Singaporean stakes claim on title

Singaporean stakes claim on title

23rd February, Dubai: Singapore’s Remy Ong staked his claim on the Masters title of the 1st Dubai International Open Bowling Tournament after hauling himself up from ninth to seventh position in the qualifying standings on Tuesday.   Remy Ong, who was in 25th position with 1916 from three of his best attempts of 634, 630 and 652 yesterday, notched up an impressive 691 at the 1.30pm squad to haul himself up to ninth on 2030.

But at the subsequent 3.30pm squad, Ong was on fire rolling down 238, 256 and 205 for a 699 series to amassed a three series total of 2070 and crucially in the top 8 who will get bye in Round 2 finals and automatically into Round 3.

“My timing was good and I had better carry,” said the 34-year-old Ong, whose last success in the middle east was capturing the 2009 Qatar Open back in December. “Now I’m hoping that I can stay in the top 8 for the finals.

Indonesia’s Ryan Lalisang, who was drawn on the same pair of lanes with Ong, also made good progress to move into the top 8 in fourth spot with 2117. 2009 Asian Ranked No. 1, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong topped the standings with 2167. Asian Indoor Games triple gold medalist, Naif Oqab of UAE finished second with 2156 after taking the early lead and winning the opening day’s high series award of 900 AED. Hussain Al-Suwaidi took third spot with 2133.

UAE youngster, Mahmood Al-Attar finished fifth with 2113 ahead of Biboy Rivera of the Philippines in sixth position with 2079. Rivera also shot the tournament’s first perfect game on Day 10.

Adel Al-Marzooqi of UAE completed the top 8 who will advance automatically into Round 3 finals. Qualifiers from positions 9 to 18 will be joined by six local qualifiers from positions 19 to 24 for Round 2 finals.

The top 8 at the end of the 8-game Round 2 finals will proceed to Round 3 together with the eight seeded qualifiers for another 8 games. The top 8 will advance into the 8-game Round 4 finals with pins carried forward from Round 3.

The top 3 after the Round 4 finals will advance into the stepladder finals with the first match between the second and the third seed finalists. The winner of this match will challenge the top seed in a one-plus-one title match.

Detailed scores: Open Division Qualifying | Photo Album.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Dubai.