Defending champion tops Squad 8

Defending champion tops Squad 8

14th December, Doha: Defending champion, Remy Ong of Singapore blizted the lanes at Qatar Bowling Centre on Tuesday to top Squad 8 of the 10th Qatar Bowling Open qualifying rounds. In only his first qualifying attempt after arriving Doha early Tuesday morning, Remy Ong took to the lanes at the 9.00pm Squad 8 to start off with a cracking 267. The Asian Games Doubles silver medalist followed it up with 205, 190, 265, 244 and 222 for a total of 1393.

Despite topping the squad, Ong's fine effort fell short by 11 pins from Squad 7 leader, Jimmy Mortensen. The Swede shot the tournament's first perfect game to become the new overall leader with 1404.

Mortensen had lines of 300, 207, 211, 233, 226 and 227 to overtake overnight leader, Naif Oqab of UAE, who had 1399 after topping Squad 4. Squad 6 leader, Tore Torgersen of Norway finished third with 1398 ahead of Ong in fourth overall.   2010 Dubia Open champion, Osku Palermaa of Finland and Day 3 High Series Award winner, Karl Wahlgren of Sweden completed the top 6 who will receive byes and into Stage 3 finals. UAE's Sayed Ibrahim, Bahrain's Yousif Falah, Qatar's Mubarak Al-Muraikhi, Kuwait's Khaled Al-Dubyyan, UAE's Hussain Al-Suwaidi and Sweden's Robert Andersson made up the second top 6 who will advance into Stage 2 finals.

Qualifiers from positions 13 to 38 plus top 2 from Squads 1 and 2 and top 2 from Squads 3 and 4 will have to battle it out in Stage 1 finals. The top 18 will join qualifiers from positions 7 to 12 for the Stage 2 finals.

The top 10 at the end of Stage 2 finals will join the top 6 qualifiers for Stage 3 finals. Qualifying continue through to December 17 and the finals will be held on December 18 and 19.   Detailed scores: Squad 8 | Squad 7 | Overall Qualifying. Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.