16th December, Doha: World Singles Championships 2016 bronze medallist, Michael Mak left it late until the final squad of the qualifying rounds to crack into the top bracket of the PBA-WBT 16th Qatar Bowling Open overall standings in sixth position.
Multiple PBA Tour winner, Thomas Larsen of Denmark got off to a blistering pace with 277 in his opening game of Squad 17 to lead Haitham Tashkandy of Saudi Arabia by 19 pins with Japan's top pro and first perfect gamer, Shota Kawazoe a further one pin away in third.
Although Mak started off with a decent game of 246, the Hong Kong national set the lanes ablazed with a scorching 279 to take over the lead. Larsen added a 220 but trailed Mak by 28 pins.
Mak lost the lead briefly to Sweden's Martin Paulsson after the third game despite rolling 227 but regained it after the fourth game as the Swede managed only 198 and Mak shot 217. Paulsson regained his lead after the fifth game with 259 while Mak downed 219.
Michael Mak cracking into the top 10 for a bye
Mak was totally focus on making the final and needed at least 222 or above to secure a place in the final. Paulsson required 190 or more to also make the cut. The Swede ended with 217 to book his place in the final with 1437.
Mak struck twice in his first two frames, a spare in the third and then struck home for a sizzling 279 and not only made the cut but secured a bye with a top ten finish on 1467. Christopher Via of United States and Kawazoe failed to finish above the 1405-mark to qualify.
Three-time USBC Masters winner, Jason Belmonte of Australia topped the first of three squads (Squad 15) on the final day of qualifying with 1511 to finish second in the overall standings. Day 5 high-series award winner, Osku Palermaa of Finland topped the standings with 1523.
Day 4 high-series award winner, Rodolfo Madriz of Costa Rica took third spot with 1485 while Squad 7 leader, Richard Teece of England and Day 2 high-series award winner, John Janawicz of United States shared fourth position with 1475.
Mak took sixth spot ahead of Jaime Gonzalez of Colombia and Yousif Falah of Bahrain tieing seventh position with 1461.
Wicky Yeung making the Step 1 final in 16th position
Two American pros, Cameron Weier of United States (defending champion) and 2016 USBC Masters champion and Squad 16 leader, Anthony Simonsen tied tenth position with 1458 to complete the top 10 seeded Step 2 qualifiers.
Squad 4 leader, Diana Zavjalova of Latia was relegated to head the 24 qualifiers (positions 11 to 34) with 1454. Hong Kong's Wicky Yeung made the cut after finishing 16th with 1439. Rickle Kam and Lau Kwun Ho did not make the final.
2016 H.H. Emir Cup winner, Danielle McEwan of United States clinched the 34th and the cut position with 1406 forcing compatriot, Kendle Miles to claim the top spot of Day 3 early bird squads. Aleksei Parshukov of Russia, who slipped into 40th position, claimed the Day 3 early bird second spot.
Christopher Via and Mathieu Berges of Switzerland qualified from the Day 2 early bird squads in first and second. Two Malaysians, 2016 World Singles silver medallist, Rafiq Ismail and Sin Li Jane claimed the Day 1 early bird squads in first and second.
In the desperado squad held after Squad 17, Hassan Alkharusi of Oman rolled the fifth 300 of the tournament to qualify in first. Two additional Malaysians, 2012 QubicaAMF World Cup champion, Syafiq Ridhwan and 2016 Indonesia Open champion, Ahmad Muaz finished second and third with 268 and 256 respectively to squeeze into the final.
The top ten qualifiers will earn a bye and advance automatically to Step 2 final. Qualifiers positioned 11 to 34 (total 24 players) together with the top 2 qualifiers from each of the first three days (6 players) and three from the desperado squad totaling 33 qualifiers will compete Step 1 final over 6 games from scratch.
The top 18 finishers will be joined by the top 10 seeded qualifiers (total 28) for another 6 games in Step 3 final from scratch. The top 4 finishers will then advance to the Step 3 final in which the top seed will meet the fourth-seed and the second-seed will face the third-seed over a two-games total pinfalls.
The losers will be ranked third and fourth accordingly while the winners will comtinue to Step 4 title match, again over a two-games total pinfalls.
The champion stand to win the top prize of US$40,000 with the first runner-up taking home US$20,000. The second and third runner-ups will be awarded US$7,000 each. The 16th Qatar Bowling Open is a World Bowling Tour and an European Tour stop. If the champion is a member of PBA, he will be awarded a PBA international title.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha, Qatar.
14th December, Doha: 2014 Incheon Asian Games Team bronze medallist, Wicky Yeung of Hong Kong secured a place in the Step 1 final of the PBA-WBT 16th Qatar Bowling Open 2016 after finishing second in Squad 13 of the qualifying rounds.
European Bowling Tour ranked No. 2, Richard Teece got off the block brilliantly by rolling the tournament's third 300 to lead Day 4 high-series award winner and three-time Canadian national champion, David Simard by 21 pins. Yeung started off with a superb game of 264 for third.
Teece managed only 206 in his second game allowing Yeung to take over the running after adding a 244 game. The Canadian downed 228 to move into second spot with the Englishman slipping down to third.
Yeung set a blistering pace with 245, 246 and 258 in his next three games to open up a gap of 40 pins as defending champion, Cameron Weier of USA posted a sizzling game of 278 to home in on the Hong Kong national.
Wicky Yeung finishing second in Squad 13
Teece recovered to gradually crawl his way back up to fourth with Simard slipping out of contention. Sweden's Martin Larsen also kept pace with the leading duo to be placed third. With 1257 after five games, Yeung had more or less booked his place in the final and was gunning for a bye by landing himself in the top ten.
Nerves must have played a part when he managed only 182 in his final game for a total of 1439. Weier ended with a better 241 to snatch pole with 1458 while Larsen also ended strongly with 257 to claim third spot behind Yeung with 1427.
Colombia's Manuel Otalora rounded out the top five in this squad with 1398 behind Teece in fourth. World Singles bronze medallist, Michael Mak found the condition tricky managing only 1287 and yet to make the cut.
2015 Bowing World Open champion, Osku Palermaa of Finland, who topped the earlier Squad 12 on his first attempt by cracking the 1500-mark, took over the overall standings with 1523 and winning the Day 5 high-series award of US$300.
Day 3 high-series award winner and Squad 6 leader, Rodolfo Madriz of Costa Rica occupied second with 1485. Day 2 high-series award winner and triple gold medallist at this year's PABCON Championships, John Janawicz shared third spot with Squad 7 leader, John Wells of England with 1475.
Top 3 in Squad 13, Yeung, Weier and Larsen
Cameron finished fifth followed by Squad 4 leader and top female competitor, Diana Zavjalova of Latvia in sixth with 1454. Squad 8 winner, Cristian Azcona of Puerto Rico; Squad 3 winner and QubicaAMF World Cup champion, Jenny Wegner were placed seventh and eighth.
Mexico's Sandra Gongora occupied ninth and Yeung took the tenth and final top bracket spot with 1439 but was subsequently relegated to 11th after Sweden's Markus Jansson rolled the fourth 300 to top Squad 14 with 1443 for ninth position. Rickle Kam and Lau Kwun Ho have yet to make the cut finishing in 63rd and 65th respectively out of a field of 152 players.
The cut at 34th position went up by 28 pins from last night's 1362 to 1390 held by 2016 World Youth triple gold medallist, Anthony Simonsen of USA. Qualifying will end tomorrow with three more squads.
A one-game Desperado squad will be held to add three more qualifiers with the highest single-game score. The top ten qualifiers will earn a bye and advance automatically to Step 2 final.
Qualifiers positioned 11 to 34 (total 24 players) together with the top 2 qualifiers from each of the first three days (6 players) and three from the desperado squad totaling 33 qualifiers will compete Step 1 final over 6 games from scratch.
Osku Palermaa streaking into the lead with 1523
The top 18 finishers will be joined by the top 10 seeded qualifiers (total 28) for another 6 games in Step 3 final from scratch. The top 4 finishers will then advance to the Step 3 final in which the top seed will meet the fourth-seed and the second-seed will face the third-seed over a two-games total pinfalls.
The losers will be ranked third and fourth accordingly while the winners will comtinue to Step 4 title match, again over a two-games total pinfalls. The champion stand to win the top prize of US$40,000 with the first runner-up taking home US$20,000.
The second and third runner-ups will be awarded US$7,000 each. The 16th Qatar Bowling Open is a World Bowling Tour and an European Tour stop. If the champion is a member of PBA, he will be awarded a PBA international title.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha, Qatar.
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