17th December, Riyadh: Jassim Darwish of Kuwait won his first ever tour and international title after beating Khaled Al Doseri of Qatar, 201-186 in the championship match of the ABF Tour Saudi 2013 at Universal Bowling Centre on Tuesday.

The champion ousted second-seed, Yousif Falah of Bahrain, 247-221 in the second semi to reach the finals while Khaled edged Hong Kong's Michael Tsang in the other high scoring semi, 258-244 to face Jassim.

Both title contenders had an opened frame in the second and while Khaled struck twice on frames 4 and 5, Jassim knocked down four strikes-in-a-row to open up a gap of 13 pins.

The Qatari left-hander struck thrice while Jassim had a split in the ninth frame leaving only 3 pins separating them.

Jassim struck in the tenth and met with another 8-pin split in his bonus frame which the Kuwaiti failed to pick up any pins.

All Khaled needed was to to mark his final frame but made a foul throw and failed to spare handing the match and the title to Jassim, 186-201.

The champion was equally impressive when he beat Anthony Balabbo of Philippines, 268-248 in the earlier Round 2 and UAE leg champion, Mohamed Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, 219-175 in the opening round.

The runner-up sailed past a second Hong Kong national, Rickle Kam 223-161 in Round 2 and got a lucky break when he narrowly defeated Kuwait's Mohammad Al Zaidan, 165-162 in Round 1.

After the final leg, Rakan Al Amiri of Kuwait topped the ABF Tour rankings with 197 followed by Michael Tsang second with 170 and Mohamed Al Saud third with 166. Hareb Al Mansoori, who had 105 points was knockout of the Tournament of Champions into 17th position after several qualifiers made the top 16 cut in Riyadh.

Jassim's victory shot him up to sixth with 138 points. Khaled and Yousif also made the cut in ninth and 16th position with 136 and 110. Rickle Kam tied with Yousif but claimed 15th position with more tour appearances.

The top 16 men and top 16 women in the ranking table will compete in the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions which will be staged in Kuwait from March 16 and 17, 2014.

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.