KUWAIT CITY, March 7: After 21 gruelling weeks, the elimination round of the 2011 PBAK-Western Union-Al Muzaini Exchange 7th Conference Tenpin Bowling League finally drew to a close and grabbing the Top qualifier Award were the resilient K2E2 Thunders who were at the helm of the leader board for most of the way. Along with K2E2, seven other teams namely Siete Pares, World Class, Air Safari, Cozmo 1, Klasmeyts Al Khadda Kana, Cozmo 2 and Xpress Rollers also bagged outright trip to the final round. Meanwhile in the just concluded desperado round where teams from positions 9 to 16 vied for the two remaining finals berth, Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait and Megaworld succeeded in joining the Top 8 teams after emerging on top of the 4-game series competition.

At the end of the elimination round the final team standings are as follows (read as rank, team name, and total score in pin falls), 1. K2E2-59,973, 2. Siete Pares-59,772, 3. World Class-59,766, 4. Air Safari-59,434, 5. Cozmo 1-59,346, 6. Klasmeyts Al Khadda Kana-59,308, 7. Cozmo 2-59,205, 8. Xpress Rollers-58,951, 9. Emirates Airlines-58905, 10. Frost Real Estate-58,735, 11. Western Union-58,365, 12. ABK-58,216, 13. D’ Islanders-58,206, 14. Swooping Eagles-58,158. 15. Mega World-57,562, 16. BOSE-57,152, 17, LEAF-57,143, 18. Indian Strikers-56,822, 19. Raging Bols-56,757, 20. Sahara-55,567, 21. Nusantara-54,029.

The winners in the different Individual and Team Highs are as follows: Individual High Game; Men Class O-Ayad Al Amiri 277, Men Class A-Cris Bulacja 278, Men Class B-Ahmad Gofar 236, Ladies Class A-Janet Shaikh 229 and Ladies Class B-Carol Awadi 225. Individual High Average; Men Class O-Fadel Al Qassem 189, Men Class A-Edwin Latoja 187, Men Class B-Lloyd Fernandes 168, Ladies Class A-Blanca Mercado 172 and Ladies Class B-Emma Gatus 163. TheTeam Awards winners are as follows, Trio High Series (scratch + handicap)-Cozmo 1 (Ayad Al Amiri, Aga Cuadrazal, Maricar Ruben) 722, Doubles High Series (Scratch + Handicap)-Cozmo 2 (Ronnel Valencia, Romulo Surema) and Western Union (Jane Nance, Tito Tamayo) 470, Team High Game (scratch)-World Class 1020 and Team High Series (scratch + handicap)-Xpress Rollers 3003.

Back to the 4-game series desperado round, the 8 teams who traded strikes and spares for the last 2 seats to the finals were Emirates Airlines, Frost Real Estate, Western Union Money Transfer, Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait, D’ Islanders, Swooping Eagles, Megaworld and BOSE. With all the teams rolling off cautiously in game one, D’ Islanders (930) paced by Danny Doctor and Bert Pantanilla took a slim 6-pin lead over the Jessica Balagat, Alonzo Bush and Dan Montano led Swooping Eagles (924). Close behind in third and fourth places were Al Ahli Bank (922) and Megaworld (916) followed by BOSE, Western Union, Frost Real Estate and Emirates Airlines in that order.

After a 902 score in game two, D’ Islanders (1,832) hanged on to the lead followed now by the bankers of Al Ahli with 1,828 pin falls. Emirates Airlines (1,796) moved up to third by garnering a 927 even as Megaworld (1,791) remained in fourth. In the crucial penultimate game, Al Ahli Bank (2,738) shot to the lead through a 910 score courtesy of Farid Gabriel, Mona Sadeq and Fadel Al Qassem. The favored flying keglers of Emirates Airlines (2694) also climbed one place up to second and joining the two front runners were Frost Real Estate (2693) and the sound masters of BOSE (2645). With just one game left to bowl, the rest of the field checked in as follows, Swooping Eagles-2643, D’ Islanders-2641, Western Union-2639 and Megaworld-2600. Midway in the deciding game, Al Ahli Bank looked set to snatch the first finals berth at stake as Farid Gabriel and Fadel Qassem continue to carry the scoring load for the bankers.

And as the other contenders were scrambling for the other seat to the next round, the property magnates of Megaworld bannered by Mandy Manalo, George Bouchebel, Rene Marzan, Jess de Vera and Jheng Liwayway was slowly but surely making its way from last position to within striking distance of Frost Real Estate and Emirates Airlines. At the end of the exciting and tightly contested game four, Al Ahli Bank who collected a total score of 3,653 pin falls took the first finals slot at stake with Megaworld taking the remaining slot after successfully completing its remarkable comeback and coming up with a 3,642 4-game tally. The rest of the field finished as follows, Frost Real estate-3579, BOSE-3559, Swooping Eagles-3538, Emirates Airlines-3532, D’ Islanders-3521 and Western Union-3511.