Singaporean moves into pole
26th March, Riyadh: Remy Ong of Singapore made his bid to successfully defend the 5th Kingdom International Open title he won last year by moving into pole position of the qualifying standings on Friday. Remy Ong, who had slipped down to 11th position after being in the top 5 yesterday, made two additional attempts earlier and failed to make any improvements. But at the 4.00pm Squad 21, The 30-year-old Singaporean set the lanes ablazed with 228, 237 and 259 for a sizzling 724 series.
Ong's effort gave him a 9-game aggregate of 2016 from 724, 680 and 612 to move into pole position in the standings which also made him a second bowler to surpass the 2,000-mark.
American PBA pro, Tim Mack who had earlier taken over the lead, albeit only briefly, had to settle for second spot with his 2004 tally.
Day 2 high series winner, Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia, also notched up 641 identical to his second best series which placed him third behind the American on 1996.Ahmed Al-Hadyan of Saudi Arabia continued to slide down in the standings to take up fourth with 1987 while local crowd favourite, Paeng Nepomuceno of the Philippines also slipped down to fifth with 1962.
This year's H.H. Emir Cup champion and 2010 EBT winner, Dominic Barrett, who shot 720 earlier and hoping to win the high series award but pipped by Remy Ong, improved to seventh position on 1953.
Three Amercian PBA pros, Parker Bohn III, Josh Blanchard and Kuwait Open champion, Chris Loschetter occupied eighth to tenth positions with 1945, 1943 and 1907 respectively.
The final cut after three days of qualifying rounds is held by three Saudis, Adullah Al-Dulaijan, Feras Abdulferaj, Rashidan Al-Rashidan all tied at 1731.
The final cut after three days of qualifying rounds is held by three Saudis, Adullah Al-Dulaijan, Feras Abdulferaj, Rashidan Al-Rashidan all tied at 1731.
Qualifying will continue for another two days, March 27 and 28 and the finals will commence on March 29 and ending on March 30.
Detailed scores: Qualifying Standings | Photo Album.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Riyadh.