Pongky Strikers demolish Group 2 rivals to win champ’ship trophy

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Ebonite, Asian Air Safari and COZMO semifinals Top 3

KUWAIT CITY, July 12: At the start of the first week team championship finals of the Philippine Bowling Association in Kuwait-2018 Friendship Cup Team Tournament held at COZMO Entertainment Bowling Center Khaifan Branch, the teams vying for the championship as per ranking after the elimination round were: Ebonite, The Detonators, Haribon Slazers, Al Qwassem All Stars, Asian Air Safari and COZMO Lane Specialists.

On Friday the first week of the 2-Friday team championship finals started and the first three games were played by the top 6 teams and the remaining two games will be played this Friday to determine the champion and the five runners-up of the major event. After the five games, teams will be ranked based on total points gathered and will be named the league champion and five runners-up. The Champion team, first and second runners-up will be receiving team trophy and cash prizes (KD 300, KD 200 and KD 100) while the third runners-up will receive KD 75 and the fourth and fifth runners-up will be receiving KD 50 each.

The elimination round top rank Ebonite team utilized their classy bowlers and suppressed their antagonists in the first three games. In the first game Ebonite easily deposed their first victim the COZMO 935-869 but rank third in the standing due to low output. In the second game, Ali Qassem, the team captain entered new underrated bowlers to support their three aces against Haribon Slazers who rank first after the first game and resulted significantly. With the score of 1,043-845 Ebonite snatched the second spot from Asian Air Safari who rank first after the second game. In the third game, Ali retained his undaunted wards and showed their championship mettle to rout the Al Qwassem All Stars 1,134-862 and grabbed the solo lead. The triumvirate of Ali Al Qassem with his 194, 235, 195 (624), Yakoub Al Shatti’s 203, 185, 222 (610) and Ayad Al Amiri 161, 170, 264 (595) piloted their team for the wins supported by Ayoub Al Shatti (364), Mohhammad Al Shatti (311), Ali Al Qattan (161) and Mohammad Karam (134).

Also winning their three games, Asian Air Safari grabbed the second highest post with Khaled Dubaiyan at the helm who delivered 185, 225, 267 (677) assisted by Aseel Al Roumi (564), Salem Hajras (538), Aqeel Al Farisy (512) and Sonia Mathews (509).

In their first game against the erstwhile top rank Detonators, it was a close fight and finished with just five pins advantage and rank second in the overall standing. In the second game against Al Qwassem All Stars with the score of 1,032-964, Air Safari snatched the top spot from Haribon and in the third game against COZMO with the score of 1,105-975 but landed in second place behind Ebonite. Challenging the top 3 contenders for the championship was a hard task for COZMO considering the lackluster performance of their players in the elimination round.

Although COZMO bowed to Ebonite 869-935 and knelt down to Asian Air Safari 975-1,105 still they registered a win over Detonators 953-839 and ended up grabbing the third spot. COZMO bowlers were Ronnel Valencia (515), Bader Malalah (495), Alex Cervantes (456), Ruben Cervantes (447), Lito Michael (379) and Noe Mahayag (113).

Undeniably, everybody inside the bowling center were surprised when Al Qwassem All Stars, one of the inimitable teams showed up with a depleted line up in the first day of the team finals. They lost all the three games against Haribon Slazers, Asian Air Safari and Ebonite but still managed to rest in fourth position. Al Qwassem 4-man team were Ibrahim Al Jadi (642), Fadel Al Qassem (546), Fahad Al Ragheeb (541) and Hassan Al Qassem (432). It was a bad performance for the formidable team the Detonators who were the number one team for nine consecutive weeks during the eliminations.

They lost two games against Asian Air Safari, COZMO and won the game against Haribon Slazers. Detonators pin busters were Mhannad Salem (560), Saleh Salem Khaled (536), Abdul Wahab Al Shatti (529), Ali Ashkanani (488) and Sliman Shaeiby (458).

Haribon Slazers won the first game against the Al Qwassem All Stars and snatched the top spot but played viciously in the second and third game against Ebonite and Detonators. Haribon Slazers were Eddie Pena (490), Rene Marzan (487), Camilo Baker (439), Mar Evangelista (420) and Joel Tizon (411).

For the remaining two games this Friday it is hard to forecast who from Ebonite and Asian Air Safari will bring home the championship trophy. Game 4 and 5 is going to be the toughest games to be played in the series to determine who will be the best between the two.

Both teams carried a 3-0 record while the other four contenders were far behind to challenge them either. Both teams of course will be full of energy, effort, enthusiasm, trust and belief that they can get the things done. Obviously, from their bowlers perspective, comparing their top 5 best players both are equally are same, the only dilemma will be who is to be in their first five.

Meanwhile, in the Group 2 (Lower 6) Pongky Strikers demolished all their rivals by sweeping the scheduled three games to take home the championship trophy with the score of 2,803. The mighty 5 were Adolfo Prena, Gener Calingasan, Mohammad Othman, Imelda Calingasan, Cathy Fernandes and Fatima Fernandes. Far second were Swooping Eagles (2604), third were “X” Strikers (2584), fourth were Pin Pals and fifth were Angelfire.

Elite Top 6 Team Finals (First Week) Standing: 1. Ebonite (3,112); Asian Air Safari (3,101); 3. COZMO Lane Specialists (2,797); 4. Al Qwassem All Stars (2,740); 5. The Detonators (2,716) and 6. Haribon Slazers (2,686).

By LA Ducabo Roche

This news has been read 8785 times!