7th November, Doha: Last year's second runner-up and 2025 IBF World Cup Team gold medalist, Tun Hakim of Malaysia snatched victory in the Step 1 finals of the H.H. Amir Cup 2025 just one pin ahead of William Svensson of Sweden in second and 2022 champion, Tomas Kayhko of Finland third.
Kayhko got off the block brilliantly with 300 in his opening game to lead Carl Eklund of Sweden by ten pins and Majed Ali Al Mazme of UAE in third, a further 26 pins away. Anton Persson of Sweden and Soliman Alshuaibi of Kuwait shared fourth spot.
Eklund added a superb 258 to take over the pace as Majed Ali registered 261 to move into second. Kayhko managed only 212 to slip down to third while defending champion, Christopher Sloan of Ireland shot a sizzling 279 to take up fourth.
The Emirati rolled 246 in the third game to become a new leader followed by Kayhko recovering back to second. Svensson shot 256 to trail in third. The Finn regained his lead at the halfway mark with 253 and Majed Ali kept pace in second. Svensson and Sloan continued with a good pace to stay close to the leading duo.
Tun Hakim snatching Step 1 finals victory with a big game of 279
The Finn remained in the lead for the next two games as the Swede moved into second spot, just one pin adrift with Majed Ali remaining in third. Tun Hakim rolled two big games of 266 and 247 in the fifth and sixth games to leapfrog into fourth.
The pace-setter fired a massive 268 to extend his lead over Svensson to 39 pins with Hakim in contention with another strong 241. The Malaysian ended the strongest with 279 to snatch victory in the Step 1 finals with 1928. Svensson also ended with a big game of 269 to finish second with 1927, just one pin shy.
Kayhko settled for third with 1913. Persson shot the highest eighth game of 289 to finish fourth position with 1843 while Sloan rounded out the top five with 1824. Jassim Al-Muraikhi was the best Qatari in sixth with 1821.
The cut in 16th position for the next step was Abdulrahman Hadi Al-Doseri of Qatar with 1733, just one pin behind desperado squad highest scorer, Pontus Falkhall of Sweden in 15th. Aseel Alroomi of Kuwait missed the cut by 25 pins in 17th position.
The top 16 along with the top 8 seeded qualifiers from the general standings will contest Step 2 finals over another 8 games. The top five with the highest pinfalls will proceed to the Step 3, 4 and 5 stepladder shootout to determine this year's champion.
Step 1 top 3, William Svensson, Tun Hakim and Tomas Kayhko
Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha, Qatar.
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