7th March, Doha: Patrick Healey Jnr. of USA took a superb victory to emerge as champion of the H.H. Emir Cup 2009 defeating 2007 champion, Mubarak Al-Muraikhi of Qatar, 419-354 total pinfalls over the two game title match on Saturday evening.

Both contenders had a disastrous start in the first game of the two-game total pinfalls title match when fourth-seed Mubarak Al-Muraikhi of Qatar had two splits and ending with 167 while sixth-seed, Patrick Healey Jnr. had three splits but thanks to a double in the third and fourth frames, was able to take the game, 172-167.

Healey managed to settle to a good rhythm which allowed him to reel in six consecutive strikes in the second game as Mubarak struggled to make any headway.

There was a glimpse of hope when the Qatari got a double in frame 6 and 7 but a poor miss in the eighth frame ended any chance of a fight back.

"After being away for so long, I dedicate this victory to my wife, who is so understanding by staying back in Mexico and allowing me to pursue my ambitions," said the slightly emotional but delighted American.

"I must say that without the responsibility of a coach during a tournament has helped me to be more relaxed and to concentrate on the lanes. I've been bowling well the whole week but it was not easy during the title match."

"I had to move off four boards to narrow the area for my ball going down the lanes after the first game and I'm glad I reacted fast enough. But I'm very happy with my performance here and it's great to return to the winning circles."

The champion had eliminated another Qatari, Abdulla Al-Qattan, 447-414 in a tough semifinal. Healey reached the fourth stage after finishing sixth in the Stage 2 finals and narrowly beating third-seed, Saeed Al-Hajri of Qatar, 442-437 in the quarterfinals.

Mubarak, who settled for 40,000 Qatar riyal, defeated eighth-seed, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong with a convincing 471-427 in the other semifinal match. The runnerup advanced to the semifinals with an easy victory over fifth-seed, Surasak Manuwong of Thailand, 437-357.

"I have not been bowling well during the qualifying rounds but when it came to the finals, I knew the scores will not be high so I managed to make the top 8," said Mubarak during an interview with local TV.

"Of course, I'm disappointed but I must also be happy for making this far up to the final match and finishing second. Patrick is a good bowler and I must be feeling proud to lose to a former World Cup champion."

In the third and fourth place playoffs, Abdulla Al-Qattan performed much better than the semifinals when he easily beat Wu Siu Hong, 463-402 to take third spot and earned 20,000 Qatar riyal. Wu settled for fourth and 10,000 riyal.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

6th March, Doha: Qatar's rising star, Mansour Al-Awamy defied all odds to finish as topseed for the knockout stage finals after topping the Stage 2 finals ahead of Kuwait's Khaled Al-Dubyyan and team-mate, Saeed Al-Hajri in second and third.

After enduring the earlier 8-games Stage 1 finals where he finished sixth, Mansour Al-Awamy of Qatar advanced into the Stage 2 finals as an underdog when matched up against some of the top Asian finalists, especially the top 8 seeded players.

Singapore's Remy Ong set a blistering pace with a 278 opening game to lead Mansour by 33 pins. Ong dropped his pace a little but managed to lead the field after the third game as Kuwait's Khaled Al-Dubyyan narrowed the gap to 15 pins and Mansour dropping down to third.

Khaled shot a superb 255 to take over the running at the halfway mark but was just 9 pins ahead of Qatar's Saeed Al-Hajri in second as Ong slid to fifth. Mansour continued to drop to fourth with another Qatari, Abdulla Al-Qattan taking over third spot.

While a keen tussle developed between Khaled and Saeed, Mansour posted a sizzling 279 in the fifth game to haul himself up to second behind Khaled with three more games to go. A brief lead by Saeed was quickly handed over to Mansour after he downed another good game of 249 in the seventh.

With 38 pins cushion, Mansour just needed to keep his calm and he showed great composure to end the finals with 202 and as topseed. His 8-game total was 1819, 26 pins ahead of Khaled in second with 1793.

"I used a different line toward the second arrow and it gave me more room for my ball to travel down the lanes and hitting more pocket shots," said the delighted Mansour. "I feel good and I'm confident that I'll do well in tomorrow's knockout finals.

Saeed finished third on a total of 1787 with Mubarak Al-Muraikhi and Thailand's Surasak Manuwong rounding up the top 5. Favourite, Patrick Healey Jnr. did well to finish sixth on 1711 with Abdulla Al-Qattan and Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong making the knockout finals in seventh and eighth positions.

Early pace-setter, Remy Ong faded off to miss the cut in ninth position, just 8 pins from Wu while Stage 1 leader, Sayed Ibrahim of

UAE could only manage a tenth place finish. Four Qataris occupied half the top 8 that made the next stage.

The topseed will meet eighth-seed, Wu Siu Hong in the knockout Stage 3 finals. Khaled will face seventh-seed, Abdulla Al-Qattan while Saeed Al-Hajri will meet sixth-seed Patrick Healey Jnr. Fourth-seed Mubarak Al-Muraihi is matched up against fifth-seed Surasak Manuwong.

The winners over the two-game total pinfall will advance to the semifinals while the losers will face each other to determine their final placings. The winners of the semifinal matches will meet in the title match for a chance to pick up the top prize of 75,000 Qatar riyal.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

6th March, Doha: UAE national kegler, Sayed Ibrahim Al-Hashemi turned in a sizzling performance in the Stage 1 finals of the H.H. Emir Cup 2009 to lead the top 8 into the next stage on Friday afternoon.

2008 ABF Tour double leg champion, Shaker Al-Hassan of UAE setting the pace with a strong 236 opening game but was quickly overtaken by 2007 Emir Cup champion, Mubarak Al-Muraikhi after shooting 278 as the field settled down after the second game.

But the Qatari's lead was also short-lived as the tussle for the lead got more intense which saw another UAE national, Naif Oqab firing a superb 259 to tie for the lead with Thailand's Surasak Manuwong while Sayed Ibrahim gradually move up the field to trail the pair.

Sayed then fired all cyclinders with 278 and 268 in his next two games to take a commanding lead of 130 pins after the fifth game with his fellow compatriot, Naif trailing in second and Mubarak third.

Although Mubarak knocked down a superb 279 in the sixth game, the Qatari southpaw still trailed the leader by 103 pins with two more games left. Despite easing off in the seventh and eighth games, Sayed's hefty margin allowed him to end the finals with 22 pins to spare.

Sayed totaled 1752 to lead the field of top 8 into the next stage. Mubarak finished stronger to snatch second spot with 1730 while Naif claimed third spot with 1712. Surasak and Shaker finished fourth and fifth positions with 1709 and 1684 respectively.

The remaining three spots into the next stage went three Qataris, Mansour Al-Awamy, Abdulla Al-Jeel and Fahad Al-Emadi finished sixth to eighth positions. The only women in the field, Hong Kong's Chan Shuk Han was unlucky missing the cut by just 4 pins in ninth.

Meanwhile, Filipino Marvin Neri received 4,000 Qatar riyal from Ahmed Al-Muftah, assistant secretary of Qatar Bowling Federation for being the only bowler to hit a perfect game during the qualifying rounds.

The top 8 advanced into Stage 2 finals for another 8 games and would be joined by the top 8 finalists from the week-long qualifying rounds later this evening. The top 8 at the end of this stage will make the cut for tomorrow's knockout stage.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

5th March, Doha: Khaled Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait, topped Squad 17 en-route to making the Top 8 of the overall qualifying standings in the H.H. Emir Cup 2009 while Mohamed Sultan of Bahrain led the final Squad 18 for a Top 8 spot.

Khaled Al-Dubyyan, who won the 2006 World Ranking Masters and was lying 17th in the qualifying standings, posted 920 to top Squad 17 en-route to securing sixth spot in the Top 8 and earning a bye to Stage 2 finals.

The Kuwaiti knocked down lines of 236, 180, 257 and 247 to improve his 8-game total to 1812. UAE's Ahmed Ali Al-Hammadi finished second to Khaled but failed to make the top 24 cut while Khaled's team-mate, Mohamed Kamel squeezed into the finals in 23rd position with a third place finish in the same squad.

Despite posting a superb 920, Khaled failed to beat the American Ed Tkacz's score of 929 scored in the earlier Squad 16 by 5 pins to win the daily high series award of 500 Qatar riyal.

Meanwhile, Bahrain's Mohamed Sultan topped the final Squad 18 to haul himself up into the Top 8 with a superb 925 effort. Mohamed shot 210, 236, 248 and 231 to improve his 8-game total from 1662 to 1811 taking him up to seventh in the overall standings.

Singapore's Shaun Ng finished second to Mohamed with 913 to finally made the Top 24 cut in 21st position with a total of 1762. Kuwait's Mohamed Kamel finished third with 878 and also improved from 23rd to 19th in the overall standings.

Marvin Neri of the Philippines, who is the only bowler to have scored a perfect game, improved his Squad 12 score of 735 to 793 to give himself a total of 1787 and moving up to 16th. Marvin shot 994 in Squad 12 to win the Day 3 high series award.

Qataris, Ali Al-Boaineen and Mohammed Jamal joined positions 9 to 24 after both topped Squad 1 and 2 with 1670 and 1610. Yousef Al-Jaber qualified by topping Squad 3 and 4 and despite being knocked out in

the final squad, Hong Kong's Eric Tseng made the cut after he had topped Squad 5 and 6.

Four bowlers made the Stage 1 finals through the desperado squad. Qatar's Salem Al-Marzouqi and Abdulla Al-Jeel shot 279 and 232 respectively to take up two spots while the remaining two went to Bahrain's Ahmed Rahimi and UAE's Ahmed Ali Al-Hammadi with 226 and 224.

Positions 9 to 24 plus four qualifiers from Squads 1 to 6 and the four from desperado squad will contest the Stage 1 finals over 8 games on Friday. The top 16 finishers will be joined by the Top 8 in the overall qualifying standings for another 8 games Stage 2 finals.

The top 8 finishers will advance to the Stage 3 knockout finals where the topseed will meet the eighth-seed, second-seed with seventh-seed and so on. The winners over a two-game total pinfalls finals will advance into the semifinals and thereafter the title match.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

5th March, Doha: American rookie, Ed Tkacz surprised the field by topping Squad 16 of the H.H. Emir Cup 2009 but fell short by 73 pins of making the top 24 after Hussain Al-Suwaidi had finished first in the earlier Squad 15.

Ed Tkacz, who works as a software engineer for an American company here in Doha, shot 217 in his opening game and set the lanes at Qatar Bwling Center ablaze after he posted a scintillating 268 in the second game. Tkacz rounded off the qualifying round with 241 and 203 to beat UAE's Shaker Al-Hassan by 24 pins and topped the squad.

Shaker ended stronger with 274 after he registered 242, 190 and 199 in his first three games to total 905. Thailand's Phoemphun Yakasem, who finished third, did well to score 888 but was lower than his two best attempts.

Despite a good effort from the 29-year-old American from Jersey, Tkacz's earlier attempt of 718 only put him in 50th position in the

overall standings. Shaker's 905 moved him up to tenth position, just 6 pins off the top 8.

Kuwait's Yaqoub Al-Shatti moved up a few notches to 17th overall after a superb 887 effort in the same squad. Patrick Healey Jnr. of USA continued to lead the standings with 1995 followed by Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong in second with 1937.

UAE's Hussain Al-Suwaidi, who topped Squad 15 earlier with 890, moved up from nith to fourth with 1822 behind Qatar's Abdulla Al-Qattan, who finished third with 1880. Saeed Al-Hajri of Qatar and Remy Ong of Singapore are fifth and sixth.

Two UAE keglers, Sayed Ibrahim and Saeed Obaid tied in seventh position with 1806. The top finishers will get a bye in the Stage 1 finals and directly into Stage 2. Two more squads remained after

which the one-game desperado squad will be held allowing four more bowlers to join the finals.

Wu Siu Hong received the daily high series award post yesterday from Qatar Bowling Federation's secretary general, Ahmed Yousef Al-Mulla.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

4th March, Doha: Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong topped back-to-back Squads 12 and 13 to move up to second in the overall qualifying standings of the H.H. Emir Cup 2009 on Wednesday as Kuwait's Yaqoub Al-Shatti took the final Squad 14 of the day.

Wu, who became the second competitor to surpass the 1,000-mark in the 4-game qualifying round, had earlier topped Squad 12 with a scintillating 1001. His effort moved him up to third in overall standings.

The 25-year-old then took to the lanes for his next attepmt and was equally impressive with lines of 245, 245, 246 and 200 for another superb 936 to top Squad 13. Wu's two best attempts moved him one notch up to second overall on a total of 1937.

Singapore's Remy Ong, who had topped Squad 11 with 898, posted another superb 912 round to trail Wu in second but crucially into the top 8 on a total of 1810 and finish fifth overall. Qatar's Saeed Al-Hajri,

who had dropped off the top 8, finished third behind Ong but also hauled himself up to fourth overall with 1820.

The final Squad 14 of the day belonged to Kuwait's Yaqoub Al-Shatti, who posted 887 followed by Hussain Al-Suwaidi of UAE and Qatar's Fahad Al-Emadi in second and third with 869 and 856 respectively. Wu's 1001 in Squad 12 were good enough to win the high series award of 500 Qatar riyal.

Meanwhile, Patrick Healey Jnr. sat firmly in pole position in the overall standings with 1995 with Wu in second. Qatar's Abdulla Al-Qattan finished third with 1880 after he improved with 979 in Squad 12.

Saeed Al-Hajri, Remy Ong, and two UAE nationals, Sayed Ibrahim and Naif Oqab rounded up the top 8, who will advance into the Stage 2 Finals. The current cut in top 24 was Kuwait's Jassem Darwish on an 8-game total of 1715.

With four more squads remaining on Thursday, the rush for making the cut will be more intense. For those who fail to make the cut, there will be a one-game desperado squad after the final Squad 18 for four bowlers to join the Stage 1 finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

4th March, Doha: Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong grabbed pole position in Squad 12 of the H.H. Emir Cup 2009 to move up to third in the overall qualifying standings after Remy Ong of Singapore had topped Squad 11 earlier.

Remy Ong of Singapore started Day 5 qualifying rounds with 898 to top a low scoring Squad 11 with Mohamed Kamel of Kuwait and 2008 Asian Men Ranked No. 1, Hussain Al-Suwaidi of UAE taking second and third spots with 859 and 839.

While Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong failed to impress with a lowly 758, the 2008 Taipei Open champion rebounded with a scintillating performance to take pole in his next squad. Wu shot 213 in his opening game and picked up his pace with 242 in the second game.

Wu then fired all cylinders to knock down 279 and another superb 267 in the final game for a total of 1001. Qatar's Abdulla Al-Qattan was perhaps unlucky not to win the high series award when he posted 979 in the same squad to finish second.

"I had struggled in my earlier attempts with too much ball reaction on the lanes over the last two days so I decided scrub the surface of my bowling ball," said 25-year-old Wu. "The ball travelled down the lanes a little more predictable so I was able to make much better shots.

Wu's effort moved him up to third in the overall standings with an 8-game total of 1851 behind Abdulla Al-Qattan, who also improved to second after his Squad 12 effort. Abdulla's total of 1880 was still short of overall leader, Patrick Healey Jnr of USA on 1995.

The next six bowlers, who finished behind Wu and Abdulla in Squad 12, all improved their positions in the overall standings. Noteable movers were Sayed Ibrahim of UAE taking fourth spot with 1806 as team-mates, Saeed Obaid and Naif Oqab dropped to fifth and sixth position.

Squad 10 leader, Basel Al-Anzi of Kuwait improved to seventh position with 1796 ahead of Qatar's Mansour Al-Awamy and Phoemphun

Yakasem of Thailand tieing in eighth position with 1795. Another Qatari, Saeed Al-Hajri dropped to tenth position, just 1 pin off Mansour and Phoemphun.

Meanwhile, Qatar Bowling Federation president, Abdul Salam Abbas presented the daily high series award of 500 Qatar riyal to Filipino, Marvin Neri, who shot 994 in Squad 10 late last night. Despite his superb effort, Marvin managed only to finish 46th from a poor Squad 9 score.

Two more squads will be contested this evening and the final four squads tomorrow (Thursday March 5th). The finals will be staged on Friday and Saturday, March 6th and 7th.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

3rd March, Doha: GCC Championship two gold medalist, Basel Al-Anzi took top spot in Squad 9 of the on-going H.H. Emir Cup 2009 with an impressive 952 but was unlucky to land the daily high series award by Filipino Marvin Neri in Squad 10.

Basel Al-Anzi, who was the toast of Kuwait when he bagged the Singles bronze medal at the 2008 World Men's Chapionship in Bangkok, only managed a lowly 756 in his first attempt. But in his second attempt, the 28-year-old Kuwaiti found his line to reel in 246, 234, 256 and 216 for a total of 952 to top Squad 9.

However, Basel's hope of winning the dialy high series award was dashed when Filipino Mervin Neri posted an incredible 994 in final squad of the day. Basel's score in the same squad only yielded 824 and a fifth place finish.

Qatar's Mansour Al-Awamy made up grounds in the overall standings

after he finished second to Basel in Squad 9 with 903. American, Patrick Healey Jnr. continued to top the standings with 1995 followed by UAE's Saeed Obaid in second with 1804.

Another UAE, Naif Oqab maintained third spot with 1801 with Mansour moving up to tie in fourth position with Squad 7 leader, Phoemphun Yakasem of Thailand on 1795. Bahrain Open champion, Saeed Al-Hajri took sixth spot with 1794.

Squad 9 leader, Basel Al-Anzi missed the top 8 by just 6 pins to take up ninth on an 8-game total of 1776 from two of his best attempts. Squad 6 leader, Sayed Ibrahim of UAE and Qatar's Abdulla Al-Qattan finished seventh and eighth positions respectively.

With 8 more squads left in the next two days, the competition will be intense with bowlers vying for the crucial top 8 positions in the standings. The top 8 will advance into the Stage 2 finals automatically while the rest of the qualifiers will have to battle it out in Stage 1 finals.

The top 8 at the end of the 8-game Stage 2 finals will qualify for the knockout finals on Sunday, March 7th. Winners of the two-game total

pinfall matches will advance to the semifinals and into the title match to determine the champion, who will take home 75,000 Qatar riyal top prize.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

3rd March, Doha: Surasak Manuwong of Thailand, made his return to national duty with an impressive performance by topping Squad 7 of the H.H. Emir Cup 2009 but soon saw his effort beaten by UAE's Saeed Obaid in Squad 8.

After dropping out of the Thai national team last year and did not feature in the World Men's Championship in home gound Bangkok, Surasak Manuwong was roped back into the squad and for his first international assignment here in Doha.

His two best attempts so far were 832 in Squad 3 and 838 in Squad 4 giving the Thai a total of 1670 and 15th position overall. Surasak just could not get into his strides mainly due to missing home-cook Thai food.

But Surasak, team-mate Phoemphun Yakasem and coach Kim Eui Young were taken to a Thai restaurant last night to have a good meal. And the meal must have allowed him to find the much needed energy when he took to the lanes this afternoon.

Surasak opened with a good 225 and following up with 205, 243 and 227 for a 4-game total of 900. The Thai dominated the squad when Phoemphun downed 895 to finish second behind his fellow-compatriot. Hong Kong's Cyrus Cheung did well to take up third with 869.

His hope of winning the daily high series award of 500 Qatar riyal was dashed when UAE's Saeed Obaid shot 917 to top Squad 8 and beating Surasak's score of 900. Phoemphun continued his fine form to shoot 900 to take up second.

After eight squads contested, Patrick Healey Jnr. continue to top the overall standings with 1995. Saeed Obaid moved up to second spot with 1804 followed by his team-mate, Naif Oqab third with 1801. Surasak took up 10th overall.

Phoemphun's two squads today shot him up to fourth with 1795 ahead of Qatar's Saeed Al-Hajri fifth with 1794. Squad 6 leader, Sayed Ibrahim of UAE dropped to sixth with 1788 as Abdulla Al-Qattan of Qatar and UAE's Hussain Al-Suwaidi rounded up the top 8.

Two remaining squads will be staged today which could still change the overall standings when the scores are combined. Qualifying will end March 5th and the finals will be held this Friday and Saturday.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

2nd March, Doha: Sayed Ibrahim topped the Squad 6 of the on-going H.H. Emir Cup 2009 at the Qatar Bowling Center on Monday evening but missed the daily high series award by just 1 pin to American, Patrick Healey Jnr.

Current qualifying standings leader, Patrick Healey Jnr. of, USA, continued to dominate the field with another outstanding perforance to top opening Squad 5. The American shot 227, 242, 221 and 246 for a 4-game total of 936.

Reigning Asian Women Ranked No. 1, Chan Shuk Han, competing with the men without handicap, did well to knock down 903 to finish second to Healey while her team-mate, Eric Tseng took third spot with 858.

UAE's Sayed Ibrahim struggled to find his line managing only 761 in his first attempt but bounced back with an impressive 935 in his next squad. But the Emirati missed the daily high series award of 500 Qatar riyal by just 1 pin.

Sayed started off well with a 264 scorcher but fizzled off with a poor 193. Thanks to two higher games of 237 and 241 allowed Sayed to top Squad 6. His fellow compatriot and reigning Asian Men Ranked No. 1, Hussain Al-Suwaidi also missed the daily award by 4 pins to finish second to Sayed.

Last year's Bahrain Open champion, Saeed Al-Hajri was the best Qatari performer in the squad with a 913 scoreline followed by Mansour Al-Awamy of Qatar and Hong Kong's Cyrus Cheung rounding up the top 5 with 892 and 890 respectively.

After six squads contested, Patrick Healey Jnr., continued to lead the standings with 1995 from two of his best 4-game squads. UAE's Naif Oqab moved up to second with an improved score of 874 in Squad 6. Saeed Al-Hajri occupied third spot with 1794.

Qatar's Abdulla Al-Qattan took fourth spot with 1782 ahead of Sayed Ibrahim in fifth with 1764. Mansour Al-Awamy finished sixth with 1733 followed by Day 2 high series winner, Cordell Farmer of USA and Hussain Al-Suwaidi rounding up the top 8.

Qualifying ends March 5th where the top 8 qualifiers will earn an automatic qualification into Stage 2 finals. Positions 9 to 24 qualifiers will be joined by the top 2 from Squad 1, leader from Squad 2, leader from Squad 3 to occupy positions 25 to 28.

Four qualifiers from the Desperado squad will occupy positions 29 to 32 to make up 24 finalists for the Stage 1 finals for an 8-game roll-off. The top 16 at the end of the Stage 1 finals will be joined by the original top 8 qualifiers for Stage 2 finals.

The top 8 at the end of the 8-game Stage 2 finals will advance into the elimination knockout rounds starting with the quarterfinals, then semifinals and finally the title match to determine the champion, who will walk away with the top prize of Qatar Riyal 75,000.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.

1st March, Doha: Ex-Kuwaiti national coach, Patrick Healey Jnr of USA had a sizzling start in the H.H. Emir Cup 2009 underway at Qatar Bowling Center and missed the perfect game by just one pin en-route to leading the qualifying table.

Patrick Healey Jnr, who ended his one year reign as national coach for the Kuwaiti national team, was the first to arrive in Doha. He immediately took to the lanes for Squad 1 of the qualifying round with a superb 246 opening game.

After a lack-luster second game of 215, Healey was on a roll reeling off 11 consecutive strikes and was aiming to become the first bowler to hit the perfect 300. Despite a solid final shot, the stubborn pin 10 stood firmly and ended with 299.

Not letting the near miss get into him, Healey continued his fine form to down 263 in his final game to end the squad with a sizzling 1023 and easily topping Squad 1. 2008 Bahrain Open champion, Saeed Al-

Hajri of Qatar finished a distant second with 881 ahead of fellow-countrymen, Mansour Al-Awamy third with 832.

"My last day as national coach was on Wednesday and I flew in on Thursday ready for my first attempt on Friday with less than a week of training," said the 40-year-old Amercian, who won the 1995 AMF World Cup when he was just 27.

"I'm indeed pleasantly surprised that my style of play and the ball that I used gave me a lot of carry. The lanes are by no means easy but I had a good momentum going. It helps you to bowl well when all the pins are falling down.

"It would be nice to do well here before I head home to Mexico where I live with my wife. It's been good to be able to coach here in Asia and I hope that something similar will come my way soon as I've enjoyed being able to coach in Kuwait.

The American was equally impressive in his second squad with a 972 from lines of 242, 226, 268 and 236. Healey topped the qualifying leaderboard with an 8-game total of 1995 from two of his best squad bowled so far.

Qatar's Abdulla Al-Qattan, who topped Squad 3 with 907 but bowled a poor 881 in his next squad, has an 8-game total of 1782 to take up second spot. UAE's Naif Oqab finished third with 1757 with 927 in Squad 4 and 830 in Squad 2.

USA's Cordell Farmer, who topped Squad 4 is fourth in the table with 1731 while Qatari Fahad Al-Emadi rounded up the current top 5 with 1681. The early East Asians in the championship, Phoemphun Yakasem and Surasak Manuwong from Thailand are sixth and eighth respectively.

Qualifying ends March 5th where the top 8 qualifiers will earn an automatic qualification into Stage 2 finals. Positions 9 to 24 qualifiers will be joined by the top 2 from Squad 1, leader from Squad 2, leader from Squad 3 to occupy positions 25 to 28.

Four qualifiers from the Desperado squad will occupy positions 29 to 32 to make up 24 finalists for the Stage 1 finals for an 8-game roll-off. The top 16 at the end of the Stage 1 finals will be joined by the original top 8 qualifiers for Stage 2 finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.