28th April, Cairo: First block leader and third-seed, Yousef Falah of Bahrain, upstaged topseed, Tim Mack of USA to claim victory in the Men's finals of the 11th Sinai International Open while Hanadi Al-Muzaiel of Kuwait clinched the Ladies' crown.

Yousef Falah gave an interesting and unexpected ending in the Men's title match as the Bahraini upstaged favourite and topseed, Tim Mack, 198-167 to take victory. No expected the American to lose after scoring another perfect game, his fourth in the tournament.

The American had scored his first two perfect games back-to-back in the Top 36 finals on Sunday to lead the Top 16 qualifiers into the next round. Mack shot his third 300 in his fifth game during the first block round-robin finals but finished second to Yousef.

Then he shot his fourth perfect game during his 12th game to end the second block in the lead with Thailand's Sithiphol Kunaksorn in second and Yousef third.

The first stepladder match saw Yousef defeating fourth-seed, Darren Cundy of England, 217-198 to advance into the second match against second-seed, Sithiphol. The Thai had seemingly wrapped up the match toward the halfway mark but three consecutive splits allowed Yousef to struck out from frame six to clinch the match, 243-201.

The title match was a disaster for Tim Mack as he encountered two opened frames and two identical splits but had a chance to fight back if he had struck out in his last frame. Another split decided the match in favour of Yousef ending with 198 and Mack managing only 167.

Yousef took the title and won US$9,000 while the American settled for US$5,000. Sithiphol, who finished third, took home US$3,000 with Cundy winning US$1,500 for his effort.

Meanwhile, Hanadi Al-Muzaiel of Kuwait clinched her first-ever international title after she defeated second-seed and challenger, Nasha King of Mauritius, 198-185. Hanadi had ended the Top 8 round-robin finals as topseed after she totaled 1575 yesterday.

Nasha earned a crack at the title after she beat Bahrain's Nadia Aqeel, 203-193 in the second match. Nadia, who was seeded third, easily ousted local hopeful, Amal Baker of Egypt, 193-157 in the first match.

Hanadi won US$4,500 as the Ladies' champion while Nasha took home US$3,000. Nadia, who was seeded second, dropped to third to win US$2,000 as Amal settled for US$1,000. Top 16 leader, Sandra Torrents of Spain missed the stepladder finals in fourth.

The participants were entertained to a Nile cruise after the prize presentation provided by the organiser.

Photos by Tarek Helmy.

27th April, Cairo: Bahrain's Yousef Falah powered to the front of the pack with the tournament's fifth perfect game during the Top 16 Round-robin finals of the 11th Sinai International Open on Monday.

Egyptian, Karim Sherif blitzed the lanes with a cracking 268 opening match and a win to take the early lead in the Top 16 Round-robin finals from Kuwait's Khaled Al-Dubyyan second 20 pins adrift.

A poor 185 saw Karim dropping down the field as the in-form perfect gamer, Surasak Manuwong surged into the lead by winning the first two matches. The Thai won his next three matches with 267, 269 and 232 to continue to lead the field as England's Darren Cundy moved into second.

Bahrain's Yousef Falah shot the tournament's fifth perfect game to leapfrog into third spot just 1 pin from the Englishmen with overnight leader, Tim Mack of USA dropping to fourth after tailing Surasak in the early stages.

Yousef followed the perfect game with a scintilating 290 and 257 in his next two matches to take over the lead as the Amercian reclaimed second spot and Surasak dropping to fourth.

Strong matches of 266 from Surasak, 253 from Cundy and 248 from Mack, failed to overhaul Yousef despite easing off with 217 in the eighth match. Yousef claimed pole with a total of 2022 winning five matches.

Mack settled for second with 2006 winning seven matches while Cundy and Surasak tied for third spot with 1982. Sithiphol Kunaksorn of Thailand, who shot a perfect game yesterday, stormed home with 278 to complete the top 5 with 1895.

Meanwhile, first block leader, Sandra Torrents of Spain ended the second block of 6 games to lead the Top 16 Ladies finals with 2353. Omnia Mostafa of Egypt took second place with 2181 with Kuwait's Nadia Aqeel third with 2098.

The top 7 ladies together with Aliaa Ismail as the top local not in the top 7 will advance into the Top 8 Round-robin Finals tomorrow while the men will complete their second block of 8 games.

Photos by Tarek Helmy.

26th April, Cairo: Tim Mack of USA shot back-to-back 300s to take the lead of the Top 36 Finals of the 11th Sinai International Open on Sunday evening as Sandra Torrents of Spain topped the first half of the Top 16 Ladies finals.

Perfect gamer, Sithiphol Kunaksorn of Thailand set a cracking pace with a 268 opening game as Kuwait's youngster, Jassem Darwish trailed in second with 263. The Thai followed it up with another superb 265 to stretch his lead and held it until the fourth game.

Tim Mack of USA knocked down 259 and 266 to take over the running but Sithiphol fought back to regain the lead at the halfway mark of the 12-game finals to lead the American by 7 pins.

There was nothing between the pair as Sithiphol and Mack leveled at 1684 pins after the seventh game. A 269 from Mack in the eighth game saw the American leading by 75 pins from the Thai.

But Sithiphol put in a superb fight with 268 and 238 to retake the lead and 17 pins ahead of Mack. The last two games witnessed a fantastic comeback from the American as he created histroy by knocking down 24 consecutive strikes to record back-to-back perfect games.

The feat gave Mack pole position with a total of 2967, 123 pins comfortably ahead of Sithiphol, who settled for second with 2844. England's Darren Cundy impressed with a third place finish on 2790.

Top qualifier, Surasak Manuwong also recorded the tournament's fourth perfect game in his last game to come home fourth with 2763 with Bahrain's Yousef Falah rounding up the top 5 with 2747.

Two massive games from Tarek Helmy and Amr Esam saw the two Egyptians leapfrog into 12th and 13th spots to make the top 15 cut while Karim Sherif joined his compatriot as the top local Egyptian to advance into the next round.

Meanwhile, Sandra Torrents of Spain led the first half of the Top 16 Ladies finals after six games with a total of 1220. Omnia Mostafa of Egypt claimed second spot with 1173 with Bahrain's Nadia Aqeel finishing third with 1093.

The top 15 plus one local men advanced into the round-robin finals which will be contested over two blocks of 8 games each on April 27 and 28. The ladies will complete their second block of 6 games to determine the top 7 plus one local to advance into the 8-games round-robin finals.

The top 4 men and top 4 ladies will make the cut for the stepladder finals with the first match between the third-seed and fourth-seed.

The winner will then meet the second-seed and thereafter meet the topseed for the championship match.

Photos by Tarek Helmy.

25th April, Cairo: Kuwait's Hanadi Al-Muzaiel topped the Ladies' qualifying table of the 11th Sinai International Open as Thailand's Surasak Manuwong sat firmly in pole position in the Men's standings on Saturday.

Hanadi Al-Muzaiel, who is the only Kuwaiti lady competing in the championship, posted 812 in Squad 34 and 803 in Squad 20 to lead a field of 26 ladies with a total of 1615. The leader is followed by Egypt's Amal Baker, who totaled 1590.

Catolonia's Sandra Torrents from Spain, did well to take up third spot with 1558 ahead of Baharin's Nadia Aqeel and another Egyptian, Halal Khafagy rounding up the top 5 with 1506 and 1503.

Meanwhile the top three spots in the men's division remained unchanged with Thailand's in-form Surasak Manuwong in pole with 2012. Qatar's Mansour Al-Awami took second spot with 2000 followed by Thailand Open champion, Yannaphon Larpapharat in third with 1937.

Perfect gamer, Sithiphol Kunaksorn notched up three spots to take up fourth after improving his 918 to 960 and giving him a total of 1918. Egypt's best performer, Yosef Al-Gaber finished fifth with 1915.

Qualifying will end later tonight and the top 32 plus 4 top local men, top 14 plus 2 top local women will contest their 12-games Round 1 finals on April 26. The top 15 plus one local men and top 7 plus one top local women will advance into the round-robin finals from scratch.

The top 4 women and top 4 men will make the cut for the stepladder finals with the first match between the third-seed and fourth-seed. The winner will then meet the second-seed and thereafter meet the topseed for the championship match.

Photos by Terence Yaw.

24th April, Cairo: Thailand's Sithiphol Kunaksorn shot the tournament's first perfect game en-route to occupying seventh in the qualifying table of the 11th Sinai International Open as his compatriot, Surasak Manuwong remained in pole.

Sithiphol Kunaksorn, who won the ABF Tour Indonesia leg title last year, shot the oturnament's first perfect game in Squad 28 late Thursday night. Sithiphol started off the squad with 192 and 197 and look to be struggling in the squad.

But the Thai suddenly found his line to reel off 269 and brought the house to a standstill when he rolled 12-consecutive strikes to record the perfect 300. His fine effort gave him a score of 958 and an eight-game total of 1876 after he registered 918 in his earlier Squad 22.

Malaysian Open runnerup, Surasak Manuwong of Thailand continued to lead the field with a total of 2012 followed by early leader, Mansour Al-Awami of Qatar in second with 2000. Newly-crowned Thailand Open

champion, Yannaphon Larpapharat of Thailand improved to third with 1937.

Qatar's Yosef Al-Gaber took fourth spot with a fine 1915 while the best Egyptian was Karim Sherif, who totaled 1914 to complete the top 5 standings. Defending champion, Khaled Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait finished ahead of Sithiphol in sixth with 1905.

Meanwhile, Kuwait's Hanadi Al-Muzaiel topped the Ladies qualifying table with a total of 1615. The top Kuwaiti posted 812 and 803 in Squad 34 and Squad 20 for the lead. Amal Baker of Egypt took second spot with 1590 followed by Spain's Sandra Torrents in third with 1558.

Photos by Tarek Helmy.

23rd April, Cairo: Surasak Manuwong was in sizzling form as the Thai posted the highest four-game series of 1019 in Squad 23 and an earlier 993 in Squad 20 to take over the lead in the Men's qualifying table of the 11th Sinai International Open.

Surasak, who finished second in the Malaysian Open in March and third in the Thailand Open just last week, started his second attampt with a moderate 258 but blitzed the lanes with a superb 268.

The Thai dropped off his pace a little in the third game but ended the squad with a superb 279 to register the highest four-game series of 1019. Surasak also shot 993 in his first attempt to give himself an eight-game total of 2012 and the lead.

The in-form Surasak will be hoping to break the ice with a victory after finishing in the top 3 in two recent championships over the last two months. Early leader, Mansour Al-Awami of Qatar dropped to second on a total of 2000.

Egypt's Karim Sherif, who was fifth overnight, improved with 956 in the final squad of the day to move up to third with a total of 1914. Defending champion, Khaled Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait and Yosef Al-Gaber of Qatar completed the top 5 with 1905 and 1902.

Newly-crowned Thailand International Open champion, Yannaphon Larpapharat of Thailand did well to take up seventh position with 1847 behind Egyptian, Mohamed Al-Sirafi in sixth spot with 1852.

Photos by Tarek Helmy.

22nd April, Cairo: Up and coming Qatar national bowler, Mansour Al-Awami claimed pole position in the qualifying table of the 11th Sinai International Open underway at the International Bowling Center on Wednesday with Yosef Al-Gaber in second to give Qatar a 1-2 finish.

With twenty squads contest since the start of the championship on April 20, Mansour Al-Awami post the highest four game series with 1006 in Squad 14 and an earlier 994 in Squad 12 for an 8-game aggregate of 2000 to claim pole.

Mansour had a superb start in Squad 12 with a 278 scorcher followed with 224 and back-to-back 246 to score 994. The Qatari had another scintilating attempt in Squad 14 with 275 followed by 236, 217 and ending with another sizzling 278 to amass 1006.

The leader, who topped last year's first block finals but failed to make the stepladder finals will be looking to improve this time round. Qatar claimed the top two spots when Yosef Al-Gaber posted 961 in Squad 11

and an earlier 941 in Squad 8 for a total of 1902 to finish second to Mansour.

Defending champion, Khaled Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait clinched third spot with a total of 1876 while, Mohamed Al-Sirafi was the best Eqyptian performer taking up fourth spot with 1852. Karim Sharif of Egypt did well to finish fifth with 1849 to round up the top 5.

Qualifying will continue through to April 25 and the top 32 plus 4 top local men, top 14 plus 2 top local women will contest their 12-games Round 1 finals on April 26. The top 15 plus one local men and top 7 plus one top local women will advance into the round-robin finals from scratch.

The top 4 women and top 4 men will make the cut for the stepladder finals with the first match between the third-seed and fourth-seed. The winner will then meet the second-seed and thereafter meet the topseed for the championship match.

Photos by Terence Yaw.