17th May, Doha: Top-seed, Faisal Saleem and second-seed, Mostafa Almousawi ended the 4th GCC Games Bowling Championship 2026 after capturing the Masters gold and silver medals for Kuwait while third-seed, Jassim Almuraikhi added a bronze to Qatar.
Mostafa had defeated Faisal, 198-143 in the all-Kuwait first match final to force a second deciding match for the coveted gold. Mostafa started the second match with a double strike in the first two frames to open up a seven pins lead as Faisal struck in the first and spared his second.
But a split in the third frame from Mostafa allowed Faisal to narrow the gap to just six pins. Mostafa recovered with three strikes-in-a-row to take a 12 pin lead as his team-mate was unable to down a double. Mostafa stumbled in the seventh frame when he failed to convert his spare.
Faisal then finally got his double in the seventh and eighth frames to maintain his lead over his challenger. Faisal sealed a well-deserved victory with another double in the tenth frame to defeat Mostafa, 217-188 for Kuwait's first gold medal of the championship.
Kuwait finishing one-two to capture the silver and gold medals
Mostafa, who added a silver medal to Kuwait's medal haul, had earlier ousted local Qatari favourite, Jassim Almuraikhi, 225-201 in the semi-final match. In the earlier second block Masters finals, Faisal topped the field with 2563 total from four wins.
Mostafa won all his matches with a total of 2511 to proceed to the stepladder finals in second while Jassim, who led the field before the position-round match, slipped to third with 2497. Saudi Arabia topped the medal tally with a haul of 3-1-0. Qatar finished second with 2-4-4 while Kuwait took home 1-1-2.
Mr Abdulla Alqatan, President of Qatar Bowling Federation and Committee Member, Mr Ahmed Shaheen presentd the medals and mascots to the winners. A total of 26 athletes from five Gulf countries participated in this year's championship from May 12 to 17, 2026 at Qatar Bowling Federation centre.
The next major championship to be hosted by Qatar Bowling Federation will be the 28th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships schedule from November 12 to 22, 2026 followed by the Amir Cup 2026 from November 23 to December 3, 2026.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha, Qatar.
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Third gold for Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia poised for third gold
Qatar delivers first gold
Saudi Arabia wins second gold
Saudi strikes first gold
Jassim Almuraikhi settling for the Masters bronze medal
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