28th September, Kuwait: Hong Kong, China national, Tony Wong shot the first perfect game in Squad 55 of the 14th Kuwait International Open 2023 to take over pole position in the Open qualifying standings on Thursday.
Wong got off to a cracking start rolling 268 in his opening game of the 5-game qualifying round and followed it up with another superb 247. The Hong Kong, China national set the lanes ablazed with 12 consecutive strikes for the first 300.
The pace-setter ended the squad with 212 and 202 to become the first bowler to surpass the 1,200-mark with a total of 1229. Wong's first attempt on Wednesday was a repectable 1171. Wong then made another attempt in Squad 56 with another sizzling 1203 series to take his three best 5-game series to 3603.
Overnight leader for several days, Aseel Alroomi of Kuwait slipped down to second with 3444 while another Kuwaiti national and two-hander, Mohammad Abdullah surged into third spot with 3426.
Tony Wong shooting the first 300 en-route to taking over pole position
Mostafa Almousawi of Kuwait also slipped one spot down to fourth with 3406 while Wong's compatriot, Keith Mark completed the top 5 with 3377. Early qualifier, Thomas Laren of Denmark dropped to sixth position with 3375.
Abdulrahman Al Khelewi of Saudi Arabia, who was the second bowler to surpass the 1,200-mark with 1213 in Squad 49 finished seventh position with 3365. Eighth position is reserved for the top Kuwaiti qualifier outside the top bracket. The top 8 will skip two rounds of finals and automatically qualify for Round 3.
Two-handed Swede, William Svenson shot the highest 1,200 series with 1248 to head the second bracket with 3360, just 5 pins short. A third Hong Kong national, Wu Siu Hong took tenth position with 3327. Qualifiers positioned 9 to 16 will skip Round 1 finals and qualify for Round 2.
Kuwaiti national bowler, Mohammed Khalid headed the third bracket with 3236. Other Hong Kong nationals in the standings are Michael Mak in 19th position and Eric Tseng in 20th position.
Not yet in the cut are Ivan Tse in 34th and Alex Yu in 36th positions. Qualifiers positioned 17 to 28 will qualify for Round 1 finals. The cut at 28th position is currently held by Obaid l Saadi of UAE with 3101, just 100 over.
Team Hong Kong at the Kuwait Bowling Sporting Club in their qualifying rounds
Positions 29 and 30 are reserved for Kuwaitis outside the Top 28 qualifiers and positions 31 and 32 are for the top 2 from the one-game Desperado Squad to be held after the lat qualifying squad on September 30.
Hong Kong Team will be participating in the 2023 IBF World Bowling Championships commencing next week and they are assisted by coaches Francois Louw and David Haynes.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Kuwait.
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