13th March, Kuwait: Two-time PBA-World Bowling Tour runner-up, Michael Mak of Hong Kong advanced to the next round of the 12th Kuwait International Open after finishing seventh in Round 4 finals on Friday.
Mak, who had qualified in 12th position and earning two byes into Round 4 finals, got off the mark with a respectable 210 as 2012 PBA Player of the Year, Tommy Jones of USA led with a splendid 263 in the first game.
Jones followed it up with another superb 250 to stretch his lead while Mak returned another good game of 239 to stay in fifth with Mika Koivuniemi of Finland trailed in second.
The 2014 Asian Games Team bronze medalist added a third game of 226 to move up to third as Jones continued to lead and Koivuniemi continued to trail the American.
Mak stumbled to a poor 170 in the fifth game after a good 228 in the fourth putting him in eighth, just 13 pins ahead of his nearest rival in ninth. Fortunately, Mak kept his coll to end with 200 to make the top 8 cut in seventh with 1273.
Michael Mak advancing into the next round in seventh
Jones won the round with 1362, 22 pins ahead of the strong finishing Robert Andersson of Sweden in second with 1340. Lidemaro Ruiz of Venezuela took third spot with 1332 as Moivuniemi slipped down to fourth with a poor final game of 170.
Dominic Barrett of England and Jason Sterner of USA finished ahead of the Hong Kong national to tie fifth position with 1294. 2014 PBA Rookie of the Year, Marshall Kent of USA clinched eighth position with 1268.
Kim Bolleby of Thailand missed the cut by 27 pins in ninth position with 1241. Round 2 winner, Danielle McEwan crashed out in tenth position with 1237. Round 3 winner, Stuart Williams failed to repeat his form in this round and failed to progress managing only 14th position.
The top 8 finishers plus the top 7 seeded qualifiers from the overall standings (15 finalists) will bowl 4 games in Round 5 before the Modified Matchplay finals over 7 games.
Three players will be drawn on each pair of lanes for each of the 7 matches. Winner of the match will receive 20 pins bonus and second highest scorer will receive 10 pins. The top 5 at the end of the matchplay will proceed to the stepladder shootout finals.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Kuwait.
10th March, Kuwait: 2014 Asian Games Team bronze medalist, Michael Mak of Hong Kong impressed in his firt block qualifying round of the 12th Kuwait International Open by taking up sixth position in the overall standings.
Mak, who topped the opening Squad A with 1109, finished sixth position overall. American PBA pro and Squad B leader, DJ Archer of Friendswood, TX topped the overall standings with 1217.
Three-time World Bowling Writers' World Bowler of the Year and Squad D leader, Dominic Barrett of England in second on 1188. 2006 Asian Games gold medalist, Bader Al Shaikh of Saudi Arabia, who finished second to Barrett, took third spot with 1175 followed by John Szczerbinski of N. Tonawanda, N.Y. fourth with 1129.
A third PBA pro, Brad Angelo of Lockport, NY., shot 1112 for fifth spot while Squad A leader and 2014 Asian Games Team bronze medalist, Michael Mak was the cut for the first bracket in sixth with 1109.
Michael Mak making the top brack in sixth position
Sixth position is reserved for the top Kuwaiti qualifier outside the top 6 who would earn three byes to automatically advance to Round 5 finals. 13th Kingdom of Bahrain Open third runner-up, Ildemaro Ruiz Jr. of Venezuela headed the second bracket with 1105, just 7 pins ahead of Squad C leader, Mohammed Janahi of Bahrain in ninth.
PBA Rookie of the Year and 2014 Kingdom of Saudi Open champion, Marshall Kent of Yakima, WA., rounded out the top 10 with 1087. Qualifiers positioned 8 to 14 will earn two byes for Round 4 finals.
Yousef Al-Jaber of Qatar headed the third bracket with 1064 followed by H.H. EMir Cup champion, Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia in 16th position with 1059. The cut at 22nd position of the third bracket went to Ebrahim Al Jadi of Kuwait with 1027. Qualifiers positioned 15 to 22 will earn one bye for Round 3 finals.
H.H. Emir Cup third runner-up, Naif Oqab headed the last and fourth bracket with 1025. Eric Tseng of Hong Kong finished 27th position with 1013 while the cut at 34th position went to Wicky Yeung of Hong Kong with 992. Qualifiers positioned 23 to 34 will make the Round 2 finals together with the top 4 Kuwaiti finishers.
Qualifiers ranked 23 to 38 (16 bowlers) at the end of 15 games will bowl 6 games in Round 2 and the top 8 will advance to Round 3 finals. Qualifiers ranked 15 to 22 plus the top 8 finishers from Round 2 (16 bowlers) will bowl another 6 games from scratch.
Wicky Yeung and Eric Tseng making the cut in 27th and 34th positions
Qualifiers ranked 8 to 14 plus the top 9 finishers from Round 3 (16 bowlers) will bowl 6 games in Round 4 finals. The top 8 finishers plus qualifiers ranked 1 to 7 will bowl 4 games and with pins carried forward to the Modified Matchplay Round.
Bowlers will bowl 7 games and one game position round with bonus amongst 3 players on each pair of lanes. Winner of each match on a pair will receive 20 bouns pins while the second place will receive 10 bonus pins.
The top 5 finishers after the matchplay will advance to the stepladder finals with the top seed having the advantage of beat-twice format.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Kuwait.
| Back |