6th December, Doha: 2019 Asian Championships Team gold medalist, Eric Tseng of Hong Kong, China improved two notches to take up second position in the qualifying standings of the H.H. Emir Cup 2023 on Wednesday.

Tseng, who was fourth overnight with 2084, improved his lowest series of 652 with 728 in Squad 28 to take his 9-game tally to 2160 and firmed up his place in Step 2 finals in second overall. Overnight leader and 2012 chanpion, Kim Bolleby of Sweden remained in pole with 2174.

Early leader, Mostafa Al-Mousawi of Kuwait, who also improved with 2147 and briefly moved back up to second, but had to settled for third. 2023 IBF World Championships Trios gold medalist, Ivan Tse also dropped from third to fourth with 2121.

Defending champion, Tomas Kayhko of Finland impressed to take up fifth position with 2085 while Ali Al Rashdi of UAE finished sixth with 2083. The top 6 in the general standings will earn a bye and automatically advance to Step 2 finals.

The cut in 26th position went to Jasem Al-Saqer of Kuwait with 1981. Qualifiers positioned 7 to 26 along with the top 2 Qatari youths, top 2 qualifiers from the first two days and top 2 from the one-game Desperado Squad will contest Step 1 finals.

With two days left for qualifying, the cut will probably rise to 220 over. The top 10 with the highest scores in Step 1 finals will be joined by the top 6 seeded qualifiers from the general standings for another 8 games in Step 2 finals.

The top 5 with the highest scores in Step 2 finals will proceed to the next step. Players positioned 3, 4 and 5 will bowl one game in Step 3. The winner will proceed to meet the second seed from Step 2 over one game in Step 4.

The winner in Step 4 will meet the top seed from Step 2 in the title match in Step 5. The winner of Step 5 will be declared the champion. Qualifying will end December 7 followed by the Desperado Squad.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha, Qatar.