30th September, Kuwait: Hong Kong, China nationals ruled the qualifying rounds of the 14th Kuwait International Open 2023 after Keith Mark and Ivan Tse joined leader, Tony Wong in the top bracket of the qualifying standings in third and fifth positions.

Wong, who had topped the standings on his first day of qualifying rounds on September 28 with a 15-game tally of 3603, remained firmly in the lead on the final day of qualifying. Mark notched up a total of 3523 to move into third spot behind Sweden's William Svenson in second.

Tse leapfrog into fifth position in the standings with 3495 ahead of top Colombian, Manuel Otalora occupying sixth position with 3488.

The top 6 including seventh position reserved for top Kuwaiti qualifier not in the top 7 and eighth position resered for the top Kuwaiti youth qualifier, will earn two byes and advance sutomatically into Round 3 Finals.

A fourth Hong Kong, China national, Michael Mak made the cut in tenth position with 3478 behind overnight leader, Abdulrahman Al Khelewi of Saudi Arabia, who headed the second bracket with 3479. With early leader, Aseel Alroomi of Kuwait taking up 7th eventuall, it could move a fifth Hong Kong national, Eric Tseng into the second bracket.

Qualifiers position 9 to 16 will earn one bye and automatically advance to Round 2 Finals. A sixth Hong Kong national and 2012 second runner-up, Wu Siu Hong has taken up 27th position with 3331 and will contest Round 1 Finals if there are no qualifiers pushing him out in the final squad at press time.

They will contest the 5-game Round 1 Finals tomorrow. The top 8 finishers will be joined by qualifiers from the second bracket for another 5 games Round 2 Finals.

Live video streaming of the Class A Stepladder finals and the three rounds of finals of the Open division are also featured. Live scores for all lanes are available, thanks to QubicaAMF Online Scoring System.