The Sinai International Open Bowling Championship came to an end in Cairo, reports Ghada Abdel-Kader Bahraini Youssef Falah and Thai Angkana Netrviseth captured the men's and women's titles of the 14th Sinai International Open Bowling Championship for men, women anyouth singles marking Sinai Liberation Day. In April 1982 Sinai was returned to Egypt after it had been captured by Israel during the 1967 war. The championship, hosted by the Egyptian Bowling Federation (EBF) under the auspices of the president of the National Sports Council Emad Banani, was held at Cairo's International Bowling Centre in Nasr City from 23-30 April. The Sinai championship was sanctioned by the Asian Bowling Federation (ABF) and the World Ten-Pin Association (WTBA). It was conducted under the Federation International des Quilleurs (FIQ) and WTBA Rules and Regulations. This year, 100 bowlers participated from Arab, Asian, European and American bowling federations which are members in the World Tenpin Bowling Association. Participants were Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Libya, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Belgium, England, Sweden, the US, Mauritius, Austrialia and host Egypt. ABF representative Danny Santos told Al-Ahram Weekly, "We had 88 international open bowlers which is very good participation especially after Egypt is returning to its peaceful atmosphere. Bowlers are coming back to join tournaments." Falah defeated second-seed Basel Al-Anzi of Kuwait 191-181 in the stepladder men's finals match two. In the stepladder men's finals match one, Al-Anzi finished second with 232, Badin Lerdpiriyasakulkit of Thailand came third with 228 while Bahraini Mohamed Sultan ended in fourth place with 228. Badin finished third after a one-ball roll-off to break the tie. Falah topped the men's stage two final with 2501 pin-falls followed by Lerdpiriyasakulkit in second with 2388 while Sultan came third with 2350 and Al-Anzi fourth with 2346. Youssef took the title and the top prize of $12,000 while Al-Anzi pocketed $6,000. Lerdpiriyasakulkit, who finished third, took home $4,500 while Sultan came fourth, winning $3,000. Hussain Al-Suwaidi of the United Arab of Emirates finished fifth with 2321 points while Kuwaiti Jassim Darwish came in sixth place with 2317. Mahmoud Mazloum was Egypt's best finisher in sixth, the same score as Darwish. Captain of the Egyptian team Tarek Helmi said "the level of the competition was very high this year. You couldn't predict who was going to win." Philippine Jojo Canare has been coach of the Egyptian team for over a year. About the preparation of the Egyptian team, she said "We were practicing six times a week, five hours a day. "The competition is the same as last year but the problem is that our bowlers don't have much experience like the competitors we have. They need to gain more experience and compete with competitive bowlers either in international tournaments in Egypt or travelling abroad to compete everywhere." Thailand's Angkana Netrviseth defeated second-seed Hanadi Al-Muzaiel of Kuwait 224-220 in the stepladder women's finals match two. In the stepladder women's finals match one, Al-Muzaiel finished second with 231, Samantha Hannan of England came third with 225 while Egyptian Menna Sultan ended up in fourth place with 192. Netrviseth won $4,500. Al-Muzaiel finished second for $2,500 while Hannan came third and collected $1,500. Sultan took fourth, netting $1,000. "I didn't expect anything. I came here for the first time. I just tried my best," Netrviseth said. In the youth masters finals, Egyptian Amr Nour won the title with 1709 points and Eslam Eid took third with 1642. Thai Phumin klanbida came in second place with 1676. Nour has been bowling for a year and half. "It's my first time to participate in this championship. I didn't expect to win. The level of the competition was very high," smiled Nour. Meanwhile, newly crowned champion Falah won his first tour title after defeating his teammate Bahraini Masoud Sabri 217-180 in the final leg match of the ABF Tour Egypt on Tuesday at the International Bowling Centre in Cairo. In the first semi-final, Falah beat Kuwaiti Jassim Darwish 254-149. In the other semi-final, Sabri defeated Thai Yannaphon Larpapharat 191-187. The Egyptian leg was the fifth event of the 2012 ABF tour. It is the second time that the tour visited Egypt. The first was in 2010. Abdel-Hamid Gamal, head of the technical committee at EBF, said "a bowler gains ranking points from each leg he participate in and prize money from Money in the Tournament of Champions. The total prize money for the Tournament of Champions is $75,000. It is important for our bowlers to gain points." The 2012 ABF Tour consists of eight legs in Manama, Bahrain, Kuwait, Thailand, Egypt, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia in addition to, a Grand Final, the Tournament of Champions. The four legs in the Middle East are without a women's division but four other legs in East Asia have women. The next stop will be in Hong Kong on 10 June 10 after the 38th Hong Kong International Open. Each leg is comprised of four rounds and will be staged over one day. The top 16 men and 16 women bowlers from the Masters final competition of the International Open Masters Event (Open Grade) will compete in a one-game match play knock-out competition for the individual men's and women's titles. The Tournament of Champions will be staged over two competition days and will feature prize money totaling $75,000. The top 16 men and 16 women bowlers (based on ABF Tour ranking points) will qualify to compete over two rounds of competition for the coveted men's and women's ABF Tour Champion titles.
