30th September, Al Khobar: Khalid Al-Hamdan ended the the 7th GCC Youth Championships by capturing host nation Saudi Arabia's only gold medal in the Masters finals at the Agosaibi Sport Centre.

The 17-year-old 2011 ABF Tour Saudi leg champion defeated Bahrain's Abdulla Raed 2-0 over the best-of-3 championship match to win Saudi's first and only gold medal. Khalid had edged Abdulla, 258-255 in the first game before easily taking the second match, 232-189 for the title.

Khalid, had earlier ousted top seed and All Events gold medalist, Abdulla Ahmed of Kuwait, 2-1 in the semi-finals/ The Kuwaiti trashed Khalid 287-194 in the first match but the Saudi bounced back with 225-218 and 208-205 to advance to the finals.

Abdulla Raed advanced to the finals to meet Khalid with victory over fourth seed, Hazeem Al-Merekhi of Qatar, 2-1.

Khalid sailed past second seed, Ahmed Al-Deyab of Qatar, 2-0 in the quarter-finals while Abdulla Raed also crusied through to the semi-finals with a 2-0 victory over third seed, Sultan Al-Qubaisi of UAE in the quarter-finals.

Kuwait emerged as overall champion after a medal haul of 4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals. Mohanned Ebrahim kicked off the five-nation championship by clinching the opening Singles gold medal with 1435.

Sultan Al-Qubaisi of UAE settled for the silver with 1411 while the 2011 Asian Schools Master champion, Abdulla Ahmed of Kuwait took the bronze medal with 1379. Bahrain's Taha Ebrahim shot the first 300 in his opening game.

Qatar's Hazeem Al-Merekhi partnered Ahmed Al-Deyab to win the Doubles gold medal with 2923 in which Ahmed shot the second perfect game of the championship for a record-breaking 1,500 series.

Kuwait's Moustafa Mousawi and Ali Qallaf of Kuwait took the silver medal with 2789 while Qatar's Hashim Ibrahim and Abdurrahman Al-Jdiddh settled for the bronze medal with 2748. Ahmed Abdulla also shot the tournament's third perfect game but finished seventh with Singles gold medalist, Mohanned Ebrahim.

Kuwaiti youths showed their superioty when they easily won the Trios gold with 4150, 178 pins ahead of their team-mates. Abdulrahman Suwaid posted 1386, Aseel Roomi 1389 and Mohanned Ebrahim 1375 for the victory.

Kwuait finished one-two after Ali Qallaf, Moustafa Mousawi and Abdulla Ahmed took the silver medal with 3972. Qatar's Hassan Ibrahim, Jassem Al-Deyab and Abdurrahman Al-Jdiddh settled for the bronze with 3938.

Saudi Arabia's Mosaad Al-Jeean rolled the championship's fourth 300 in game five of the Trios event but was unable to help his team as he was completing his event on his won because the host nation fielded only four youths.

Kuwait captured their third gold medal of the championship with victory in the Team of 5 event with 6535, 131 pins ahead of Qatar settling for the silver medal with 6404. Bahrain took the bronze medal with 6383.

Abdulla Ahmed won his second and his first individual gold medal when he topped the All Events with a 24-game total of 5550. Ahmed Al-Deyab settled for the silver medal with 5473 while Sultan Al-Qubaisi clinched the bronze with 5426.

Only two from each nation in the All Events can qualify for the Top 8 elimination Masters finals over best-of-3 matches in which the winners would advance to the semi-finals and finally for the title match. The losers in the semi earned a bronze medal each.

Photos courtesy of Saudi Bowling Federation.