Perfect start for Singaporean
26th February, Doha: 2015 SEA Games Singles gold medalist, Daphne Tan of Singapore had a perfect start after shooting her first career 300 to lead the opening squad of the PBA-WBT H.H. Emir Cup 2016 underway at Qatar Bowling Center.
Daphne got off the first block with 300 followed by four massive games of 246, 258, 267 and 277 to opened up a huge gap to her team-mates, and 2015 SEA Games Masters gold medalist, Jazreel Tan and another team-mate, Bernice Lim in third.
The leader eased to a 181 in the sixth game before rounding off a scintillating first block with 206 and 255 for an 8-game total of 2054 plus 64 pins handicap. Jazreel settled for second with 1883, 171 off the pace while Bernice took third spot with 1876 to give Singapore a one-two-three finish.
Two-time PBA Bowler of the Year and 2012 Qatar Open champion, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland and Khaled Aldubyyan of Kuwait rounded out the top 5 with 1870 and 1842 respectively.
The overnight leader continued her relentless pace with 260 in the opening game of the second block but stumbled to a 180 in the second game yet was able to keep a big gap to her team-mate, Jazreel Tan. Daphne bounced back with 268 in the third and kept a good pace towards the half-way mark.
By the seventh game, Daphne had extended her lead over Jazreel to 227 pins. The leader, who picked up Day 1 high-series award of US$200 and added another daily high-series award, ended the second block with 1955 for a two-block total of 4009 plus 128 pins handicap.
Jazreel settled for second with 3764 trailing by 245 pins. Qatari youngster, Hazeem Almurakhi, who posted a second highest series with 1915, did well to finish third with 3742, a further 22 pins away. Bernice slipped down to fourth with 3729 while Koivuniemi completed the top 5 with 3692.
Shayna Ng took seventh position with a 16-game total of 3624, 2014 World Bowling Open champion, Joey Yeo finished ninth with 3605, Cherie Tan tenth with 3603, Muhd Jaris Goh 11th with 3560, New Hui Fen 12th with 3518, Darren Ong 16th with 3478, Howard Saw 17th with 3463, Timothy Tham 21st with 3395 and Kuek Qi En 31st with 3224.
Two more squads, B and C will be contested for the next three days. Qualifiers position 1 to 4 will earn two byes for Step 3 finals while qualifiers position 5 to 7 plus the top Qatari will earn a bye for Step 2 finals. Qualifiers positioned 9 to 25 plus the next three Qatari and four from desperado squad will the 8-games Step 1 finals.
The top 12 finishers will be joined by the four qualifiers positioned 5 to 8 for another 8 games in Step 2 finals. The top 8 finishers will be joined by the four qualifiers positioned 1 to 4 for another 8 games Step 3 finals.
The top 4 finishers will advance to Step 4 (semi) finals where the top seed will meet the fourth-seed and the second-seed will meet the third-seed for a two-games total pinfall match. The winners will proceed to Step 5 finals, again over two-games total pinfall match to determine the champion.
The top prize for the champion is US$20,000 with the first runner-up taking home US$12,000. Losers of the semi-finals will earn US$6,000 each. The top 16 Asian finishers will be awarded ABF Tour ranking points.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.