29th November, Doha: Dominic Barrett of England took a narrowest of victory over top seed, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland, 460-441 in the finals of the 11th Qatar Bowling Open to win his second title in Qatar on Tuesday evening.

Barrett, who was seeded second after the Stage 2 finals contested earlier, was in sizzling form trashing No. 3 seed, Sean Rash of USA, 512-419 in the 2-game total semi-finals to set up the finale with top seed and newly-crowned World Bowling Tour Grand Finals champion, Mika Koivuniemi.

In the first match, Barrett had put together four strikes in a row to open up a slight gap over the Finn but suffered a 8-pin split in the seventh frame allowing Koivuniemi to draw level after the latter had a double in the seventh and eighth frame.

The Finn ended the match with 226 to take the first match despite Barrett responding with a double in the tenth frame to finish with 223.

Another 8-pin split in the second frame of the second match from Barrett put the challenger one frame behind Kovuniemi but the Finn suffered a split too which put the match evenly balanced.

Barrett struck in his next four frames while the Finn also responded with four of his own. When Koivuniemi could not strike out in the tenth frame, Barrett replied positively by striking out to take the match 237-215 and the title, 460-441.

"I made a quick ball change after I had the split in the secomd match and it paid off," said the 24-year-old Barrett from Essex, who won the H.H. Emir Cup in February here in Doha.

"It was a very close match and it put me on my toes all the way. I just made sure I bowl my normal game and focus on the task each frame at a time. This is a well-timed win as it will allow me to have a nice Christmas."

The Kovuniemi advanced into the title match after he defeated fourth-seed, Mike Fagan of USA, 490-416 in the other semi-finals. Barrett won the top prize of 30,000 Euro while the runner-up took home 14,000 Euro.

Rash, who remained in third and Fagan fourth settled for 5,000 Euro each. 123 players from American, Europe and Asia complete in the 20th and final stop of the European Bowling Tour.

Osku Palermaa of Finland claimed the Men's EBT title while Joline Persson Planefors of Sweden won the Women's EBT title. Both took home 2,000 Euro each. Kim Jensen, Vice President of EBF and EBT Director gave the prizes to the EBT winners.

Mr Abdul Salam, President of the Qatar Bowling Federation and Mr Ahmed Al Mulla, secretary general gave away the prizes to the top 4 winners after the finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

29th November, Doha: American PBA exempt pro, Ronnie Russell snatched pole position in the Stage 1 Finals of the 11th Qatar Bowling Open in his sixth and final game from leader, Mattias Wetterberg of Sweden on Tuesday.

Mattias Wetterberg set a blistering pace with 288 in his opening game, 29 pins ahead of Australian Andrew Frawley, who rolled 259 to trail in second as 38 finalists took to the lanes for the Stage 1 finals.

The lanky Swede was on a roll following it up with 229 and 268 in his next two games but was unable to draw away from the field as last year's first runner-up and World Women Championship All Events gold medalist, Mai Ginge Jensen trailed in second, 44 pins adrift.

Wetterberg downed 204 and 223 in the fourth and fifth games but found himself just 2 pins ahead of American PBA pro, Ronnie Russell, who started to make his bid after firing 236 and 269 in the fourth and fifth games.

But it was the American who ended stronger with 258 to snatch pole with 1468 from Wetterberg, who shot 228 to settle for second spot with 1440, 28 pins away. Dominic Barrett of England finished third with 1405.

"I had the surface of my ball changed yesterday and it appears to be working well," said 21-year-old Ronnie Russell of Marion, Ind.m who has yet to pick up a PBA title after finishing second thrice.

"I'm hopeful that I can carry my form into the next stage and make the stepladder finals. And a good finish would be nice."

Early pace-setters Andrew Frawley tied fifth position with Mai Ginge Jensen on 1375 behind Mikael Kanold of Sweden taking fourth spot with 1384. Three other Americans, Ryan Ciminelli, Josh Blanchard and Chris Barnes all made the cut into the next stage.

Squeezing in was Mohamed Sultan of Bahrain with a total of 1271. Two Swedes Johan Helldén and Magnus Johnsson missed the cut after tieing in 20th position with 1269.

Mubarak Al Muraikhi and Salem Al Marzouqi failed to progress while their cmpatriots, Khaled Al Doseri and desperado squad qualifier, Hazeem Al Merekhi made the cut in 12th and 14th respectively.

The top 19 will be joined by the top 9 seeded qualifiers from the preliminary rounds for another 6 games in the Stage 2 finals from scratch. The top 4 at the end of the stage will advance to the stepladder finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

28th November, Doha: Four-time American PBA champion, Sean Rash earned a bye in Step 1 Finals after posting a superb 1395 to top Squad 17 of the 11th Qatar Bwling Open and into the top 9 qualifying bracket in sixth position

Sean Rash, who had already qualified in 22nd position, took to the lanes in the penultimate qualifying squad to fire 256 but trailed Mubarak Al Kuraikhi of Qatar by 10 pins in the opening game.

Another superb 224 from Mubarak saw the Qatari left-hander remained in the lead as his team-mate, Khaled Al Doseri move up to second after Rash managed only 214 in the second game.

Rash bounced back with 256 and 221 in his next two games and took over the running as Mubarak slipped down the field after managing 198 and 158 while Khaled continued his good momentum to trail the American.

The leader rounded off with 217 and 231 to end the squad in pole with 1395. Khaled finished second with 1336, 59 pins adrift while Mubarak recovered with 248 and 221 to take up third with 1315.

Daniel Dol of the Netherlands, who almost shot the first 300 of the tournament in game 4, finished fourth with 1295 followed by Mohammed Al-Zaidan of Kuwait rounding up the top 5 in this squad.

Rash's 1395 moved him up to sixth in the overall qualifying standings and crucially in the top 9 bracket thus earning him a bye directly into Step 2 Finals behind Hussain Al Suwaidi of UAE, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland, Mathias Arup of Sweden, Bill O'Neill of USA and Osku Palermaa of Finland.

Naif Oqab of UAE slipped down one spot to seventh with Mike Fagan of USA and last year's champion, Stuart Williams of England completing the top 9 seeded qualifiers before the last squad.

The top female qualifier, Mai Ginge Jensen of Denmark slipped out and into tenth position after this squad. The cut at position 36 remained at 1320 held by Andrew Frawley of Australia. The last Squad 18 later should finalised the overall qualifying standings.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

28th November, Doha: 2010 World Men Championship Doubles gold medalist, Mathias Arup of Sweden cracked into the top 9 bracket of the 11th Qatar Bowling Open overall qualifying standings after topping Squad 16 on Monday afternoon.

Day 2 high series award winner, Karl Wahlgren almost shot the tournament's first 300 in his opening game with 299 to lead Day 4 high series award winner, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland in second, 12 pins adrift after the Finn shot 278.

Despite a decent 226 in Wahlgren's second game, another Finn and current EBT ranking leader, Osku Palermaa shot into the lead after shooting 279 and 254 while Koivnuniemi stayed with the leader duo.

But Wahlgren regained his lead at the halfway mark with 238 when Palermaa suffered a setback with 160 to drop behind his compatriot, Koivuniemi moved up to second. By the fifth game, Wahlgren had amassed 1203 to lead Swede Mathias Arup in second, 17 pins ahead.

Needing only 190 or more to crack into the top 9 bracket, Wahlgren shot a disasterous 164 to end the squad with 1367 and missing the cut by 6 pins.

Arup completed the squad with 245 to top the squad with 1431 and break into third in the overall standings and crucially into the top 9 bracket. Koivuniemi and the recovering Palermaa shared second spot with 1399, 32 pins adrift Arup.

In the earlier Squad 15 of the sixth day of qualifying, Jimmy Mortensen of Denmark led with 1255 but the Dane's effort failed to improved his earlier 1294 scoreline which put him 51st position and not making the top 36 cut.

Hussain Al Suwaidi and Koivuniemi remained first and second in the overall qualifying standings with 1449 and 1448 as Arup took up third, 18 pins adrift. Squad 14 and Day 5 high series award winner, Bill O'Neill is fourth with 1423.

Palermaa's improved 1399 put the two-handed Finn fifth pushing down Naif Oqab of UAE into sixth, Mike Fagan of USA seventh, defednding champion, Stuart Williams eighth and Mai Ginge Jensen of Denmark ninth.

Bahrain's Mohammed Janahi dropped out of the top 9 to settle for tenth position with 1376. The top 36 cut is now raised to 1320 being held by Australia's Andrew Frawley. Two squads remained before qualifying ends late tonight with the desperado squad at 11.00pm local time.

The top 4 highest single-game bowled in the desperado squad will join qualifiers positions 10 to 36 for the Step 1 Finals to be contested on Tuesday 29 November at 9.00am local time. The field will be cut to 19 to join the 9 seeded qualifiers for Step 2 Finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

27th November, Doha: American PBA pro made an impact on the fifth day of the qualifying rounds of the 11th Qatar Bowling Open as Bill O'Neill topped Squad 13 to move into third in the overall standings on Sunday.

Finn Tony Ranta set a blistering pace with an opening game of 279 but just 2 pins ahead of Russian debutant, Alexander Medveditskov in second with 277 while American PBA pro, Chris Barnes in a good third with 266.

But it was the Russian who continued the fast pace to lead a field of 55 players up to the fourth game closely followed by another American PBA pro, Bill O'Neill in hot pursuit taking up second spot while others faded off.

World Women Championship All Events gold medalist, Mai Ginge Jensen and local veteran national bowler, Mubarak Al Muraikhi all in the running.

O'Neill fired 264 in the fifth game to take over the running, 14 pins ahead of Alexander slipping to second. The American needed 265 or more to become the new leader but as hard as he tried, O'Neill ended with a good 239.

His 6-game total of 1423 fell short by 26 pins to topple leader Hussain Al Suwaidi of UAE. The American will be content if his score stays high enough to win the Day 5 high series award of Euro 200. Mai Ginge Jensen finished second with 1379 while Mubarak took third spot with 1365.

Alexander ended in fourth with 1357 with DOminic Barrett of England, Mike Fagan of USA, Paul Moor of England, Ronnie Russell of USA and Chris Barnes of USA all making the cut outside the top 9.

Meanwhile in the earlier in the day, World Bowling Tour Grand finals first runner-up and American PBA pro, Sean Rash topped Squad 12 with a good effort of 1354 followed by England's Darren Cundy in second with 1344 and another PBA pro, Ryan Ciminelli third with 1312.

Hussain remained firmly in on top the qualifying leaderboard with 1449 followed by yesterday's high serieds award winner, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland in second with 1148 and O'Neill third.

Squad 8 leader, Naif Oqab of UAE slipped down to fourth with 1390 while Stuart Williams took fifth position with 1383. Mai Ginge is sixth pushing Mohammed Janahi of Bahrain into seventh.

Early leader, Perttu Jussila of Finland and Martin Larsen of Sweden tied eighth position with 1375 to make up the top 9 who would advance into Step 2 finals. The current cut at 36th position is 1312 at an average of 218.67.

One more squad will be contest later tonight while four more squads remain for the last day of qualifying tomorrow.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

26th November, Doha: Fresh from capturing the World Bowling Tour Grand Finals title last week, PBA pro Mika Koivuniemi of Finland stormed into second spot of the 11th Qatar Bowling Open qualifying standings after topping Squad 10 on Saturday.

Koivuniemi set off in a blistering pace with 249 and 226 to lead a field of 41 players in the tenth squad of the competition. The PBA pro then rolled back-to-back 268 and 265 to widen his margin over his nearest opponent to 99 pins.

The lanky Finn followed it up with another superb 245 for a 5-game total of 1254 and needing only 195 or more to topple current leader and winner of Day 3 high series award, Hussain Al Suwaidi of UAE.

His luck let him down as he moved into a pair of lanes when all of a sudden his strikes just stopped. Eventually Koivuniemi ended with only 194 and fell short by just 1 pin to overhaul the Emirati.

Koivuniemi did top the squad with 1448 and could well earn him the Day 4 high series award of Euro 200. Defending champion, Stuart Williams almost shot the tournament's first 300 in his last game but fell 297 to end the block with 1383.

Williams finished second, 65 pins behind the Finn while Sweden's Martin Larsen did well to finish third with 1375 on his first attempt. Mohammed Sultan of Bahrain and current EBT leader, Osku Plaermaa rounded up the top 5 with 1373 and 1361 respectively.

Meanwhile, early leader and winner of Day 1 high series award, Perttu Jussila of Finland topped the earlier Squad 9 with 1332 but failed to better his score of 1375.

After ten squads, Hussain Al Suwaidi remained in the lead with 1449 followed by Koivuniemi in second with 1448. Squad 8 leader, Naif Oqab of UAE is third with 1390 followed by Williams and Mohammed Janahi of Bahrain fourth and fifth.

Jussila and Larsen finished sixth and seventh positions as while eighth and ninth positions went to Sultan and Tim Mack of USA. The American laid off after sustaining an injury and has recovered well.

Squad 11 will be held later today which leaves seven remaining squads over the next two remaining qualifying squads before the finals on Tuesday, November 29. Eight American PBA pros have arrive Doha and will take to the lanes tomorrow.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

25th November, Doha: Three-time Asia Ranked No.1, Hussain Al Suwaidi of UAE took over pole position of the 11th Qatar Bowling Open qualifying table after a sizzling 1449 series in Squad 7 on Friday.

Hussain Al Suwaidi, who was sixth with 1331 before Squad 7, rolled 245, 246, 245, 267, 219 and 227 to become the first bowler to surpass the 1400-mark with a total of 1449. The Emirati's last title was winning the 2010 ABF Tour TOC title in March this year and has had a barren run.

Hussain will be eying to end the year with a victory and especially before the Arab Games due to be held at the same bowling center in two weeks from now. Bahraini Mohammed Janahi was the biggest mover jumping from 47th position to finish second behind Hussain with 1348.

Both dislodged overnight leader and first day high series winner, Perttu Jussila of Finland into third spot with 1375.

Qatar's Salem Al Marzouqi finished fourth with 1348 while Sweden's Karl Wahlgren, who won the second day high series award with 1341 took fifth spot.

John Guldbaek of Denmark and Ramil Gomez of Philippines took sixth and seventh positions with 1339 and 1335 respectively whilw Thomas Larsen of Denmark, who topped the earlier Squad 6 with 1329 is eighth.

Yaqoub Al-Shatti of Kuwait occupied the last spot with 1327. The top 9 would earn a bye and advance into the Step 2 Finals.

Qualifiers from positions 10 to 36 will be joined by 2 highest qualifiers from Day 1 November 23), 3 highest qualifiers from Day 2 (November 24) and 3 highest qualifiers from Day 3 (November 25) together with 4 from Desperado squad for Step 1 Finals.

The top 19, after having played 6 games in Step 1 Finals, will join the top 9 seeded qualifiers general standings for another 6 games in Step 2 Finals. The top 4 would advance to the Step 3 and 4 Finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw.