Guangzhou: The UAE bowling squad put itself within striking distance of the leaders in the bowling trios competition at the 16th Asian Games here on Friday.

At the end of the first block of bowling three games, the UAE trio of Hussain Al Suwaidi, Mahmoud Al Attar and Syed Ebrahim Al Hashemi were at a respectable tenth place in chasing leaders Bom Eum Choi, Yong Kyu Choi and Dong Chul Jang of South Korea.

"We would have loved to be among the top two places, but then that is part of the game," the UAE's coach Patrick Healy told Gulf News at the Tianhe Bowling Hall here.

In a competition that requires equal dedication and commitment from all three players, the UAE trio started off well with the first two averaging 234 and 235 respectively. However, Al Hashemi failed to keep pace and slipped with an average of 161 to take them into overall 14th at the end of the first game.

Seven-place leap

On the other hand, the second trio of Mohammad Khalifa Al Qubaisi, Shaker Ali and Naif Oqab struggled to find their touch and ended up 18th overall even as the trio from Hong Kong — Cheuk Yin Mak, Tak Hin Tseng and Siu Hong Wu — started off with a flash to top the 33 teams.

In the second game, Al Qubaisi, Shaker Ali and Naif Oqab came up with a better showing, jumping seven places 11th, while Al Suwaidi, Al Attar and Al Hashemi were joint 12th along with the Taipei trio. This is when the South Koreans made a surge and took possession of the top position.

In the third game, the South Koreans continued their dominance even as Al Suwaidi, Al Attar and Al Hashemi improved two places into tenth, while Al Qubaisi faltered with a score of 180 to take the second UAE trio into 13th. "Now we need to re-adjust our mind and game with the hope that we will edge closer as the competition continues tomorrow," Healy hoped.

Today all 33 teams will be participating in the second block of bowling that consists of another three games after which the overall standings will be decided.

Sailing event

Meanwhile, the two UAE sailors continued in the second half of the standings with Adil Khalid coming in seventh and Hamoud Al Ziadi finishing ninth in the ninth race earlier yesterday.

Things did not change much in the tenth as race as Al Ziadi was placed seventh and Khalid came in 12th to continue mid-table in the overall standings.

Today is the final day for sailing with the last two races deciding the medalists at the Shanwei Water Sports Centre.

The UAE's Rashid Bilal Khamis bowed out of the men's under-68kg taekwondo when he was defeated by Jeffrey Figueroa from the Philippines at the Guangdong Gymnasium here yesterday morning.

Khamis, a consistent performer for the UAE at various Gulf-level competitions, lost 3-5 to the Filipino thus ending the UAE's campaign in this weight category.

The UAE's third and final taekwondo fighter will be Hazza Sultan Al Kalbani, who is participating in the men's under-58kg against Malaysia's Rusfredy Petrus Tokan today.