The Sinai bowling championship came to an end with the UAE and Egypt pinpointing the pins, reports Ghada Abdel-Kader Shaker Al-Hassan of the UAE captured the men's 12th Sinai International Open Bowling Championship while Egyptian Menna Sultan claimed the women's title after an outstanding performance in the stepladder finals held at the International Bowling Centre in Cairo. Al-Hassan defeated second-seed Adrian Ang of Malaysia 234-204 in the single game title match. Al-Hassan had immediately taken a commanding lead with five strikes in a row as Ang struggled to response. Al-Hassan's last title was back in June 2009 when he won the Singapore Open. In the first stepladder match, the third-seed Kuwaiti Mohamed Kamel defeated fourth- seed Karim Sherif of Egypt 246-203. Ang finished second after defeating Kamel 246- 210 in the second stepladder match. "The final was very hard, harder than any other day," Al-Hassan said. "At the beginning, my score was very far behind. Then, I succeeded in the last three games." It was Al-Hassan's fourth appearance in the Sinai championship. Al-Hassan took the title and the top prize of $12,000 while Ang pocketed $6,500. Kamel, who finished third, took home $3,200 while Sherif came fourth, winning $2,500. In the women's final, Sultan beat the top seed Zandra Aziela of Malaysia 278- 212. Third-seed Cassie Staundinger of Australia beat fourth-seed Shalin Zulkifli, also from Malaysia, 203-213 in the first stepladder match. Sultan defeated Staundinger 258- 236 in the second match. "I didn't expect to win today," Sultan said. "I was challenging myself and my opponents to win." Sultan, 20, has been bowling since she was seven. It was her first time to win the Sinai tournament. "It is totally different to play with world champions from Malaysia, Hong Kong and Australia. It was a very tough tournament," added Sultan, into her second year at the faculty of law. She dedicated her win to her deceased mother. "I'd also like to thank the fans who give me their support." For Aziela, who was making her fourth appearance in the Sinai Open, "I really was expecting to win but luck wasn't on my side again. My final match with Menna was really great. I thought our scores would be so close but they weren't. She snatched it but I'm happy for her." It was Staundinger's first time in Egypt. "It was a good tournament to come and play in. I hoped to have been lucky but Menna really played very well. I didn't strike enough against her." Sultan claimed the title and the $4,500 first place check that goes with it. Aziela took second place and $3,200, while Staundinger came in third place and collected $2,200. Zulkifli landed fourth, netting $1,500. Egypt's assistant coach Mahmoud Mazloum told Al-Ahram Weekly, "This year the championship was of a very high standard. We had a huge gathering of world champions from across the globe. The scores were very high, so high that the American bowler Tim Mack was unable reach the final. As for Egypt we achieved good results. Karim took fourth and Menna first place. That was a big surprise. "The Egyptian bowlers' performance drew the attention of other champions. There has been great improvement thanks to the coach Mario Joseph even though he's been with us for only a year," added Mazloum. In the men's top 16 round-robin finals, Al-Hassan came first with 3,924 points. Ang was second with 3,913 points, Kamel third with 3,893 and Sherif fourth with 3,848 points. Egypt's Ayman Hesham finished 12th with a total score of 3,727. Compatriot Tarek Helmi finished 15th with 3,588 points and teammate Karim Shahin 16th with 3,529 points. In the women's top 8 round-robin finals, Aziela finished first with 1,883 points, Sultan second with 1,839 and Zulkifli third with 1,835points. Staundinger came fourth with 1,818 points, Malaysians Wendy Chai came fifth with 1,797 and Zatil Iman sixth with 1,756, Chan Shuk Han from Hong Kong seventh with 1,513 and Amal Bakr last with 1,459 points. Meanwhile, in the final leg of the 2010 Asian Bowling Federation Tour, Qatari Mansour Al-Awami won the title after defeating Jassem Darwish of Kuwait 237-200 on Friday at the International Bowling Centre in Cairo. In the semi-final, Al-Awami defeated Egyptian bowler Mohamed El-Serafi 233- 185. Darwish defeated Shahin 235-215. In round two matches, El-Serafi defeated Wu Siu Hong from Hong Kong 220-187. Al-Awami defeated Khaled Al-Dubyyan from Kuwait 254-175. Darwish beat Egyptian Ayman Hashem 214-172. Shaheen overhauled Kuwaiti Mohamed Kamel 171-163. In round one matches, El-Serafi defeated Shaker Al-Hassan from the UAE 225-190. Wu Siu beat KuwaitiBasel Al-Anzi 224-189. Al-Dubyyan defeated Abdullah Haroon from Qatar 244-216. Al-Awami beat Qatari Yousif Al-Jaber 257-226. Hashem defeated Egyptian Karim Sherif 188-179. Darwish defeated Indian Dilbir Singh 211-155. Shahin beat Egyptian Mustafa El-Briens 161-155, and Kamel edged Egyptian Tarek Helmi 234- 211. The Egypt leg was the fourth event of the 2010 ABF tour. It marked the first time that the tour had visited Egypt. As in two of the previous three legs in 2010, only the men competed in Egypt. The sole leg featuring a men's and women's division so far was the third stop in Thailand. The fifth stop will be held 9 May in Bahrain. 2Final standings of the men's 2010 ABFT Egypt leg 1. Mansour Al-Awami, Qatar, 75 points 2. Jassem Darwish, Kuwait, 60 3. Karim Shahin, Egypt, 46 4. Mohamed El-Serafi, Egypt, 45 5. Wu Siu Hong, Hong Kong, 33 6. Khaled Al-Dubyyan, Kuwait, 32 7. Ayman Hashem, Egypt, 31 8. Mohamed Kamel, Kuwait, 30 9. Yousif Al-Jaber, Qatar, 20 10. Abdullah Haroon, Qatar, 19 11. Tarek Helmi, Egypt, 18 12. Shaker Al-Hassan, UAE, 17 13. Basel Al-Anzi, Kuwait, 16 14. Karim Sherif, Egypt, 15 15. Dilbir Singh, India, 13.5 16. Mustafa El-Briens, Egypt, 13.5
