26th November, Doha: Hong Kong national bowlers, Michael Mak and Eric Tseng warming up for the World Bowling Championships 2014 in Abu Dhabi made the Step 1 finals of the PBA-World Bowling Tour 14th Qatar Bowling Open.
Mak, who has performed well in recent World Bowling Tour finishing second runner-up in the Thailand stop in 2013 and first runner-up in the Saudi Open, rolled 206, 203, 247, 234, 245 and 235 for a 6-game total of 1370 to make the Step 1 final in 17th position in the overall qualifying standings.
His team-mate, Eric Tseng who had struggled in the past two days to make any inroads, finally put in a creditable effort to join Mak in the finals in 33rd position with 1317. But his position look in danger of being knocked out with the last squad at 8.00pm still to play.
Two time PBA-WBT winner, Thomas Larsen of Denmark topped the standings with 1503 followed by 2013 PBA-WBT Thailand leg champion, Sean Rash of USA in second with 1456. PBA pro Mike Fagan of USA finished third with 1454.
Michael Mak qualifying in 17th position overall
The top 10 qualifiers will earn one bye and automatically into Step 2 finals. Qualifiers positioned 11 to 34 plus six qualifiers from the first three days and top 3 from the desparado squad will contest Step 1 finals over 6 games.
The top 18 finishers with the 10 seeded qualifiers will bowl another 6 games from scratch and the top 4 will advance to the TV Shootout finals on November 22.
Mak and Tseng, who won the Team bronze medal at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, are taking part in the tournament as a warm up to the all-important World Bowling Championships from 3 to 15 December in Abu Dhabi.
Tseng will return to Hong Kong after the tournament to continue his preparation together with Wu Siu Hong and Rickle Kam. Mak will join up with Mike Chan and Wicky Yeung for the PBA-WBT Saudi Open from November 28 to 2 followed by the ABF Tour Saudi on December 3.
Mike Chan, who won the ABF Tour Indonesia leg in October has 105 tour ranking points and a good show in the last leg will ensure he qualifies for the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions in Kuwait in March, 2015.
Eric Tseng squeezing in in 33rd position
Mak has 98 points and a second round appearance in the Saudi leg will also ensure him a place in the TOC. Yueng has 73 points and a semi-final appearance in the same leg will also allow him to qualify.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha, Qatar.
| Back |