Top 5 placing secured by Singaporean
27th March, Riyadh: Overnight leader, Remy Ong of Singapore secured his place in the Top 5 bracket qualifying standings of the 5th Kingdom International Open on Sunday after improving his lowest series to 663 in Squad 35. Remy Ong had won the Day 3 high series award of US$500 yesterday with a stunning 724 to take over pole position on 2016 with three series of 724, 680 and 612.
But when England's Dominic Barrett improved with a 708 series for a 9-game tally of 2112 and became the new leader, Ong took to the lanes at the 7.00pm Squad 35 in an attempt to regain the lead.
The Singaporean started off well with 237 and managed to follow it up with back-to-back 218s for a 663 series thus improving his 9-game total to 2067. But Ong still trailed Barrett by 45 pins in second.
Shaker Al-Hassan of UAE took third spot with 2012 after he rolled a superb 721 series whilst hoping to pick up the fourth day high series award. But his effort was beaten by Indonesia's Ryan Lalisang, who shot a sizzling 755 series in the same squad.
Lalisang's new 9-game total of 2110 just fell short by 2 pins to overhaul Barrett and had to settle for second position and relegating Ong to third. The Indonesian, who had already won Day 2 high series award, could pick up another award with his superb effort.Day 2 leader, Tim Mack of the United States slipped down to fifth spot with 2009 and in danger of being knocked off the top 5 bracket.
Andres Gomez of Colombia, Khaled Al-Dubyyan of Kuwait, two additional American PBA pros, Sean Rash and Parker Bohn III are now the top contenders for a spot in the top 5 as all of them have at least one low series that they can improve on.
The top 5 plus the best Saudi qualifier would earn direct entry into the Stage 1 double-elimination knovkout finals on March 30. Qualifying will end tomorrow with the desperado squad to give two bowlers a chance to make the semi-finals.
Qualifiers positioned 7 to 27 plus two fom the desperado squad (positions 28 and 29), three best Saudi qualifiers (positions 30 to 32) and two qualifiers from the earlier local tournament will make the Top 28 Finals over 8 games on March 30.
The top 10 will join the 6 seeded qualifiers into the Stage 1 double elimination knockout finals over a two-game total pinfalls. Thereafter, winners and losers will go through Stage 2 to 8 Finals to finally determine the champion.
Detailed scores: Qualifying Standings | Photo Album.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Riyadh.