Al Hassan continues to keep chasing pack at bay

Dubai: Defending champion Shaker Ali Al Hassan continued to lead the Open field at the end of the eighth day of qualifying yesterday in the third Dubai International Bowling Tournament being held at the Dubai Bowling Centre.

Al Hassan's previous day's three-series rolls of 688, 722 and 760 were just enough to keep him ahead of the chasing pack of Jordan Evan of the Philippines, Ali Ahmad Al Saffar and Hussain Al Suwaidi.

The lone break-in for the top five spots came from Bahrain's Yousuf Falah as he started off with series scores of 713, 720 and 706 to move to fifth, while the UAE's junior bowler and Asian and Arab medallist Mahmoud Al Attar managed to improve to seventh from tenth overnight.

That ensured Syed Ebrahim Al Hashemi, Hareb Al Mansouri and ex-UAE coach Patrick Healy occupied the next three positions with a good chance of making it to the next round of the Open competition.

There was no movement in the under-23 competition, with the UK's Samantha Hannan improving her average from 224.56 overnight to 234.11, recording a series of 713, 682 and 712.

Sultan Al Qubaisi continued in second place with series rolls of 668, 670 and 632, while Abdullah Nabeel Marzouq kept his third place with scores of 632, 676 and 604.

The qualifying rounds of the competition will continue this week with the second round of the Open competition, featuring the top 26 finishers including two UAE nationals, being held on Friday.