13th December, Doha: Incredible bowling from Nina Flack saw the petite Swede take the 8th Qatar International Open title after she defeated third-seed, Dominic Barrett in the championship match, 435-413 at Qatar Bowling Center on Saturday.

Taking into consideration that Nina Flack got into the finals through the back door with a fourth place finish in the Desperado squad and then the extraordinary and unfortunate oversleeping incident this morning.

She had to hurl herself into the fray without breakfast and sustained through all of today's rounds of six games in the Stage 3 finals, another six in the Stage 4 and then the two-game semis and final.

Although she tied the first game of the championship round with her opponent, Dominic Barrett on 200 each, the 8 pin handicap helped her to take an 8-pin lead in the two-game total pinfalls encounter.

She made a slight mistake in the second frame of the second game but recovered with four strikes in a row. Barrett also had a split in the fifth frame but the Englishmen's strong finishing in the end was a little too late.

Flack took the second game, 227-213 and the match, 435-413 to become the second women to win the coveted title in the second year in succession. The defending champion was Kirsten Penny of England who was eliminated in the Stage 3 finals.

"I'm so happy to have won the title after a little scare this morning," said the 23-year-old petite Nina Flack. "The week has been awesome. I came here with the intention to at least make the top 8 but to win is even more amazing.

"I made a little mistake in the second frame of the second game so did Dominic (Barrett). He bowl so well too and anyone could have won. The first game was extremely close but I guess I'm luckier than him."

Flack was already the champion of EBT 2008 women's rankings, where she earned an additional Euro 2,500 to the fat paycheck of Euros 30,000 she received for winning the title.

"This is probably my toughest match in the entire competition and I really cannot be too disappointed," said the 21-year-old Barrett from Essex. "My opponent was simply much better on the day. "I did afterall come away with 15,000 Euros and I'm happy. The field is very strong here and the conditions are not easy."

Barrett reached the finals after he dispatched topseed, Remy Ong of Singapore, 466-439. The first game went to Barrett, 234-215 but the second was a much closer one with Barrett narrowly beating the Singaporean, 232-224.

The champion cruised through to the championship round with victory over second-seed, Jason Belmonte of Australia, 472-363.

The Swede won the first game, 234-200 and outclassed the Aussie, 238-163 in the second game. The four semifinalist took the top 4 spots in the earlier Stage 4 finals where eight finalists bowled six games with pins brought forward from the Stage 3 finals. The four who missed the cut were Nick Froggatt (ENG-5th), Wu Siu Hong (HKG-6th), Patricia Luoto (GER-7th) and Khaled Al-Dubyyan (KUW-8th).

One hundred and forty-nine bowlers took part in this championship which is for the first time, a European Tour leg and European players earn ranking points towards their grand slam finals next year.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

12th December, Doha: Nick Froggatt and Dominic Barrett of Great Britain, ruled the lanes in Stage 2 finals of the 8th Qatar International Open on Friday evening taking the top 2 spots with Patricia Luoto of Germany in third.

Nick Froggatt, who finished eighth behind his fellow-countrymen, Dominic Barrett in Stage 1, got the better of him by topping the Stage 2 finals over six games. Froggart led from start to finish with the help of several massive games.

The British took the lead with a superb 258 opening game to lead Barrett by 2 pins. Froggart was lucky to retain the lead despite shooting only 216 as his compatriot shot 183.

The leader then stepped up his pace with a sizzling 269 to open up a 60 pin margin as Barrett kept pace with a good 244. By the fifth game, Froggart had built up a 78 pins margin and went on cruise home with 245 topping the stage with 1434.

Barrett, 21 from Essex, who also finished strongly with 239, settled for second on a total of 1350. Top female performer was German Patricia Luoto taking third spot with 1333 ahead of Swede Martin Larsen and Dane Mads Sandbekken completing the top 5.

"I had a good run in the earlier stage and I managed to keep my momentum through to this stage," said the 36-year-old Froggatt from Birmingham. "The lanes are much easier as opposed to the qualifying rounds and I could use the outside line."

"I've been bowling great these few weeks and I'm happy with my performance so far," said Particia Luoto. "I'm just enjoying my good form now and I hope to carry this into the next stage. I'll be extremely delighted if I make further progress and if I don't I'll still go away happy.

Defending champion, Kirsten Penny turned in a much better showing in this stage to finish sixth with Denmark's Jesper Agerbo in seventh position. Stage 1 third-place finisher, Nina Flack took eighth while the only Asian survivor was UAE's Shaker Al-Hassan in ninth.

Another Dane, Jimmy Mortensen clinched the tenth and final spot for tomorrow's Stage 3 finals. Qatar's hopeful, Saeed Al-Hajri was

disappointed to miss the cut in 11th position while Stage 1 leader, Khaled Al-Doseri ended up last in the field of 24.

The top 6 from the qualifying rounds headed by Singapore's Remy Ong with Osku Palermaa, Jason Belmonte, Kai Wan Kuo, Khaled Al-Dubyyan and Wu Siu Hong will join the top 10 for the Stage 3 finals.

The top 8 finishers at the end of the six-game finals will advance to the Stage 4 round with pins carried forward. At the end of the Stage 4, the top 4 will move into the championship round.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

12th December, Doha: Khaled Al-Doseri of Qatar was on a roll as he scorched the lanes to lead Stage 1 finals of the 8th Qatar International Open from EBT ranked No. 1, Nina Flack of Sweden and compatriot, Saeed Al-Hajri in third.

Nina Flack of Sweden, who qualified for the Stage 1 finals through the back door in the desperado squad, blitzed the lanes with a superb 245 opening game to lead top Qatari title contender and recently crowned, Bahrain Open champion, Saeed Al-Hajri by 8 pins.

The Swede's lead was reduced to just one pin as another Qatari, Khaled Al-Doseri mounted his challenge as Flack shot 220 in her second game. Despite another strong 210 in the third, Khaled bettered her score with 239 to lead Flack by 20 pins at the halfway mark.

The trio set a blistering pace leaving the fourth and fifth place finalists some distant away. Saeed continued to trial is fellow-countrymen but it was the Swede who came back strongly to snatch second spot with 1407.

"I've continued to bowl many squads even though I've qualified for the finals and that must have given me enough practice and learned how to tackle to lanes," said the 26-year-old Khaled, who won the Team gold medals in the 9th GCC Championship in Kuwait.

Khaled ended the six-game finals with 1416 as Saeed dropped back to third with 1376. Defending champion, Kirsten Penny of England, who also made the finals in the desperado squad, squeezed into the last 18 with two strong games of 235 and 234.

"The lane conditions are much better today and the ball change I made also helped a little," said the 21-year-old Nina Flack, who also made the finals from the desperado squad. Flack has already won the EBT women's title with a massive 684 points and some 41 points ahead of Kirsten Penny.

The top 18 from Stage 1 will advance to Stage 2 together with the positions 7 to 12 qualifiers from the overall standings for another six games before cutting down to the top 10. The ten will join positions 1 to 6 in the Stage 3 finals tomorrow.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

11th December, Doha: Former World Ranking Masters champion, Khaled Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait secured a top 6 spot in the final qualifying squad of the 8th Qatar International Open after topping Squad 18 on late Thursday evening.

Khaled Al-Dubyyan, who had three previous attempts in which his highest six-games series was 1241 shot in Squad 10, skipped Squad 17 to take a much needed rest before making his final shot at qualifying.

Not the best of start for the 21-year-old Kuwaiti opened with just 170. A 248 in the second game put him back in the hunt. Khaled then fired a superb 279 allowed him to accumulate just 97 pins over on a 697 three-game series.

Another fine 240 in the fourth game put Khaled propelled him to the front of the squad and in a comfortable 137 pins over. But a 195 in the fifth game reduce it to just 132 pins over which meant that the youngster had to shoot more than 255 to secure a top 6 finish.

Khaled turned in one of his best performance by bringing home a fantastic 257 and giving him a total of 1389 to take up sixth position in the overall standings and knocked off sixth-placed Jason Yeong-Nathan of Singapore.

World Men's Championship bronze medalist, Mads Sandbekken of Denmark finished second to the leader with 1343 which also allowed him to qualified for the Stage 1 finals in 17th position.

Gennady Sidorov was the only other bowler to squeeze into the finals with a score of 1296 taking up 37th position pushing down the unlucky Italian, Amedeo Spada into the reserves.

The six finalists, who were out of the top 38 positions but made the finals from the first two days were Nestor Sanchez (PHI-1234), Marc Lexter (PHI-1227), Jovito Camia (PHI-1223) qualified from squads 1 and 2. Shaker Al-Hassan (UAE-1248), Abdulla Al-Qattan (QAT-1247), Yousif Falah (BAH-1244) from Squads 3 and 4.

The four qualifiers from the desperado squad were Paco Rodriguez (ESP-257), Kirsten Penny (GBR-248), Abdulrahman Jaidah (QAT-246) and Nina Flack (SWE-244). 42 finalists will play six games in the Stage 1 finals. The top 18 based on total pinfalls will be joined the second six qualifiers from positions 7 to 12 in the Stage 2 finals.

The top 10 based on total pinfalls in another six games will be joined by the first six qualifiers from positions 1 to 6 in the Stage 3 finals. The top 8 finishers will advance into Stage 4 finals with pins carried forward for the final six games.

The top 4 will make the cut for the Stage 5 semifinals where the topseed will meet the fourth-seed and the second-seed will face the third-seed in a two-games total pinfalls stepladder finals.

The winner of the semifinals will meet in the championship match, again over two-games total pinfalls to decide the champion and the runnerup. The champion will take home Euros 30,000 while the loser will pocket Euros 15,000.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

11th December, Doha: Jason Belmonte of Australia became the third competitor to shoot pass the 1400-mark of the 8th Qatar International Open when he posted 1401 to top Squad 17 from England's Stuart Williams and Qatar's Mansoor Al-Awamy.

Belmonte, who had already made the Stage 1 finals sharing 20th position with three others from Squad 12, was not contended with the position and took part in Squad 17 in an attempt to make at least the top 12.

The two-handed Aussie started with a cracking 269 opener but after shifting to a difficult pair of lanes he managed only 178. Determined to improve his best score of 1325, Belmonte gradually crawl his way back with 222, 243, 241 and closing out on 248 to total of 1401.

Belmonte topped the squad en-route to assure himself a place in the top six qualifying group by taking up third in the overall qualifying table behind another two-handed, Osku Palermaa on 1402 and leader, Remy Ong on 1415.

"My wife (Kimberly) told me to be more positive in my approach to the game and that really changed the way I bowled," said Belmonte after being congratulated by fellow competitors. "I was simply too negative since I started my qualifying rounds here two days ago.

Stuart Williams' score of 1319 that made him finish second to the Australian, did not help him improve his position in the standings as he had a better score of 1329 which was 19th in the table.

Qatar's Mansoor Al-Awamy made the most of this squad to shoot 1318 moving up to 27th position from 48th which guaranteed the Qatari a place in the Stage 1 finals. The current cut-off score of 1290 was shared by Denmark's Kim Brondsted and defending champion, Kirsten Penny of England.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

11th December, Doha: Singaporeans dominated Squad 16 as Remy Ong shot to the front of the overall qualifying standings of the 8th Qatar International Open with 1415 to top the squad with compatriot, Jason Yeong-Nathan in second.

Immediately after leading the 9.00am Squad 15 with 1301 to secure a spot in 25th position in the overall standings, the 30-year-old Ong moved onto his next attempt to try and improve on his score.

The Singaporean opened with a superb 248 then set the lanes at Qatar Bowling Center ablaze with a 280 scorcher in the second. At the halfway mark, Ong was already 172 over and looked set to beat the 1402 mark set by Finn, Osku Palermaa.

Ong, winner of two gold medals in the Busan Asian Games in 2002 and two gold medals at the 2006 World Men’s Championship, was unstoppable cruising home with 214 and 228 to give himself a total of 1415 and becoming the new pole sitter.

"I know I've taken over the lead but it’s not over yet. There is still the final to come," said Ong after scoring the highest six-games series thus far. "But I'm glad that I've made the cut for the Stage 3 finals together with Jason (Yeong-Nathan).

"The lines are extremely tight and if you lose a bit of focus, you're in trouble. I just made sure I maintain my rhythm and keep my concentration. Teammate, Jason Yeong-Nathan posted 1333 as a warm up squad prior to tomorrow's finals to finish second to Ong.

Jason had already made the top 6 qualifying group in fourth before being pushed down one rung by his teammate and new leader. Third in the squad was Canada's Caroline Lagrange, who shot 1325 plus the 48-pins handicap.

Lagrange's compatriot, Mark Buffa became the first competitor in the championship to shoot a perfect game. Buffa achieved the feat during game four and was looking good to move up the standings substantially until a poor final game gave him a total of 1297 and 32nd overall.

The final dash to make the top 38 cut for Stage 1 finals intensify in the last two squads of the championship. Those who fail will get another chance by entering for the desperado squad at midnight for the additional four slots.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

11th December, Doha: Singapore's Remy Ong topped the first squad of the final day of qualifying at the 8th Qatar International Open on Thursday morning with a score of 1301 to confirm his place the finals.

Ong's previous best effort was 1266 and outside of the top 38, shot last night in Squad 13 and decided to skip the late night's 9.00pm Squad 14 to get a good rest and be fresh for today's qualifying round. The Singaporean started off well with 228, 238 and 195 in the first series.

Like many other competitors in the championship, maintaining consistent scores proved a handful when Ong only managed 170 in his fourth game. The southpaw recovered slightly with 210 in the fifth game making him needing a massive game in the last to improve his previous score.

Ong displayed tremendous fighting spirit to strike home from frame

five onwards and ending the game with 260. His final surge gave Ong a total of 1301 and topping the squad. Russia's Ivan Semenov finished second in the same squad with 1295."

This is my fifth attempt and each time, I had a shot of scoring more than 1300 but got close," said Ong. "Now that I've assured a place in the finals, I've one more squad which I'll go in much more relax and hopefully I can join Jason (Yeong-Nathan) in the top 6."

Jason has more or less confirmed his place in the finals in fourth overall after he topped Squad 8 with 1375. He will get two byes and directly into the Stage 3 finals while Ong has to contest the Stage 1 to make further advancement.

Current EBT ranking winner, Osku Palermaa of Finland maintained his pole position with 1402 followed by Kai Wan Kuo of Germany and Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong in third. Jason and two Swedes, Peter Ljung and Martin Larsen are the top 6 finishers.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

10th December, Doha: The final squad of Day 5 belong to Finn, Patricia Luoto as she romped home with a six-games qualifying score of 1334 to claim top spot in Squad 14 of the 8th Qatar International Open on late Wednesday with England's Nick Froggatt taking second spot.

Patricia Luoto set a cracking pace with 265 in her opening game and was contented to sit second behind Qatar's Mansoor Al-Awamy, who knocked down a higher 275. The former German now married to former World Cup champion, Mika Luoto encountered a set back when she only managed 168 in her second game.

She recovered slightly with 212, 247 and 214 in her next three games to give herself 148 pins over going into the sixth and final game of the squad. Patricia just could not find a strike in the last game until she decided to change a ball and managed to string a double.

A poor miss in the eighth frame set her back a little but manage to end the game on 190 and a total of 1334 plus the 48 pins she got as

handicap to top the squad. But her total was only good enough for 13th position missing the positions 7 to 12 group that will advance into Stage 2 finals.

"I had a poor attempt a squad earlier and when I moved into bowling from the outside, I had better carry so I knew what I had to do in my next squad," said the slightly relieved Patricia, who won the Vienna Open last week.

"The shifting of four lanes between games made it a lot harder which accounted for the low game in the second. But luckily, I could do better in other lanes. I was hitting the pocket in the last game but couldn't get any strikes so I decided to change a ball. I'm glad I did.

England's Nick Froggatt finished second to the Finn with 1316 thanks to a big game of 268 in the fourth while American Patrick Healey Jr, who already had 1331 when he topped Squad 10 last night, shot 1313 to finish third.

Froggatt slotted into 25th position in the overall standings although he commented later that it would be better to have at least made the second 6's group qualifiers. But the Englishman has one more squad tomorrow in which he hope to improve on his score.

There will be four additional squads on the final day of qualifying tomorrow. Stage 1 to 3 finals will be held on Friday, December 12 and the remaining two stages on Saturday, December 13.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

10th December, Doha: It was lucky thirteen for England's Paul Moor after he shot 1362 to top Squad 13 of the 8th Qatar International Open and moving him up from 47th to eighth in the overall standings.

Building on his form and success in the IV Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championship in which he won the Team and Masters gold medals, Paul Moor got himself out of the reserves into eighth position after his third attempt.

Moor opened with a 259 but dropped off the pace with 203 in the second game. Two good games of 245 and 247 gave the Englishmen 954 and ending the squad with 203 and 205 for a six-games total of 1362.

Moor's efforts gave him top position in the squad but crucially into eighth position in the overall standings. But Moor, who is currently ranked seventh in the EBT, could have made it into the top 6 had he been able to end with high score last two games.

"I'm glad I finally put in a decent score to make the cut," said the Moor, who has recently seen a return in form after his Belfast outing last week. "I changed the surface of the ball I was using and I guessed it work well for me.

"Thirteen is not my lucky number but I'll take it anyway. I'm in seventh now and it takes four to knock me out of the second six who will get a bye into Stage 2. We'll see, maybe I'll have another go at improving my scores tomorrow.

UAE's Naif Oqab, who was in 22nd position before this squad, posted 1355 to finish behind Moor and moved him into the second 6's in eighth spot earning at least one bye into Stage 2 finals.

Despite improving from 1339 to 1348 to finish third in the same squad, Tore Torgersen of Norway dropped to 12th and final position in the second 6's after Moor and Naif had squeezed higher than the Norwegian.

The final squad of the day follows this and the remaining four squads tomorrow giving competitors their final chance to make the cut. There will be a one-game desperado squad at around midnight where the final four bowlers will get a chance to join the Stage 1 finals. Qualifiers from the desperado squad will not be eligible to earn ranking points and will only be playing for the prize money.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

10th December, Doha: Hong Kong's top title contender, Wu Siu Hong staked his claim on the 8th Qatar International Open title after posting an impressive 1384 pinfalls in his fourth attempt to move into second in the overall standings.

Wu Siu Hong, who is currently seeing a return of his old magic when he was labelled "Wonder Boy", found his line to knock down a six-games total of 1384 and topped Squad 12. Wu had improved his overall standing from 38th to third and crucially in the top 6 which would give him a bye into Stage 3 finals.

"I watched others using the outside line and I thought I gave it a try and I'm glad I did as it gave me better carry," said the 24-year-old recently crowned Chinese Taipei Open. "I thought I was going to be left out from my teammates in making the finals but luckily I found the right line."

Denmark's Jimmy Mortensen finished second to the Hong Kong bowler,

just 21 pins adrift with 1363 which allowed the Dane to take up seventh overall and into Stage 2 finals. Third in the squad was Sweden's Robert Andersson who shot 1336 giving him a 11th spot in the standings.

Three other competitors, Andres Gomez of Colombia, Stuart Williams of England and another two-handed Aussie, Jason Belmonte managed to shoot past the 1300-mark with 1330, 1329 and 1325 to finish fourth to six positions respectively.

Current EBT rankings leader, Osku Palermaa of Finland maintained his pole position after becoming the first competitor to surpass the 1400-mark with 1402. Early leader, Kai Wan Kuo of Germany and Wu sits comfortably in second and third.

Jason Yeong-Nathan of Singapore, Swedes, Peter Ljung and Martin Larsen completed the top 6 who will get byes into Stage 3 finals. Kuwait's Fahad Al-Regheeb led the next six bowlers for Stage 2 finals with last night's Squad 10 leader, Partick Healey Jr. of USA in 12th. Two more squads will be staged today with the remaining four squads on the final day of qualifying tomorrow.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

9th December, Doha: Current European Bowling Tour leader, Osku Palermaa of Finland became the first bowler to surpass the 1400-mark in the 8th Qatar International Open when he shot 1402 en-route to leading the overall qualifying standings.

The Finn, who last Sunday captured the Ebonite Lahti Open in Finland, started his second attempt with 205 and 220 in the first two opening games but picked up his pace with back-to-back 237s to lead the field of 49 qualifiers in Squad 9.

A sizzling 279 in the fifth and closing out on a 224 made the Finn the first bowler in the tournament to surpass the 1400-mark with a 1402 total. Palermaa, who leads the EBT rankings with a massive 594, looked set to bag the high series award of Euros 200 after he bettered Singaporean Jason Yeong-Nathan's 1375 scored in the earlier Squad 8.

Peter Ljung finished second to Palermaa with 1374 ahead of Hong Kong's Eric Tseng in thir with 1321. Current second-placed in the EBT

rankings, Dominc Barrett of England and Denmark's Jimmy Mortensen rounded up the top 5 who posted more than 1300.

The two-handed Finn's effort moved him above overnight leader, Ka Wan Kuo of Germany and into pole position. Jason Yeong-Nathan dropped to third on 1375 after topping Squad 8. Peter Ljung and his compatriot, Martin Larsen took fourth and fifth spots.

Kuwait's Fahad Al-Ragheeb took the sixth and final spot of the top 6 who would advance into the Stage 3 finals. Lars Nielsen of Sweden led the next 6 qualifiers into Stage 2 finals with 1353 scored in the earlier squad.

Saeed Al-Hajri of Qatar is joint-11th and last player who would advance to the Stage 2 finals. Qualifying continues with eight more squads over the next two remaining days of qualifying. Stage 1 to Stage 3 finals will be held on December 12 and the next three finals on December 13.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

9th December, Doha: Two-time Singapore national champion, Jason Yeong-Nathan blitzed the lanes at Qatar Bowling Center to take top honours in Squad 8 on Day 4 of qualifying at the 8th Qatar International Open on Tuesday.

Jason, who regained the Singapore national crown last month following on his sister, Jasmine Yeong-Nathan's historical triumph in the AMF World Cup in Mexico, opened accounts with a sizzling game of 278. A subsequent 229 did not dampen his form as he reeled off another superb 289.

With a fourth game of 213, Jason looked set to be the first bowler to break the 1400-mark. But he somehow struggled to maintain his momentum managing 186 and 180 in jis last two games to end the squad with 1375, just 15 pins short of overhauling German, Kai Wan Kuo's 1390.

"I had everything going great from the start but it lasted only four

games. The conditions changed slightly and I wasn't able to adapt quick enough," said the 25-year-old Singaporean national squad member.

Jason has assured himself a spot in Stage 3 finals by virtue of finishing second overall behind Kai. World Championship Team bronze medalist, Martin Larsen did well to score 1370 to finish second behind Jason in this squad and has secured third overall.

Lars Nielsen of Sweden, Tore Torgersen of Norway, Cyrus Cheung of Hong Kong and current EBT Ranked No. 1, Osku Palermaa of Finland all posted over 1300-mark to finish third to sixth in this squad.

Fahad Al-Ragheeb of Kuwait remained fourth overall with Nielsen and Torgersen moving into the top 6. Khaled Al-Doseri of Qatar led the next 6 qualifiers, Mohammed Al-Shetti, Saeed Al-Hajri, Cyrus Cheung, Chn Bae and Naif Oqab, who would advance into Stage 2 finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

8th December, Doha: Women bowlers shone on Day 3 of the on-going 8th Qatar International Open after Vanessa Fung of Hong Kong and compatriot, Chan Shuk Han tied top spot while Norway's Heidi Thorstensen took third position on Monday.

Vanessa Fung, competing against the men with a handicap of 8 pins per game, shot 212, 203 and 236 in the first half of the six-games qualifying Squad 6 to lead the field of 36. Despite a lowly 177 in her fourth game, Vanessa bounced back with 190 and 223 to end the squad with a total of 1289.

Current Asian Women Ranked No. 1, Chan Shuk Han, who took over the lead before the final game, managed only 185 to tie with Vanessa for top spot with 1289. Norway's Heidi Thorstensen had trailed Chan by 41 pins but ended stronger than the duo with 225 to take up third spot just 1 pin adrift.

Singapore's two-time national champion, Jason Yeong-Nathan stormed

home with a superb 275 in his last game to finish fourth on a total of 1282. Mohammed Falah of Bahrain completed the top 5 with 1260.

"We just arrived Doha very early this morning and had a short rest before coming here for our first attempt and I'm pleasantly surprised to have taken pole," said Vanessa. "It's quite hard to maintain our score especially having to change lanes after each game but I'm confident that I can improve on this score after a good night's rest.

This year's Chinese Taipei Open champion, Wu Siu Hong from Hong Kong also did well for sixth position with 1243 to finish ahead of Qatar's Abdulla Haroon, who took up seventh with 1236.

Both Vanessa's and Chan's effort put the pair in eighth and ninth in the overall standings and currently would make the Stage 2 finals. German Kai Wan Kuo continued to lead the field with 1390 shot in Squad 1 on the first day.

Fahad Al-Ragheeb of Kuwait and Khaled Al-Doseri of Qatar occupied second and third positions with 1361 and 1330 respectively. Mohammed Al-Shetti of Bahrain, Saeed Al-Hajri of Qatar and Chun Bae of USA took up the top 6 positions.

Naif Oqab lead the next six qualifiers into Stage 2 finals with 1314 but tied with the American in sixth position. UAE's Shaker Al-Hassan was the 12th qualifier as of Day 3 with 1267.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

7th December, Doha: Newly-crowned Bahrain Open champion, Saeed Al-Hajri of Qatar continued his fine form to top Squad 3 and posted the second day's highest series of the 8th Qatar International Open on Sunday evening.

Saeed Al-Hajri, who ended a long drought to win last month's Bahrain Open title, shot 259 in his opening game of Squad 3 but trailed overnight leader, Kai Won Kuo's superb 287. But the Qatari posted consistent lines to edge the German by 13 pins at the end of the six-games qualifying round.

The Qatari amassed a total of 1325 to lead Ka in second with 1312. UAE's southpaw, Naif Oqab finished a creditable third with 1279 followed by Canadian Mark Buffa and UAE's Shaker Al-Hassan rounding up the top 5.

The final squad of the day saw American, Chun Bae taking top spot with 1314. The 46-year-old Ebonite director of international sales, who

was in Doha in his first Middle East tour of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE, will only be back in Doha in time for the finals.

Chun took pole with a strong 264 in his final game to pip Naif Oqab of UAE to second, just 10 pins ahead. Qatar's Abdulla Al-Qattan, who was setting the early pace, fizzled off to finish third with 1247. The top 3 of the two squads bowled today gained automatic entry into the Stage 1 finals.

They were Saeed Al-Hajri, Chun Bae and Naif Oqab. Saeed also earned the second day's highest series award of Euros 200. Qualifying from tomorrow onwards will have to battle for the top 38 positions in the qualifying table.

Positions 1 to 6 qualifiers will get a bye straight to Stage 3 finals while positions 7 to 12 qualifier will automatically advance to Stage 2 finals.

The top 38 plus three qualifiers from Day 1, three qualifiers from Day 2 and four from desperado squad will contest Stage 1 finals. Qualifying ends on December 10 and the finals will be staged over two days commencing December 12. The 8th Qatar International Open is the 18th and final European Tour stop of the year.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

6th December, Doha: Newcomer and tour rookie, Kai Wan Kuo of Germany took an early lead by topping Day 1 of the 8th Qatar International Open underway at the Qatar Bowling Center in downtown Al-Bida.

Kai from Dresden and born in Germany to a Taiwanese family, scorched the lanes with lines of 279, 213, 226, 240, 214 and 218 for a six-game total of 1390 in Squad 1. Kuwait's international, Fahad Al-Ragheeb trailed the leader by 29 pins after knocking down 1361 in the same squad.

In Squad 2, Khaled Al-Doseri stole the limelight as he shot 218, 219, 200, 181, 246 and 266 to amass a total of 1330, 50 pins short of toppling the German. Ka bagged the high series award of Euros 200 for his effort in Day 1.

Mohammed Al-Shetti of Bahrain did well to finished second to the Qatari but fell short by 5 pins to make the automatic qualification to the Stage 1 finals by virtue of finishing as the top 3 qualifiers on Day 1.

But Al-Shatti currently occupies top spot followed UAE's Naif Oqab in second and his compatriot and 2nd Saudi Open champion, Shaker Al-Hassan third. The top 3 qualifiers of Squads 3 and 4 from Day 2 will also earn automatic entry into Stage 1 finals.

The format of qualification are positions 1 to 6 qualifiers from the overall qualifiying standings from Day 3 onwards till the final day of qualifying on December 10, will advance straight into Stage 3 finals.

Positions 7 to 12 qualifiers will advance into Stage 2 finals. Positions 13 to 38 plus the 6 qualifiers from Day 1 and 2 and four from the Desperado squad will contest the six-games Stage 1 finals.

The top 16 finishers from Stage 1 finals will be joined by positions 7 to 12 qualifiers for another six games where the top 10 finishers will be joined by positions 1 to 6 qualifiers for the Stage 3 finals.

The top 8 at the end of Stage 3 finals will make the cut for the Stage 4 finals for another six games with pins carried forward from the earlier Stage 2. The top 4 at the end of this stage will advance to the Stage 4 semifinals.

The topseed matched up against the fourth-seed will play two games total pinfalls and the second-seed will meet the third-seed for their two games playoff. The winner of the semifinals will meet in the title match to determine the champion.

The 8th Qatar International Open is expecting more than 150 bowlers from Europe this year especially after being awarded as one of the immensely popular European Tour (EBT), where competing bowlers will earn ranking points from the positions they finish in the finals.

This championship, which is the 18th and final leg, offers European competitors to earn ranking points towards the grand finals. The EBT is also being held outside of Europe for the first time. Bowlers from Asian and American continents are also expected for this championship.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.