22nd April, Riyadh: Newly-crowned 2nd Saudi International champion, Shaker Al-Hassan scored a superb double when he captued the ABF Tour Saudi 2008 leg defeating fellow-countrymen, Naif Oqab in an all-UAE finals at Universal Bowling Centre.

Shaker Al-Hassan opened accounts in th final match with a turkey over Naif Oqab in the all-UAE finals to take the early lead as Naif managed only a strike, a spare and another strike.

Shaker threw an almost perfect pocket ball only to see a stuborn pin 7 standing and the frustration must have upset him to miss the spare. Naif did not take advantage of the opportunity to close the gap when he had a split in the fourth frame.

Naif then strung together four strikes-in-a-row but his opponent responded with five strikes-in-a-row to draw clear of Naif ending the match with 245 to take a convincing victory over Naif's 210.

The champion reached the finals after knocking out the only local survivor, Bader Al-Sheikh, 248-210 in the second semifinal match. The runnerup also made the finals ousting Paeng Nepomuceno of the Philippines, 245-207 in the first semi.

"I'm extremely happy to be able to achieve a double by winning this Saudi leg," said the 39-year-old member of the UAE national team. "I try to do the same thing today as I did in the finals of the Saudi Open yesterday and that is to win.

"I'm looking forward to the Kuwait Open later this week. It will not be easy as there will be many good bowlers there. Also the condition may be different but I will go into each game with a will to win.

The topseed sailed through the fist round by outclassing Khalid Al-Dosari, 246-150 and went on to dispatch Australia's Andrew Frawley, 238-207 in Round 2. Naif Oqab defeated another lefty, Shaikh Abdul Hameed of India, 233-195 in Round 1.

Naif reached the semi edging Thailand's Phoemphun Yakasem, 247-244 before booking his spot in the finals by Filipino, Paeng Nepomuceno in the semifinal match.

The next leg will be the ABF Tour Kuwait which will be staged on April 29 after the 5th Kuwait International Open.

For further information and details, please contact ABF Tour Committee at Tel: +852 2893 6039, Fax: +852 2893 6290; Email: hktbc@netvigator.com.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Riyadh.