25th September, Kuwait: 2014 Youth champion, Aseel Alroomi of Kuwait took the early lead in the Open division qualifying standings of the 14th Kuwait International Open 2023 underway at Kuwait Bowling Sporting Club.

Alroomi chalked up his best 5-game series of 1171 in Squad 11, 1149 in Squad 24 and 1124 in Squad 36 for a 15-game total of 3444 to lead the standings. 2014 Kuwait Open champion, Thomas Larsen of Denmark, who led the standings briefly, finished second with 3375.

Larsen, who was the first overseas competitor in Kuwait last week, did his qualifying rounds early and left for the US to compete in the PBA Tour. The Dane will be back one day before the finals. Overseas bowlers from Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Lithuania, Qatar, Singapore, Thailand and UAE are set to compete throughout the week.

Kuwaiti national bowler, Mohammad Abdullah took third spot with 3320 followed by 2013 Youth champion, Mostafa Al Mousawi in fourth with 3302. Another Kuwaiti national bowler, Ibrahim Al Jadi rounded out the top 5 with 3275.

Mohammed Khalid of Kuwait headed the second bracket positioned 9 to 16 with 3074 total and will skip Round 1 to qualify for Round 2 Finals automatically. Yaquob Al Rubaian of Kuwait led the third bracket with 2716 for positions 17 to 28 making the cut for Round 1 finals.

Positions 29 to 30 are reserved for the two highest Kuwaitis outside the 28 qualifiers for Round 1 Finls while positions 31 to 32 are for the top 2 qualifiers from the one-game Desperado Squad on September 30.

The top prize for this year's Kuwait International Open is a whopping US$30,000 with prizes to be awarded up to position 32 with US$2,000. A separate Class A division stepladder finals will also be staged for the top 4 Class A qualifiers.

The top 4 Kuwaiti Youths and the top 4 Ladies after Round 2 Finals will also qualify for the special Youth and Ladies Stepladder Finals. Qualifying rounds will continue through to September 30 with the finals on October 1.