Singaporean advances into Step 3 Finals

18th December, Doha: Defending champion, Remy Ong of Singapore was the only Asian who survived to advance into the Step 3 Finals of the 10th Qatar Bowling Open after finishing seventh on Saturday. Remy Ong, who made the Step 2 finals after qualifying in ninth overall, started with a moderate 214 and 205 in his two opening games as Finn Jouni Helminen led PBA champion, Mike Fagan in second.

The Singapore could not get into his high scoring pace and but still managed a decent 203 in the third as the lead changed hands to another Finn, Osku Palermaa at the halfway point trailed by compatriot, Helminen.

Things got significantly better as Ong fired a sizzling 279 to take him up to second behind new leader, Fagan. The American led for another game despite only knocking down 180 while Ong also downed 193 to slip out of the top 3.   Krista Pollanen stormed home with 236 in her last game to end the finals in pole position with 1345, thanks to a 48 pin handicap she was allocated while Helminen gave Finland a one-two finish with 1343. Jenny Johansson of Sweden denied a top 3 finish by the Finns when she clinched third spot with 1334 from Palermaa, who settled for fourth with 1305. Fagan took fifth spot with 1298 followed by a third female, Joline Persson-Planefors fo Sweden in sixth.

Ong and three Swedes, Mattias Wetterberg, Karl Wahlgren and Peter Ljung made up the top 10 who would advance into Step 3 finals joined by the six seeded players from the qualifying standings.

The 16 would bowl 6 games from scratch tomorrow. The top 8 would advance into Step 4 finals for another 6 games with pins carried forward. The top 4 finishers will proceed to the Step 5 matchplay finals where the top seed will meet the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 will meet the No. 3 seed for a two-game total pinfalls matches.   The losers will be ranked based on their seedings while the winner will advance to the championship match for the top prize of €30,000.

Detailed scores: Step 2 Finals | Overall Qualifying | Photo Album. Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha.