KUWAIT CITY, Oct. 25: At the just concluded finals of the 2011 Cozmo Singles Challenge Bowling Tournament held at the Cosmo Bowling Center in Salmiya, multi-titled and veteran Kuwaiti tenpin kegler Yaqoub Al-Shatti added another feather to his cap as he subdued the fast rising Khalid Abdullah in the championship match of the Group 1 step ladder finals. In Group 2, Mahdi Boushary another top finalist bagged the title as he turned back Abdullah Behbehani in the second game of the final match.
Going back to the qualifying round, the Top 4 at the end of the round automatically advanced to Step 2 of the finals while bowlers from position 5 to 20 went on to bowl in the 8-game series Step 1 where the Top 8 joined the Top 4 qualifiers in Step 2. The participants then again bowled another set of 8 games to determine the Top 6 who vied for the title via the step ladder finals. Earning their Step1 berths after the qualifying round in Group 1 were Abdulatef Al Omairi, Yaqoub Al Shatti, Ayad Al Amiri and Aseel Al Roomi while the 16 bowlers who vied for the 8 Step 2 slots at stake were Nelson D’Souza, Rudy Zablan, Yousef Al Tabtabai, Aqeel Farisy, Fadel Qassem, Ali Boloushi, Mohammad Ashour, Mike Garcia, Farid Gabriel, Saleh Khaled, Abdullah Khalid, Joe White, Noel Bejar, Fahad Abul and Edwin de Mesa and Fahad Ragheeb.
After the first four games of Step 1, Noel Bejar was the leader with a 4-game series score of 913 pin falls, more than four marks behind was Joe White with 868 pin falls followed by Fahad Ragheeb-860, Saleh Khaled-856, Farid Gabriel-849, Edwin de Mesa-845, Abdullah Khalid-841 and Mohammad Ashour-806. With his line scores of 217, 185, 259 and 255 in the remaining four games, Khalid Abdullah emerged on top of Step 1 field with 1757 pin falls. Also advancing to the next stage were Fahad Ragheeb-1728, Noel Bejar-1676, Joe White-1635, Fahad Abul-1562, Edwin de Mesa-1557, Saleh Khaled-1552 and Farid Gabrielwho nipped Mike Garcia for the last slot 1548-1540.

In Step 2, Farid Gabriel was the early front runner after 2 games with a scratch plus total handicap score of 494. Saleh Khaled came in next with 484 pin falls towing Fahad Ragheeb (459) and Abdullah Khalid (455). Halfway through, Saleh Khaled (906) grabbed the upper hand followed now by Yaqoub Al Shatti (886) who rolled a scintillating 288 in game 3. In contention for the remaining seats to the finals going to the next 4 games were Fahad Ragheeb-875, Farid Gabriel-838, Aseel Al roomi-826 and Joe White-823. Saleh Khaled (1310) held on to the top after another 2 games and as the field prepared for the deciding 2 games, still in the hunt for a finals berth were Fahad Ragheeb-1292, Abdullah Khalid-1286, Yaqoub Al Shatti-1285, Aseel Al Roomi-1259, Joe White-1232 and Ayad Al Amiri-1212. Through his closing games of 216 and 234, Yaqoub Al Shatti (1735) was able to secure the twice to beat top finalist post taking with him the rest of the finalists namely Ayad Al Amiri-1713, Abdullah Khalid-1710, Aseel Al Roomi-1695, Joe White-1690 and Saleh Khalid-1671.
The first match of the finals saw Saleh Khaled (224) issuing the exit pass to Aseel Al Roomi (195) and Joe White (193) but unfortunately the situation was reversed in the next match as Abdullah Khalid showed Saleh Khaled the way out with a 247-171 rout. The next match turned into a low scoring affair as both bowlers missed their marks. Getting the better opportunities, Abdullah Khalid advanced to the championship match after beating Ayad Al Amiri 167-135. In the final match, a sizzling hot Yaqoub Al Shatti put an end to Abdullah Khalid’s advance with a title winning 235-165 win.

Moving on to Group 2 the automatic qualifiers to Step 2 of the finals were Mahdi Boushary, Ibrahim Al Bubayan, Abdulsalam Darwish and Hanadi Mezaeil. The Step 1 competitors on the other hand were, Rommel Genciana, Tony Davis, Sonia Mathews, Ulyses Menezes, Mohammad Malallah, Bong Autida, Nawaf Hassan, Josie Ilarina, Abdullah Behbehani, Nayef Selaili, Jane nance, Nasha king, Pilar Villanueva, Janet Shaikh, Bashar Malallah and Mohammad Yousif. The top 8 after the first 4 games of Step 1 were Bashar Malallah-866, Nasha King-793, Josie Ilarina-786, Pilar Villanueva-785, Mohammad Bashar-782, Jane Nance-777, Sonia Mathews-769 and Mohammad Malallah-767. Like a dynamite, Mohammad Yousif exploded in the remaining 4 games of the series drilling in scores of 247, 223, 233 and 200 to emerge on top of table with 1685 pin falls and marching on to Step 2 were Bashar Malallah-1629, Janet Shaikh-1588, Pilar Villanueva-1503, Nasha King-1487, Jane nance-1479, Nayef Selaili-1479 and Abdullah Behbehani-1454.

Setting the pace after the first two games of Step 2 was Jane Nance who carded a total score of 471 pin falls and chasing the front runner were Ibrahim Dubayan-435, Bashar Malallah-428, Mahdi Boushary-408, Abdulsalam Darwish-400 and Pilar Villanueva-399. A 213 and 198 in games 3 and 4 helped Jane Nance (882) retain the pole position while hounding her at this juncture was Mahdi Boushary whose 254 and 200 lifted his total 4-game series score to 862 pin falls.In games 5 and 6 the performance level of the leading contenders nose-dived allowing the rest of the field to remain in contention with still 2 games left to bowl. Going to the penultimate game, Jane Nance (1183) was still in command followed by Mahdi Boushary-1182, Bashar Malallah-1166, Abdulsalam darwish-1154, Janet Shaikh-1154, Mohammad Yousif-1150, Abdullah Behbehani-1149 and Ibrahim Al Dubayan-1147. As the dust of the stiff competition settled down, Mahdi Ibrahim emerged at the driver’s seat with 1593 pin falls to his credit. Likewise earning their tickets to the finals were Abdullah Behbehani-1534, Ibrahim Al Dubayan-1529, Abdulsalam Darwish-1514, Jane Nance-1504 and Hanadi Mezaeil-1501.

In final round opener, Jane Nance (227) knocked out Abdulsalam Darwish (219) and Hanadi Mezaeil (135) to move up to the next step of the ladder. In the next match, the sizzling hot Ibrahim Al Dubayan bowled like a house on fire to turn back Jane Nance with a hitch 244-160. Unfortunately, Ibrahim Al Dubayan’s momentum failed to take him past the waiting Abdullah Behbehani who sidelined him with a 215-177 beating. Abdullah Behbehani extended the championship match by brushing aside the top ranked Mahdi Boushary in the first game 197-192. The two young Kuwaiti pin masters remained glued to each other in the deciding game but somehow, Mahdi Boushary was able to break away from his tough rival in the closing frames and clinched the title with a tenacious 249-212 shellacking of Abdullah Behbehani.