World airline bowling tournament begins

Dubai: The 4th World Airline Bowling Cup (WABC) tournament hosted by Emirates airline opened for play on Thursday morning at the Dubai International Bowling Centre in Al Mamzar.

The opening ceremony and opening of the bowling were performed by Mohammad Al Khaja, chairman of Emirates' Bowling Club, which is organising as well as hosting the event.

Thirty two teams from more than 11 international airlines, including British Airways, Finnair, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus, Qantas, KLM and Sri Lankan Airlines, have travelled to Dubai to participate and compete for trophies in the singles, doubles, masters and team events as well as the coveted World Airline Bowling Cup Champion Team accolade.

After the first morning's play, in the mixed team category, Lufthansa were leading, with 2,340 points, with Finnair in second place on 2,324 and in third place a mixed KLM/Swiss International team who scored 2,202 points.

In the ladies team games, Singapore Airlines were ahead, having scored 2,254 points with Emirates sitting in second place with 2,026 points. Scandinavian Airlines were leading the men's tournament - having scored 2,321 points, just one point ahead of second placed Emirates.

Al Khaja. in his welcome to the participating teams, said: "Enjoy sharing these few days of sport with us. Bowling is a sport that can be enjoyed by everyone, men and women, young and old - our oldest competitor here this year is 73 years old. The WABC is a wonderful event for bringing colleagues from the industry together and we are delighted to see even more participants than ever and to host an event that always has great team spirit and friendly, competitive atmosphere."

The first day's team events will be followed on Friday by doubles events, both male and female, from 10am-1pm and from 2pm-5pm. Saturday sees action from the male and female singles squads between 9am-12pm; 1pm-4pm and 4.20pm-6pm.

Free entry is granted to spectators, who are welcome throughout the tournament and there is no need to book.

Further information can be found at www.ekbowling.com