Dubai: Naif Oqab made up for the disappointment of his sub-par performance at the Incheon Asian Games when he took the lead in the Open qualifying standings at the Fifth Dubai International Open Bowling Tournament.
Played before a good weekend crowd at the Dubai Bowling Centre, Oqab displaced overnight leader Kim Bolleby of Sweden at the top of the standings.
Oqab finished in a disappointing 12th place last year but on Friday, the UAE bowler trailed the Swede by a mere eight pins before improving his lowest three-game series of 697 with a splendid 738 to move into top position with a nine-game total pin-fall of 2,172.
Oqab has been among the favourites in this competition. His best was in 2010 when he finished first runner-up in 2010. In 2011, he crashed out at the end of the first round itself, only to finish in 12th place in 2012.
Bolleby slipped into second place with a total of 2,129 while the second perfect gamer in the tournament Ghalib Al Bu Saidi of Oman remained in third place with 2,067. The fourth position is reserved for the best Emirati bowler who does not end in the top three positions, and will earn a bye to automatically qualify for Round 3 finals.
Missing the cut for the top bracket is this year’s Hong Kong Open champion, Hussain Al Suwaidi as he stayed just one pin off the Omani — followed by Asian Games Masters bronze medallist Shaker Ali Al Hassan a further three pins away in sixth position.
Defending champion Mahmoud Al Attar currently lies in 10th with 2,037 while the current cut at 24th position went to Zayed Tahhan of Jordan with 1,837.
As per the format, the qualifiers positioned from five to 24 along with the top four from the one-game desperado squad will contest the eight games Round 2 finals scheduled for October 13. The top 12 finishers will be joined by the four seeded qualifiers from the top bracket for another eight games in Round 3 finals on October 14.
A total prize fund of Dh240,000 is up for grabs with the champion taking home Dh60,000. The tournament is organised under the patronage of Dubai Sports Council (DSC) with sponsorship from Al Masaood and Commercial Bank of Dubai along with BiteRite, Momz Mart, Pears and Neocare.
