Singaporean gunning for second title in Doha

Singaporean gunning for second title in Doha

3rd March, Doha: 2009 Qatar Open champion, Remy Ong of Singapore is gunning for a second title in Doha after leading from start to finish in the Step 2 finals of the H.H. Emir Cup 2010 late Wednesday evening. Remy Ong, who made the Step 2 finals as second seed, had a dream start in the 8-games Step 2 finals with an opening game of 263, just 8 pins ahead of two Qataris, Mansour Al-Awamy and Mubarak Al-Muraikhi.

But the 31-year-old Singaporean stamped his authority with another sizzling 268 to take a commanding lead of 72 pins from Kuwait’s Basel Al-Anzi in second while the two Qataris followed closely behind.

Indonesia’s Ryan Lalisang shot a superb 263 to move up to second as Ong continued his blistering pace with another good 234. Mansour bounched back with 258 to regain second spot and narrowed the gap to Ong by 40 pins at the halfway mark.   While Ong bowled consistenly wit 223, 221 and 235 in his next three games, a keen tussle had developed between Mansour, UAE’s Naif Oqab and Mubarak all shooting 279s to stay with the leader. The leader eased off with 185 to end the finals in pole position with 1839 followed by Mansour in second with 1817 and Mubarak a distant third with 1768. Naif took fourth spot with 1764 ahead of compatriot, Sayed Ibrahim Al-Hashemi fifth with 1743.

Hong Kong’s Wu Siu Hong, who had a poor start, fought back to end the block in sixth on a total of 1724 while Lalisang and Bahrain’s Yousif Falah held on to seventh and eighth position with 1711 and 1700.

Basel Al-Azni of Kuwait missed the cut by 45 pins to finish in ninth with 1655 followed by defending champion, Partick Healey Jnr. completing the top 10 with 1600. The top 8 advanced into the Step 3 knockout stage which will be staged tomorrow at 2.30pm.   The top seed will meet the No. 8 seed, No. 2 seed will meet No. 7 seed and so on. They will bowl two games for total pinfalls and the winners will advance into Step 4 finals. Winners of the Step 4 finals will meet in the Step 5 semi-finals and finally the Step 6 title match.

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