7th May, Kuwait: Jason Belmonte of Australia edged Finland's Osku Palermaa 238-233 and Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia ousted compatriot, Esther Cheah for the second straight meeting between the two to bag the 3rd Kuwait International Open Masters titles.

The Aussie, who had the privilege of going into the Top 16 best of five knockout stage after qualifying fourth, was drawn against Thailand's Surasak Manuwong. Belmonte won all the three matches, 258-213, 268-246 and 236-226 to move into the Top 8 stage.

Drawn against a tougher opponent in Pasi Uotila of Finland, Belmonte had to go to the fourth match on long oil condition before confirming a 3-1 win over the Finn with 226-248, 208-199, 277-267 and 277-249 to make the cut for the Top 4 knockout stage.

Matched against a weaker opponent this time round, the Aussie thrashed Fadhel Al-Mousawi of Kuwait, 275-213 to meet yet another Finn, Osku Palermaa, winner of the other match. Belmonte pulled one out of his bag to edge Palermaa, 238-233 to successfully defend the title and the top prize of US$20,000.

Palermaa settled for second and US$10,000 despite a good run, taking out the Round of 32 finals leader, Ahmed Al-Mohandi of Qatar, 239-193 in the other match. Fadhel and Ahmed shared third spot and US$6,000 as loosing semifinalists.

Meanwhile, four-time Asian No. 1, Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia, ousted compatriot, Esther Cheah, 222-184 to claim her third consecutive title. The 28-year-old ex-Malaysian national won the Thailand Open and the ABF Tour Thailand leg just two weeks ago in Bangkok.

The final match was also the second straight meet between the two Malaysians when the champion defeated Esther in the Thailand Open. The runner-up, who had squeezed into the stepladder finals in fourth position, edged second-seed, Martina Beckel of Germany, 269-259 in the second match before going down to the champion.

Esther also ousted third-seed, Putty Armein of Indonesia, 227-204 in the first match. Shalin took home US$4,000 while Esther settled for US$2,500 for her effort. The lithe blond Britt Brondsted from Denmark just missed out on a stepladder place by just under 50 pins to take the dreaded fifth spot.

The top 16 Asian men made the cut for tomorrow's ABF Tour Kuwait leg which will be telecast LIVE over Kuwait TV. Live scores will also be featured at www.abftour.com.

Photos by Keith Hale, Bowler's Journal International.

6th May, Kuwait: Ahmed Al-Mohandi of Qatar topped the Men's Round of 32 finals of the 3rd Kuwait International Open to lead Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong and Malaysia's Zulmazran Zulkifli as seeded qualifiers into the next Round of 16.

The 32 male group, finishers 6-27 in qualifying, 5 local and 4 from desperado squad, rolled off their ten games, five on each of long and short oil, and the squad leader was Ahmed Al-Mohandi of Qatar. Ahmed, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong and Zulmazran Zulkifli of Malaysia, have the enviably position of now being seeded into the round of 16 where they will play the best of five game matches, head to head.

Al Mohandi shot 1244 on the five games of short oil and just 1074 on the long, but his total of 2318 put him 34 pins ahead of Wu in the final standings. He was truly helped on his way by a fine 288 in his third game of the day on the short stuff.

Qatari Saeed Al Hajri's 300 game and the tournament's number 11, brought him up to fifth place and five of the six Qataris made the cut. Despite a lowly

203 in his last game, Daniel Lim of Malaysia squeezed into the qualifiers, beating Ahmed Shaheen, one of the tournament favorites by just two pins for last place and finishing with a 209.3 average.

Last year there were 13 perfectos bowled. We're just two shy of that figure right now but Sunday's packed schedule could see that 'lucky for some' figure exceeded.

Story and photos by Keith Hale, Bowler's Journal International.

6th May, Kuwait: Double winner of the Thailand Open and ABF Tour Thailand leg kept her form going into the top 12 women finals of the 3rd Kuwait International Open as she topped the field for the stepladder finals.

Some extraordinary bowling started today with a roll-off between Malaysia's Zandra Aziela and Wendy Chai who tied for tenth place in the qualifiers. That was won by Aziela, 255-191. Then the illustrious group of 12, as the ten were fortified by the addition of two local players, bowled their first four of eight games, playing the opening set on long oil.

The high game on this set was 258 and there were three of them - one each from Shalin Zulkifli and Esther Cheah of Malaysia and Indonesian star Putty Armein. But the star of the morning show was Martina Beckel of Germany, hitting 958 over her four-game block with lines of 229, 227, 247 and 255 before the break.

Four of the ladies finished their first set with scores over 900 - following Beckel's 958 came two Malaysians, Esther Cheah and Shalin Zulkifli, tied on 947, then Putty Armein of Indonesia with 940.

As the women continued their second block over the short oil condition, the irrepressible Shalin Zulkifli topped the table as number one seed and young Esther Cheah took fourth place. Previous frontrunner Martina Beckel, from Frankfurt, Germany dropped back into second place and Putty Armein of Indonesia placed third.

The lithe blond Britt Brondsted from Denmark just missed out on a stepladder place by just under 50 pins to take the dreaded fifth spot. The stepladder finals will be held tomorrow, 7th May after the men has completed their two rounds of finals.

Story and photos by Keith Hale, Bowler's Journal International.

5th May, Kuwait: Khaled Al-Dubyan of Kuwait shared pole position with Qatar's Bandar Al-Shafi in the Open Masters qualifying table of the 3rd Kuwait International Open as Mubarak Ali of Qatar, posted the tournament's tenth perfect game.

The Kuwaiti youngster, who lead up to Wednesday, lost the lead to Finland's Jari Ratia on Thursday. While Jari enjoyed a brief lead, Qatar's Bandar Al-Shafi improved from fifth position to become the new leader as the qualifying rounds heated up.

Khaled Al-Dubyan immedaitely posted 771 in the long oil condition to better his previous 717 for a 12-game total of 3047 to share the lead with Bandar Al-Shafi. Jari dropped one rung to third position with 3012 with Aussie, Jason Belmonte maintaining fourth spot with 2987.

Perfect games was the talk of the day as soon as Malaysians, Daniel Lim and Ben Heng reeled off the tournament's first two perfect games. But as the final day of qualifying got heated up, more bowlers were able to achieve the perfect 300. No. 10 coming from ABF Tour Qatar leg champion, Mubarak Ali of Qatar.

With the strong field consisting mostly of the qualifiers of the World Ranking Masters 2006 using this tournament as a warm up to the prestigious event taking place on the 9th May, the finals will be one of hotly contested one tomorrow.

In the women's division, Indonesia's Putty Armein remained tops with 2688 followed by double champion of the Thailand Open and ABF Tour Thailand leg, Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia in second with 2676.

Denmark's Britt Brondsted also remianed third with 2646 while Thailand's Angkana Netrviseth improved to take up fourth spot with 2628 ahead of England's Zara Glover fifth on 2617.

The top 24 Open qualifiers plus top 4 local and 4 from the desperado squad will make the cut for the top 32 finals and the top 11 women plus one local woman will contest their finals tomorrow, 7th May.

Photos by Keith Hale, Bowler's Journale International.

3rd May, Kuwait: Manila SEA Games Gold medalist, Putty Armein of Indonesia, made an immediate impact when she shot to the top of the women's qualifying leaderboard of the 3rd Kuwait International Open at Cozmo Bowling Center.

The format of play requires each competitor to bowl a minimum of 4 squads of 3 games each, two in short oil condition and two in long oil condition. The top 24 based on the best of two short and best of two long oil condition will make the cut for the Open Masters finals while the top 11 plus one local women will qualify for the women's division finals.

Indonesia's top women bowler, Putty Armein is competing in the Kuwait International Open as a warm up to the World Ranking Masters 2006, which will be held from the 9th May at the same venue. The 24-year-old posted 633 and 647 over the short oil condition, and then reeled off 595 and 740 over the long oil condition for a 12-game total of 2615 to take up top spot in the women's leaderboard.

England's Zara Glover finished second with a total of 2595 while Denmark's World Ranking Masters qualifier, Britt Bronsted took up third spot with 2475. Australia's Toni Woodcock and defending champion, Vanessa Fung of Hong Kong occupied fourth and fifth spots with 2441 and 2430 respectively.

Newly-crowned double champion in the Thailand Open and ABF Tour Thailand leg, Shalin Zulkifli, did well to finish 12th with only two attempts in short oil condition. Other Malaysian women also impressed with Zandra Aziela and Esther Cheah posting 1346 and 1295 on two attempts.

Meanwhile, Finland's Jari Ratia shot to the top of the Open division qualifying table with a superb 3012, the only bowler to surpass the 3,000-mark. Ratia posted 812, 763 over the two short oil course and 707, 730 over the long oil course for the lead.

Early leader, Khaled Al-Dubyan of Kuwait dropped to second spot with 2993 with another Finn, Oscu Palermaa taking up third spot with 2984. Kuwait's Fadhel Al-Mousawi and Qatar's Bandar Al-Shafi occupied fourth and fifth positions with 2979 and 2941 respectively.

ABF Tour Qatar leg champion, Mubarak Ali of Qatar and his teammate, Abdullah Al-Qattan posted 2930 and 2902 for sixth and seventh positions ahead of Australia's Jason Belmonte in eighth with 2886. Mohd Kamel of Kuwait and Pasi Uotila of Finland made up the top 10 in ninth and tenth spots with 2878 and 2867.

Qualifying ends tomorrow, 5th May and the finals will be held on the 6th and 7th May. The top 16 men will also make the cut for the ABF Tour Kuwait leg on the 8th May but there will be no women division for this leg.

Photos courtesy of Kuwait Bowling Federation.

30th April, Kuwait: Khaled Al-Dubyan led five Kuwaitis by occupying the top 5 positions of the 3rd Kuwait International Open Bowling Championship Masters qualifying table underway at Cozmo Bowling Center.

The 18-year-old, who finished as runner-up in the 2005 Indonesia Open Youth Boys Masters, posted 761 and 741 over the short oil condition and 717 and 717 over the long oil condition for a 12-game total 2936 to lead five Kuwaitis in the Men's Qualifing table.

Fellowcountrymen, Fadhel Al-Mousawi finished second with a total of 2835 ahead of Rakan Al-Amiri in third spot with 2774. Mohd Kamel and Mohad Al-Rajeeba completed the top 5 in fourth and fifth positions with 2742 and 2738 respectively.

Saeed Al-Hajri of Qatar and Australia's Jason Belmonte took sixth and seventh positions with 2734 and 2705 while Basel Al-Anzi of Kuawait, Tim Mack of USA and Abdullah Al-Qattan made up the top 10.

The qualifying format for the championship requires bowlers to bowl at least two qualifying squads of 3 games each over the short oil condition and two qualifying squads of 3 games each over the long oil condition. The best of two short and best of two long constitute the qualifying score. The top 24 qualifiers plus 4 top local and 4 from the desperado squad will make the cut for the finals on the 6th May, 2006. Qualifying continues through to 5th May.

Photos courtesy of MTBC.