5th July, Doha: Yousef Falah upset favourite and triple gold medalist, Khalid Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait, 3-1 in the final head-on match of the 6th GCC Youth Championship to win the final gold medal for Bahrain while Kuwait emerged as overall champion.

The opening match between Yousef Falah of Bahrain and odds-on favourite, Khalid Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait was as close as you can get as Yousef pipped Khalid by just 1 pin with 192-191 to earn 1 valuable point. But in the second match, Khalid proved too strong for Yousef winning 215-187 to draw level at 1-1.

Yousef then turned the table over with a scintillating display taking the third match, 249-231 to go 2-1 up on Khalid. The Kuwaiti ran out of steam as Yousef crusied to a comfortable win in the fourth match, 233-192 to clinch the Masters crown, 3-1.

The champion, had earlier earned a spot in the semifinals after he ousted teammate, Ahmed Raheemi, 3-1 in the top 8 knockout second match and went on to eliminate UAE's Mahmood Ahmed Al-Attar, 3-1 in the second semifinal match.

The top-seed dispatched eighth-seed, Mohamed Al-Zarouni of UAE, 3-1 in the first top 8 knock out match and went on to make the finals by defeating Fahad Al-Emadi of Qatar, 3-0 in the first semifinal match before loosing to Yousef in the title deciding matches.

Mahmood Ahmed Al-Attar finished second runner-up to win the bronze medal as he totaled 777 pins in the semifinals while Fahad Al-Emadi took fourth position with only 537 total after loosing to Khalid.

Kuwait emerged the overall champion winning 5 of the 6 gold medals, 2 silver and 1 bronze. Bahrain claimed second spot with the 1 gold medal won by Yousef, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal. Host nation, Qatar settled for third failing to win a gold but took home 2 silver and 2 bronze medals.

Photos courtesy of Qatar Bowling Federation.

4th July, Doha: Kuwait again showed their dominance in the 6th GCC Youth Bowling Championship as they fought back galantly to snatch the Team of 5 gold medal after trailing Qatar by 12 pins in the first block.

Host team, Qatar, who has yet to win a gold medal, had their high hopes as they led the first block of 3 games played earlier by 12 pins. Abdullah Haroon, Salem Al-Marzouqi, Ahmed Al-Kuwari, Hamad Al-Mousallam and Fahad Al-Emadi amassed a total of 2927 for the lead against Bahrain's 2915 while the Kuwaitis finished third on 2907.

After the break, Kuwait led by Singles gold medalist, Khalid Al-Dubyyan together with Rakan Al-Ameri, Mahdi Al-Galaf (alternated by Ali Khalid Saleh), Jassem Darwish and Mohammed Al-Zaidan posted 1067 in the fourth game to take over the lead with 34 pins from Qatar.

The Kuwaiti team followed it up with another 1016 in the fifth game to stretch their lead by 111 pins while both Qatar and Bahrain could only manage 939

and 987 respectively in second and third. With over 100 pina margin, it was just a formality as Kuwait sealed their victory with 5951 total and their third gold medal.

Bahrain knocked down 1007 in their final game to snatch the silver medal with 5923 with Qatar, who put in a lacklustre performance to finish third with 5809 for the bronze medal.

Khalid Al-Dubyyan won his second individual gold medal and his third in the competition when he overturned a 15 pin deficit after the first block of the Team of 5 event to finish top of the All Events standings with 5094. Yousef Falah settled for the silver medal with 4876 despite a spirited 1307 in the team event. UAE scored their first medal in the competition when Mahmood Ahmad Al-Attar took third spot to win the bronze with 4920.

Kuwait has won 5 gold medals after 4 events contested. They have also won 1 silver and 1 bronze medal. Qatar is second in the Medal standings with 2 silver and 2 bronze medals while Bahrain is third with 2 silver and 1 bronze medal.

The top 8 in the All Events standings made the cut for the Masters knockout finals which will be a best of 3 over 4 matches for the final gold medal.

Photos courtesy of Qatar Bowling Federation.

3rd July, Doha: Kuwait won their third gold medal of the 6th GCC Youth Championship when Singles gold medalist, Khalid Al-Dubyyan led teammates, Mahdi Al-Galaf and Mohammed Al-Zaidan to finish top of the Trios event.

Qatar's Abdulla Haroon, Hamad Al-Mousallam and Fahad Al-Emadi set the pace with a 623 opening game to lead Kuwait's Rakan Al-Ameri, Ali Khalid Saleh and Jassem Darwish by just 1 pin. A 605 in the second game saw Kuwait taking over the lead from the Qataris by 19 pins but the Qatar trio fought back to regain the lead by 7 pins after a superb 641.

Rakan, Ali Khalid and Jassem stretched their lead to 46 pins as they knocked down 621 in the foruth game while the Kuwait's other trio of Khalid Al-Dubyyan, Mahdi Al-Galaf and Mohammed Al-Zaidan moved up to second.

A high game of 659 by Kuwait's better trio gave them a margin of 104 pins after the fifth game and with the final game to play, a late charge by the Qataris with 619 came a little too late as the Kuwaiti trio's of 596 was sufficient to secure the victory with a team total of 3661.

Qatar settled for the silver medal with 3580, 81 pins adrift with Bahrain securing their first medal after claiming the bronze medal with 3504. Early leader of Rakan, Ali Khalid and Jassem dropped to fourth and missing out on a medal with 3425.

Kuwait dominated after three days of competition winning the 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal with host, Qatar with 1 silver and 1 bronze to show. Bahrain has 1 bronze medal from the Trios event.

Singles gold medalist, Khalid Al-Dubyyan stretched his lead in the All Events to 181 pins after three events on 3851 with UAE's Mahmood Ahmad Al-Attar second with 3689 and Fahad Al-Emadi third with 3684.

Photos courtesy of Qatar Bowling Federation.

2nd July, Doha: Kuwait bagged their second gold medal of the 6th GCC Youth Championship on Day 2 as Rakan Al-Ameri-Mahdi Al-Galaf and Khalid Al-Dubyyan-Mohammed Al-Zaidan finished 1-2 in the Doubles event.

Singles bronze medalist, Ali Khalid Saleh and Jassem Darwish of Kuwait, set the pace with a 454 opening game with another Kuwait pair of Rakan Al-Ameri and Mahdi Al-Galaf following in second, 14 pins adrift. A poor 390 in the second game allowed Al-Ameri and Al-Galaf taking over the lead after another superb 449.

Ali Khalid and Darwish fought back with 436 in the third game to narrow the gap from 45 to 16 pins after the leader managing only 406 while Bahrain's Yousef Falah and Sami Noor kept in close contact with the leaders in third.

Al-Ameri and Mahdi Galaf kept a steady pace to maintain the lead after game 4 as Singles gold medalist, Khalid Al-Dubyyan and Mohammed Al-Zaidan surged forward to take second after a scintillating 468. Although the leader suffered a set back with 341 in the fifth game, Al-Dubyyan and Al-Zaidan did not capitalise with a 346 but managed to trim the gap to just 66 pins.

With another poor 337 by Al-Ameri and Al-Galaf, the gold was there to take for Al-Dubyyan and Al-Zaidan but fell short by 12 pins with only 391 in their final game. The leader clinched the gold with 2408 while their teammates totaled 2396 for the silver.

Qatar's Fahad Al-Emadi and Abdulla Haroon stormed home to take the bronze medal with 2369 with Yousef Falah and Sami Noor settling for fourth with 2343. First game leader, Ali Khalid Saleh and Jassem Darwish finished a dismal fifth with 2312.

After two events, Khalid Al-Dubyyan topped the All Events table with 2577, 111 pins ahead of Yousef Falah second on 2466 and Abdulla Haroon third on 2452.

Photos courtesy of Qatar Bowling Federation.

1st July, Doha: 2005 World Ranking Masters champion, Khalid Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait clinched the Singles Gold medal in the final game of the 6th GCC Youth Championship underway at Qatar Bowling Center with teammate, Ali Khalid Saleh claiming the Bronze.

At the start of the 6-game Singles event over long oil condition, local lad, Fahad Al-Emadi led with a 248 opening game but could not keep up the pace as UAE's Mohammed Al-Zarouni surged to the top after the second game on 457 while Khalid Al-Dubyyan was third just 15 pins adrift.

At the halfway mark, Al-Zarouni shot 216 to keep the lead but had Qatar's Salem Al-Marzouqi, Abdulla Haroon, and Khalid hot on his heels with just 8 pins separating the top 4 youths. Khalid fired all cylinders as he posted 237 taking his total to 901 for the lead.

Despite a 213 in Khalid's fifth game, Qatar's Abdulla Haroon fired 246 to draw level while Al-Marzouqi and Al-Zarouni trailed by 29 and 45 pins going into the final game. Another superb 236 saw Khalid clinching the first gold medal for Kuwait with 1350 while Abdulla suffered a 167 to settle for the silver with 1281.

Khalid's teammate, Ali Khalid Saleh stormed home with 258 and 255 in his last two games to snatch the bronze medal with 1279 from Salem Al-Marzouqi, who managed 1276 for fourth position. Mahmood Ahmad Al-Attar of UAE finished ahead of Al-Zarouni in fifth with 1267.

Photos courtesy of Qatar Bowling Federation.