8th March, Manama: Newly-crowned PBA-WBT #8 12th Kingdom of Bahrain Open champion, Shaker Al Hassan of United Arab Emirates captured the opening leg of the 2014 ABF Tour Bahrain after he edged Mohammed Janahi, 200-199 in the finals to make it his first grand double.
Top seed, Shaker opened up a commanding lead after he rolled three consecutive strikes from frame three as his challenger, Mohammed Janahi had two splits in the second and fourth frames.
The Emirati left-hander suffered a temporary setback when he had a big 5-pin split in the eighth frame while Janahi recovered with three consecutive strikes himself from frame five to reduce the gap to just 11 pins.
Shaker spared his ninth frame and struck in the tenth before sparing his bonus frame for a score of 200. The Bahraini spared twice before striking home to lose the match to Shaker by just a single pin with 199.
Bahrain leg champion, Shaker Al Hassan with his trophy
"I was very confident going into the final match especially after I bowled well in the first two rounds with 210 and 238 and 216 in the semi-finals to reach the final," said the 43-year-old Shaker.
"Although it was a close match in the end, I'm glad to capture the first leg. I didn't compete in many legs last year so I didn't qualify for the Tournament of Champions. But hopefully, with a good start this year, I will qualify for next year."
The champion sailed past compatriot and 2012 ABF Tour Kuwait leg champion, Hareb Al Mansoori 216-160 in the first semi-final match. He also registered impressive wins over Michael Mak of Hong Kong, 238-211 in Round 2 and over debutant, Ahmed Fareed of Bahrain, 210-181 in the opening round.
Janahi squeezed into the final with a low-scoring match against Sithiphol Kunaksorn of Thailand, 177-169 in the other semi. The first runner-up also defeated Ryan Lalisang, 215-202 in Round 2 and second seed, Yousif Falah 197-179 in the first round.
Michael Mak defeated Eric Tseng in an al-Hong Kong first round match, 211-176 to advance to the second round but lost to the eventual champion Shaker in the second round. Wicky Yeung slumped to a 168-208 defeat to semi-finalist, Sithiphol in the opening round.
Mr Abdulla Al Dosery, President of the Bahrain Bowling Association presented the trophy to the champion. The next leg will be in Kuwait on March 16 after the PBA-WBT #9 11th Kuwait International Open.
Hong Kong finalists, Michael Mak, Eric Tseng and Wicky Yeung
For further information and details, please contact ABF Tour Committee at Tel: +852 2893 6039, Fax: +852 2893 6290; Email: hktbc@netvigator.com.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Manama, Bahrain.
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