Four Singaporeans in the finals

17th March, Kuwait: Four Singapore national bowlers secured their places in the finals of the 9th Kuwait International Open Bowling Championships at the end of the third block of qualifying rounds on Saturday.

Shayna Ng, who was fifth in Squad D after the second block, posted 1245 in her third block for a 15-game total of 3577 to move up one spot to fourth. Shayna’s fine performance put her eighth in the second bracket to automatically advance into Round 4 finals.

Americans again showed their prowess by taking up the top 3 spots in the squad. Tom Smallwood, defending champion Chris Lochetter and Ronnie Russell registered 3667, 3608 and 3577 respectively.

Smallwood’s fine run, Lochetter’s consistent display and Russell’s comeback put the trio into the top 6 bracket in second, third and sixth positions behind Squad C and overall leader, Osku Palermaa of Finland on 3683.

Jason Yeong-Nathan, Joel Tan, Amanda Ng, Jasmine Yeong-Nathan, Remy Ong and Ng Tiac Pin could not improve their scoreline and missed the cut for the finals.

Meanwhile in the earlier Squad C, Keith Saw ended his third block by improving from sixth to third position with 3476 placing him 14th in the same bracket as Shayna. Muhammad Jaris Goh managed eighth in the squad and 24th overall with 3379.Osku Palermaa of Finland topped the squad to take over pole position with 3683. Brit Dominic Barrett finished second with 3590 and occupied fifth overall.

Ng Chiew Pang and Javier Tan ended in 13th and 15th positions with 3258 and 3221 respectively and also failed to qualify for the finals. Two more squads remain to be played and the finals will be contested tomorrow.

Muhammad Jaris will bowl 6 games in Round 2 finals and the top 8 will advance into Round 3 finals joined by the qualifiers in positions 15 – 22 in which Jazreel will bowl 6 games to aim for a top 9 finish.

Shayna and Keith will join in Round 4 finals for another 6 games and the top 9 will advance into Round 5 finals.

Detailed scores: Block 3 Combined | Block 3 Squad D | Block 2 Squad D | Photo Album.Photos by Terence Yaw in Kuwait.