7th December, Doha: Eric Tseng of Hong Kong, China led 2023 World Championships Trios gold medalist, Wu Siu Hong and Ivan Tse to finish third to fifth in the qualifying standings of the H.H. Emir Cup 2023 on Thursday.

Tseng, who was second overnight after posting 765, 667 and 728 slipped down to third with 2160 when early pace-setter, Mostafa Al-Mousawi of Kuwait improved his total from 2147 to 2167 to take up second spot.

Wu leapfrog from 16th yesterday to finish behind Tseng in third with 2151 while Tse took up fifth position with 2145. Defending champion, Tomas Kayhko of Finland completed the top 6 with 2143. The top 6 earned a bye and automatically qualify for Step 2 finals.

Yousif Al-Jabir was the best Qatari qualifier and headed the second bracket with 2109. Al Al-Haider of Kuwait, Kaaron Salomaa of Finland and Timmy Tan of Malaysia rounded out the top 10 in eighth to tenth respectively.

The cut in 26th position went to Tun Hakim of Malaysia and Martin Larsen of Sweden with a same total of 2030. Above the duo was Keith Mark of Hong Kong, China in 24th position with 2044. Yet to make the cut were Tong Wong in 41st position and Lau Kwun Ho in a lowly 63rd position.

Qualifiers positioned 7 to 26 along with the top 2 Qatari youths, top 2 qualifiers from the first two days and top 2 highest scorers fro the one-game Desperado Squad will contest the 8-game Step 1 finals tomorrow.

The top 10 finishers will be joined by the 6 seeded qualifiers from the general standings for another 8 games in Step 2 finals. The top 5 with the highest scores in Step 2 finals will proceed to the next step. Players positioned 3, 4 and 5 will bowl one game in Step 3. The winner will proceed to meet the second seed from Step 2 over one game in Step 4.

The winner in Step 4 will meet the top seed from Step 2 in the title match in Step 5. The winner of Step 5 will be declared the champion.