Defending champion retains title
30th March, Riyadh: Remy Ong of Singapore successfully defended the 5th Kingdom International Open title after defeating another former champion, Shaker Al-Hassan of UAE in the all-lefty title match. Remy Ong, who squeezed into the top 5 qualifying bracket round in the second last squad on Monday after having been knocked out by two American PBA pros, started off cautiously with two spares, a strike and two more spares in the first game against challenger, Shaker Al-Hassan.
Two open frames in the fifth and six frames from the Emirati gave Ong the confidence to fire six consecutive strikes and took the first game, 236-202 for a 34 pins margin.
Shaker made another error when he missed a single pin in the second frame of the second game while Ong pulled away with six strikes-in-a-row to put the match beyond his opponent.
The champion easily won the second game, 239-188 for a two-game total victory with 475-390 en-route to successfully defended the crown he won last year.
"This is my first back-to-back title in my bowling career and I feel great," said the 32-year-old national bowler, Remy Ong after receiving the top prize of US$25,000 as champion.
"When I was knocked out from the top 5 qualifying bracket, I thought it would be tough to make it in the second last squad on Monday. I'm glad I managed it otherwise I may not be bowling in the elimination rounds.
"The field here is extremely strong especially with six American PBA pros and several top Europeans and I had to pass three of them to reach the title match. And all these matches were by no means easy and it came down to the last few frames to decide the match.
"There is always ups and downs at top level competitions and not only many have high expectations of me, but I have high expectations for myself as well. I'm always happy to add another title to my resume"
Ong survived the first stage by edging American Tim Mack, 403-401 then sailed pass another American PBA pro, Josh Blanchard, 466-382 in the winners' pool of the second stage.
Resting the third stage, Ong returned with his third victory over Amercian PBA pro and top seed, Sean Rash, 439-421 to advance to the sixth stage and skipping the fifth.
The Singaporean beat yesterday's semi-finals leader and Asian Championship Masters gold medalist, Khaled Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait, 420-389 to earn his place in the title match.
First runnerup, Shaker received a bye in the first stage from the injured Dominic Barrett of England but won his second stage before losing to Khaled in the fourth stage.
But a victory against Rash in the sixth stage and another victory in a re-match against Khaled in the seventh stage earn him a place in the finals meeting Ong. Unfortunately, Shaker had settle for US$13,000 for finishing second.
Khaled took home US$8,000 for third position, Rash US$5,000 for fourth and England's Paul Moor rounded up the top five with US$4,000. A total of 73 bowlers from fifth countries participated in this year's tournament.
Detailed scores: Stage 8 Finals | Final Standings | Photo Album.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Riyadh.