18th October, Doha: Hareb Al-Mansoori upstaged Group A top seed, Yousif Falah of Bahrain, 443-433 in the Masters title match of the 11th GCC Bowling Championship to give UAE the overall champion crown.

Hareb Al-Mansoori stunned Singles gold medalist, Yousif Falah, 232-187 in the first game to take a 45 pin lead and despite a late rally by the lanky Bahraini taking the second game, 246-211, the total pinfalls of 443 was enough to seal the victory and cinch the gold medal.

The champion had earlier edged Group B top seed and team-mate, Hussain Al-Suwaidi in the all-Emirati semi-finals, 473-470 while Yousif sailed past Group B second seed, Rakan Al-Amiri of Kuwait, 426-331 in the other semi.

Hussain won UAE a bronze medal when he defeated Rakan, 459-356 in the bronze medal match before the finals leaving the Kuwaiti without a medal.

In the earlier Masters round-robin qualification finals, Yousif topped Group A with 1773 from six wins ahead of Hareb, who made the semi-finals in second with 1765 from five wins. Qatar's hope of a medal in the Masters was dashed when Yousef Al-Jaber missed the cut in third with 1740.

Hussain topped Group B with a convincing 1844 from six wins and 80 pins ahead of Rakan in second with 1764 from just four wins. Again Qatar missed the cut when Mubarak Al-Muraikhi finished third with 1745.

United Arab Emirates emerged as overall champion with 3 gold and 1 bronze medal. Qatar settled for second with 2 gold and 1 silver medal. Bahrain finished third with a medal haul of 1-1-2. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia failed to win a gold medal and finished fourth and fifth.

Twenty-eighth bowlers from five GCC federations competed in the five day competition held at the Qatar Bowling Center.

Photos courtesy of Qatar Bowling Federation.

17th October, Doha: United Arab Emirates won their second gold medal of the 11th GCC Bowling Championship with victory in the 5-player Team event while Mansour Al-Awami also won Qatar's second gold in the All Events.

Trios gold medalists, Hussain Al-Suwaidi, Shaker Al-Hassan and Naif Oqab teamed up with Mahmood Al-Attar and Sayed Al-Hashemi (alternated by Hareb Al-Mansoori in the second block), led the first block of 3 games with 3224 and a 174 pins cushion.

But their lead was reduced to 111 pins after they resumed their second block with the fourth game. Kuwait, who was still eying their first gold, trailed in second taking over from Bahrain, who slipped down to third.

UAE's lead was further cut down to 94 pins as they struggled to repeat the form they displayed in the first block while Kuwait's Basel Al-Anzi, Mohammed Al-Zaidan, Abdulla Ahmed, Rakan Al-Amiri and Khalid Al-Dubyyan failed to capitalise.

The leader ended the block with 967 to win their second gold medal with 6212. Kuwaiti put in a late rally with 1019 but settled for the silver medal with 6170, 42 pins adrift.

Bahrain took the bronze medal with 6086 while host nation, Qatar finished fourth with 6004 and missing the podium.

Mansour Al-Awami gave Qatar their second gold medal after topping the All Events table with 5263. Rakan Al-Amiri took the silver with 5154 while Singles gold medalist, Yousif Falah of Bahrain pipped Hussain Al-Suwaidi by 2 pins for the bronze with 5078.

The odd-numbered top eight finishers in the All Events advanced for the Masters finals in Group A and the even-numbered top eight finishers advanced for the Masters finals in Group B.

The finalists will bowl seven round-robin matches and a position round match in the Masters finals where 10 pins bonus will be awarded for a win and 5 for a tie.

The top 2 finishers in Group A and top 2 finishers in Group B will advance to the semi-finals. The top seed from Group A will face the second seed from Group B and the top seed from Group B will face the second seed from Group A over two games total.

The winners of the semi-finals will meet in the title match while the losers will meet in the third and fourth place playoffs, again over two games total.

Photos courtesy of Qatar Bowling Federation.

16th October, Doha: Hussain Al-Suwaidi, Shaker Al-Hassan and Naif Oqab hung on to a late rally by host nation, Qatar in the final game to capture the Trios gold medal at the 11th GCC Bowling Championship on Tuesday.

Two bronze medalist, Basel Al-Anzi of Kuwait, who led the first block of 3 games with Rakan Al-Amiri and Khalid Al-Dubyyan by 76 pins, resumed with the fourth game of the second block with a moderate 618 to remain in the lead from the first trio of UAE by 51 pins.

But a poor 572 from the Kuwaiti trio allowed first game leader, UAE to take over the running after knocking down a superb 675 in the fifth game.

Hussain Al-Suwaidi, Rakan Al-Amiri and Khalid Al-Dubyyan ended the second block with 629 to hang on from a late charge by Qatar's Mansour Al-Awami, Yousef Al-Jaber and Mubarak Al-Muraikhi, who rolled 699 in their final game.

The Emirati trio captured UAE's first gold with 3847, 49 pins pins ahead of Qatar on 3789. Block 1 leader, Kuwait settled for their third bronze medal of the competition with 3769.

Bahrain second trio of Fawaz Abdulla, Mohamed Sultan and Yousif Falah missed the podium in fourth position with 3759, 10 pins from Kuwait.

The second Kuwaiti trio registered the highest one-game score of 709 in the fifth game while Mansour Al-Awami rolled the highest 6-game series of 1397 which took him into the lead of the All Events standings after 18 games with 3972.

Doubles silver medalist, Rakan AL-Amiri of Kuwait is 53 pins behind the Qatari with 3919 followed by team-mate, Basel Al-Anzi in third with 3804.

Qatar topped the Medal tally with 1 gold and 1 silver ahead of Bahrain and UAE sharing second spot with 1 gold each. Kuwait, who is still looking for their first gold is fourth with 1 silver and 3 bronze medals.

Photos courtesy of Qatar Bowling Federation.

15th October, Doha: Mubarak Al-Muraikhi and Yousef Al-Jaber clinched Qatar's first gold medal of the 11th GCC Bowling Championship with a narrow victory in the Doubles event on Monday evening.

Mubarak and Yousef, who led from start to finish, had a 41 pins cushion going into the sixth and final game and hung on to clinch the gold medal with 2637, just 5 pins from the third Kuwaiti duo of Rakan Al-Amiri and Abdulla Ahmed.

The Qatari pair got off the mark with a superb 454 in their opening game to take a 20 pin lead over their team-mate and Qatar's second pair of Khalid Al-Doseri and Mansour Al-Awami in second.

The leader followed it up with 441 and 458 to hold a slender lead of just 2 pins from the first Kuwaiti pair of Basel Al-Anzi and Khalid Al-Dubyyan in second at the halfway mark.

Mubarak and Yousef were unable to pull away from the Kuwaitis as both rolled identical 408 in the fifth game. But a stronger fifth game saw the Qataris pull away to a 41 pin lead as the third Kuwaiti pair of Rakan and Abdulla moved into second spot.

Despite ending with 420 in their final game, Yousef and Muabarak clinched the host nation's first gold of the tournament on a total of 2637 with Yousef registering 1305 and Mubarak contributing with 1332.

Rakan fired a big game of 279 and almost caught the leader but his partner, Abdulla managed only 177 to settle for the silver medal with 2632. Rakan posted the highest 6-games series of 1406 while Abdulla totaled 1226.

Singles bronze medalist, Basel Al-Anzi and 2010 Asian Championships Masters gold medalist, Khalid Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait took the bronze medal with 2601. UAE's Hareb Al-Mansoori and Sayed Al-Hashemi missed out on the medal finishing fourth with 2568.

Competition will resume with the Trios event over two blocks of 3 games each and the 5-payer Team event on October 17.

Photos courtesy of Qatar Bowling Federation.

14th October, Doha: Asian Championships silver medalist, Yousif Falah of Bahrain snatched the Singles gold medal of the 11th GCC Bowling Championship from front-runner Khalid Al-Taylouni of Saudi Arabia in the final game.

Asian Championships Doubles gold medalist, Mahmood Al-Attar got off the mark with a sizzling 254 in the opening game of the first event, 7 pins ahead of Saudi Arabia's Khalid Al-Taylouni in second.

The Emirati's lead did not last long after managing only 185 in the second game as Mansour Al-Awami of host nation, Qatar shot into the lead after rolling 210 and 235 in his first two games.

Mahmood regained the lead after recovering with 213 in the third game to lead the field while Bahrain's Mohamed Sultan moved up into second after knocking down a big game of 265 as Mansour slipped down to third.

A splendid 257 in the fourth game allowed the leader to stretch his lead to 20 pins ahead of Khalid moving up rapidly after rolling 234 and 245 in the third and fourth games while Mansour remained in third and another Bahraini, Yousif Falah gaining grounds to take up fourth.

Mahmood failed to maintain his strong pace as he slipped behind the Saudi, who took over the running and Yousif continuing to gain ground to take up third going into the sixth and final game.

The lanky Bahraini ended the strongest with 269 to snatch victory with 1374 to win the first gold medal. Khalid settled for the silver with 1337 despite ending strong as well with 224.

Kuwait's Basel Al-Anzi stormed home with 234 to clinch the bronze medal with 1292 leaving pace-setter, Mahmood missing the podium in fourth position with 1288. Mohamed Sultan rounded out the top 5 with 1281.

Competition will resume tomorrow with the Doubles and will then shift to the Trios on Tuesday, October 16 and the 5-player Team event on Wednesday, October 17.

Photos courtesy of Qatar Bowling Federation.