urethane and it worked," said the 37-year-old national bowler, Sayed Al-Hashemi.

"The ball hook less and I could play from the outside. I'm very comfortable playing from the outside and the two big games I had obviously helped a lot."

Fagan, who trailed Sayed most of the way, settled for second with 1356 and did not improve his best of 1360 when he topped Squad 9 yesterday. Englishmen, Paul Moor took third spot with 1352 improving his prevous best of 1191.

Meanwhile in the first squad of the day, PBA champion, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland led Squad 11 with 1367 from Sweden's Thomas Larsen in second with 1355. PBA pro and World Men's Championship Masters gold medalist, Chris Barnes finished third in his debut with 1315.

Sayed Al-Hashemi set a new benchmark by taking over pole position in the overall standings after 13 squads contested. Overnigh leader, Dominic Barrett of Englans slipped down to second on 1420.

Perfect gamer, Jimmy Mortensen also slipped on spot down to third on 1404 with Naif Oqab of UAE and Tore Torgersen of Norway making up the top 6 who would advance automatically to Stage 3 finals.

Squad 10 leader, Patrick Healey Jnr heads the next top 6 qualifiers who would avance to Stage 2 finals. Trailing Healey was Squad 8 leader and defending champion, Remy Ong of Singapore.

Three-time EBT champion, Osku Palermaa of Finland, Mansour Al-Awany of Qatar, two Swedes Jenny Johansson and Karl Wahlgren while Squad 11 leader, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland completing the six.

The last squad of the day, Squad 13 will commence later tonite at 9.00pm. Tomorrow's morning squad is cancelled which leaves three remaining squads which will end the qualifying rounds. The finals will be staged on December 18 and 19.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

15th December, Doha: England's Dominic Barrett moved into top spot in the overall qualifying standings of the 10th Qatar Bowling Open atfer topping Squad 10 at Qatar Bowling Centre on Wednesday.

Barrett started off his second attempt with a superb 257 but had to trail Sweden's Jenny Johansson after the second game. The Englishman continued to slip down to third at the halfway mark as Johansson remain in front of the pack.

2010 Bahrain Open champion, Stuart Williams of England gradually closed in on the lead duo and by the fifth had taken over the running as Johansson slipped away while Barrett stayed close to his compatriot.

Barrett ended the squad stronger than Williams to snatch pole position with 1420 while Johansson bounced back to finish second with 1383. Williams settled for third spot with 1350.

"I had used my first squad to try out several lines to see which gave me better carry," said the 25-year-old from Essex, Dominic Barrett. "The line I bowled worked well in this squad although the lane transition was happening fast.

"It took me more squads to make the finals last year but I'm relief that I needed less this year. I hope my score is good enough for the top 6."

American PBA pro, Mike Fagan had earlier topped Squad 9 with 1360 after he posted lines of 226, 223, 205, 214, 213 and 279. John Guldbaek of Denmark, who led until the last game, finished second with 1277.

2009 Emir Cup champion, Patrick Healey Jnr of USA topped the last squad of the day with 1397 but fell short of overhauling Barrett. Mansour Al-Awamy of Qatar finished second with 1384.

After 11 squads, Barrett is the new leader dislodging perfect gamer, Jimmy Mortensen of Denmark into second spot. UAE's Naif Oqab slipped down to third with 1399 ahead of Tore Torgersen of Norway, Patrick Healey Jnr and defending champion, Remy Ong of Singapore occupying the top 6 positions.

Three-time EBT champion, Osku Palermaa of Finland headed the second top 6 with Mansour Al-Awamy, Jenny Johansson, Karl Wahlgren of Sweden, Sayed Ibrahim of UAE and Mike Fagan. The second top 6 qualifiers will advance to Stage 2 finals automatically.

Stuart Williams headed the next 24 qualifiers who would have to contest the Stage 1 finals together with the top 2 from Squad 1 and 2, another top 2 from Squads 3 and 4 and the next top 2 from Squads 5 and 6.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

14th December, Doha: Jimmy Mortensen of Denmark shot the tournament's first perfect game of the 10th Qatar Bowling Open en-route to winning Day 4 high series award and taking over the lead in the overall standings on Tuesday.

Mortensen was spot on when he rolled 12 consecutive strikes to kick off his third qualifying attempt in Squad 7. The Dane followed it up with 207, 211, 233, 226 and 227 to end the round with 1404 and becoming the first bowler to surpass the 1400-mark.

Squad 3 leader and Day 2 high series award winner, Karl Wahlgren of Sweden finished second with 1339 and failed to improve his earlier score followed by another Swede, Robert Andersson third with 1333.

"This is a great way to start off your qualifying round," said the 32-year-old Mortensen from Aarhus in Denmark. "Last year, I qualified in the top 6 and my target for this year is the same.

"There are a lot of good bowlers here this year like Chris Barnes, Mika Koivuniemi and last year's champion, Remy Ong who have yet to make their attempts. I hope I can stay in the top six so that I can advance into the Stage 3 finals."

In the subsequent Squad 8, defending champion, Remy Ong of Singapore showed his true colors as he led from start to finish to top the squad with 1393 on his first attempt. The 32-year-old rolled 267, 205, 190, 265, 244 and 222 to finish 73 pins ahead of his nearest rival.

Peter Ljung of Sweden took second spot with 1320 while UAE's Hareb Am-Mansouri finished third with 1291. Osku Palermaa of Finland failed to better his earlier attempt to end up fourth with 1288 while Qatari Khaled Al-DOseri completed the top 5 with 1284.

Mortensen led the standings overtaking overnight leader, Naif Oqab of UAE in second. Squad 6 leader, Tore Torgersen of Norway took third spot with 1398 with Remy Ong, Osku Plaermaa and Karl Wahlgren completing the top 6 who will advance into Stage 3 finals.

UAE's Sayed Ibrahim, Bahrain's Yousif Falah, Qatar's Mubarak Al-Muraikhi, Kuwait's Khaled Al-Dubyyan, UAE's Hussain Al-Suwaidi and Sweden's Robert Andersson made up the second top 6 who will advance into Stage 2 finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

13th December, Doha: Southpaw, Naif Oqab of UAE took over the overall lead of the 10th Qatar Bowling Open qualifying leaderboard after topping Squad 5, just 1 pin ahead of Norway's Tore Torgersen, who led Squad 6.

Naif Oqab, who won three gold medals at the 2008 Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam but came home empty handed at the Guangzhou Asian Games last month, did not have the best of starts in his first qualifying attempt.

The southpaw only shot 182 but Naif gradually quickened his pace with 210 and 235 in his next two games. A stunning 277 in the fourth followed by a 231 and a strong ending of 264 gave the Emirati a total of 1399.

2008 Qatar Open champion, Osku Palermaa of Finland, who started with a cracking 279 opener and was tussling for the lead with Sweden's Robert Andersson, had his lead snatched in the final game and had to settle for second with 1389.

Naif's compatriot, Sayed Ibrahim Al-Hashemi finished third with 1375 ahead of Finn Jouni Helminen in fourth with 1312. Andersson slipped down to fifth spot with 1305.

Meanwhile, Norway's Tore Torgersen literally led from start to finish in the subsequent Squad 6 to end the qualifying round with 1398, just 1 pin short of earlier squad leader, Naif Oqab.

Torgersen rolled 230, 252, 241, 223, 217 and 235 to top the squad ahead of Jouni Helminen of Finland in second with 1326. Kuwait's Basil Al-Anzi took third spot with 1294 while Harep Al-Mansouri of UAE and World Men's Championship Doubles gold medalist, Mathais Arup of Sweden finished fourth and fifth positions.

Naif Oqab became the new leader with his 1399 effort followed by Torgersen in second and Palermaa third. Day 2 leader, Karl Wahlgren of Sweden, Sayed Ibrahim of UAE and Yousif Falah of Bahrain made up the top 6.

Day 1 leader, Mubarak Al-Muraikhi of Qatar slipped down to seventh to head the next 6 qualifiers. Khaled Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait and Hussain Al-Suwaidi of UAE dropped to eighth and ninth. Jouni Helminen of Finland, Nina Flack of Sweden and Harep Al-Mansouri completed the six.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

12th December, Doha: Bahrain's Yousif Falah led the third squad of the 10th Qatar Bowling Open which resumed on Sunday but was denied the high series award when Sweden's Karl Wahlgren topped the fourth squad beating Yousif by 22 pins.

Yousif Falah got off the mark with a superb 231 opening game as current Asian Ranked No. 1, Hussain Al-Suwaidi of UAE set the pace with 242. Hussain continued to fire 235, 242 and 222 in his next three games while Yousif posted 202, 225 and 236.

But Emirati could not sustain his hot pace as the Bahraini finished strongly with 233 and 229 to snatch top spot in Squad 3 with 1356. Kuwait's Khaled Al-Dubyyan took up second with 1344 as Hussain dropped to third with 1335.

2008 Qatar Bowling Open champion, Nina Flack of Sweden finished a creditable fourth with 1326 after a 48 pins handicap allocated to a women competitor. Filipino Rocardo Macatula rounded up the tp 5 with 1299.

Yousif's hope of winning €500 for scoring the highest series of the day was dashed when Sweden's Karl Wahlgren pipped the Squad 3 leader's score by 22 pins after the Swede registered 1378 in the following Squad 4.

Wahlgren rolled 276, 184, 223, 193, 243 and 259 to win the high sereis award of the second day of qualifying round. Harep Al-Mansouri of UAE finished second in the squad with 1310 while Robert Andersson of Sweden took third spot with 1287.

After four squads contested, Wahlgren topped the overall qualifying standings followed by Yousif Falah in second. Day 1 leader, Mubarak Al-Muraikhi of Qatar finished third with 1355 ahead of Khaled Al-Dubyyan fourth.

Hussain Al-Suwaidi and Nina Flack made up the current top 6 whi will advance into Stage 3 finals automatically. Hsrep Al-Mansouri, Rocardo Macatula, Mathais Arup of Sweden, Mansour Al-Awamy, Jouni Helminen and Rober Andersson made up the second top 6 who would advance to Stage 2 finals automatcially.

But it is too early to tell who would eventually make up these top 12 positions as they are 14 more squads from December 13 through to the final day of qualifying on December 17.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

11th December, Doha: Asian Games Trios bronze medalist and 2010 Emir Cup champion, Mubarak Al-Muraikhi of Qatar topped the opening day of the 10th Qatar Bowling Open underway at the Qatar International Bowlng Centre.

The senior national team member got off the mark with a superb 259 and followed it up with 233 and 198 for a splendid 690 series. Mubarak bounced back with another good 257 but dropped his pace in his last two games to end the opening squad with 1355.

The southpaw led his team-mate Mansour Al-Awamy by 60 pins, who finished second with 1295 after rolling 187, 247, 243, 198, 161 and 259. Fahad Al-Emadi, who was Mubarak and Mansour trio partner in Guangzhou, gave Qatar a 1-2-3 finish by claiming third spot with 1250.

UAE's Hussain Al-Suwaidi and Kuwait's Yaqoub Al-Shatti completed the top 5 with 1246 and 1214 respectively. But Yaqoub topped subsequent second squad with 1273 when he rolled 225, 171, 253, 222, 175 and 227.

Hazeem Al-Merekhi of Qatar finished second to the Kuwaiti with 1248 while Mansour Al-Awamy could not improve on his earlier squad score of 1295 to finish third in this squad with 1247.

Meshari Am-Fadhli of Kuwait and Abdulla Haroon of Qatar rounded the top 5 with 1222 and 1216. 56 players bowled in Squad 1 and 33 players in Squad 2. The top 3 finishers from Day 1, if their scores are not higher than positions 1 to 12, will autmatically qualify for Stage 1 finals.

Qualifying will continue through to Squad 18 on Friday, December 17. The finals will be held on December 18 and 19. The champion could stand a chance to win the top prize of €30,000.

Photos by Terence Yaw.