Dubai: Second seed Hareb Al Mansouri of the UAE defeated top seed Khalid Al Dubyyan of Kuwait twice in the final step-ladder match at the fifth Dubai International Open bowling tournament to win his first major title.

Al Mansouri had a nervous start when he failed to convert a single-pin spare but recovered with a double in his next two frames. When his opponent had a split in the fifth frame, the Emirati doubled again to open up a small gap.

The match levelled up when both had a split each. Al Mansouri ended the match with 190 and the Kuwaiti could have wrapped up the tie when he needed to double in the 10th frame but ended with a spare to lose the first match with 183.

In the deciding match, the UAE youngster started off with three strikes-in-a-row and when Al Dubyyan opened in the fourth, he was trailing the Emirati by 24 pins. Although the Kuwaiti recovered with a double in his next two frames, he stumbled with another split in the eighth frame.

Cheered on by a large crowd of local supporters, Al Mansouri went on to take the match and win the title, 213-170. The champion had earlier sailed past teammate and third seed, Shaker Ali Al Hassan, 248-211 in an all-Emirati semi-final match.

The champion pocketed the top prize of Dh60,000, while the Kuwaiti settled for Dh30,000 and Shaker Ali picked up Dh15,000 as second runner-up.

Mohammad Khalifa Al Qubaisi, President, Emirates Bowling Federation together with representative from the Dubai Sports Council, gave away the prizes to the Youth, Women and Open division winners.

BAHRAINI WINS TOUR TITLE

Meanwhile, 2011 Asian Championships gold medallist Yousuf Falah of Bahrain won his second tour title after he defeated third-seed Shaker Ali Al Hassan of the UAE 246-168 in the title match of the ABF Tour UAE 2014 on Wednesday.

Falah edged newly-crowned Fifth Dubai Open champion Hareb Al Mansouri 152-135 in the first semi-final to advance to the finals while Shaker Ali ousted Filipino Anthony Balabbo, 206-173 in the other semi-final.

This year’s ABF Tour consists of nine legs - five in the Middle East without the women’s division and four in East Asia with the women’s division. Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are the next stops for the competition. Players earn points in each of the legs and the top 16 men and top 16 women in the rankings qualify for the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions.