1st March, Doha: Michael Mak of Hong Kong, survived Step 2 final of the PBA-WBT H.H. Emir Cup 2016 to advance into Step 3 final in eighth position as Rickle Kam and Eric Tseng ended their campaign in Step 1 final at Qatar Bowling Center.

Mak, who finished sixth in Step 1 final with 1930, in which 2015 Bowling World Open champion, Osku Palermaa of Finland led with 2013. Kam failed to make progress finishing 16th and Tseng 23rd positions respectively.

The Hong Kong national was in the top eight throughout the first half of the 8-game Step 2 final but slipped to ninth after a poor 190 in the sixth game. Fortunately, Mak recovered with a splendid 241 before ending with 201 to clinch eighth position with 1805.

Robert Andersson of Sweden, who was third in Step 1 final, made the early running but immediately handed the lead over to Jeoy Yeo of Singapore. Although Robersson regained the lead after the fifth game, it was his compatriot, Martin Larsen who won the final with 1988.

Shayna Ng of Singapore finished second with 1946 while Andersson settled for third with 1930. Step 1 winner, Palermaa finished fourth with 1919 followed by Yousif Falah of Bahrain in fifth with 1886.

Marshall Kent of USA, who rolled the tournament's eighth perfect game, took sixth position with 1841. Jazreel Tan, who downed the ninth perfecto, was seventh with 1808. Jeoy Yeo missed the cut by 9 pins to finish ninth.

The top 8 finishers will be joined by qualifiers positioned 1 to 4 from the general qualifying standings for a final 8-game Step 3 final tomorrow. The top 4 at the end of final will proceed to the Step 4 and 5 TV shootout final.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha, Qatar.

27th February, Doha: Two-time PBA-WBT runner-up, Michael Mak of Hong Kong topped the second squad of the PBA-WBT H.H. Emir Cup 2016 at the end of the first block of 8 games at Qatar Bowling Center on Saturday to pick up the Day 2 High-Series Award.

Robert Andersson of Sweden got off to a cracking start with 289 in his opening game, matched by two-time World Bowling Tour winner, Thomas Larsen of Denmark in second with 278 and Michael Mak third with 267.

The Swede's lead was short-lived as Mak rolled another sizzling 278 to leapfrog into the lead. 2015 Asian Championship Masters gold medalist, Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia added a 268 in his second game to move into second spot, 30 pins adrift.

2015 Asian Championship Masters silver medalist, Mostafa Almousawi of Kuwait almost rolled the tournament's third perfect game with 298 to take up third position in a hot-paced squad. Mak held the lead after the third, albeit only a single pin ahead of Lalisang.

2015 ABF Tour Saudi leg first runner-up, Rickle Kam finished 13th position with 1706, debutant James Lui 16th with 1701 while reigning World Cup champion, Wu Siu Hong was 17th with 1690.

Six other Hong Kong bwolers did not do so well with Joshua Chow in 29th, Tong Wong 30th, Eris Tseng 32nd, Jimmy Cheung 33rd, Lau Kwun Ho 34th and Mike Chan 36th.

The bowlers will resume with their second block of 8 games tomorrow morning which will give an indication of cut at 25th position to make the finals. The third and final Squad C will bowl their first block of 8 games in the afternoon.

Qualifiers positioned 1 to 4 will earn two byes for Step 3 finals while qualifiers positioned 5 to 7 plus the top Qatari will earn a bye for Step 2 finals. Qualifiers positioned 9 to 25 plus the next three Qataris and four from desperado squad will bowl in the 8-games Step 1 finals.