BAHRAIN bagged two gold medals last night in the ninth Arab Men’s and fifth Women’s Bowling Championship 2019, being held in Cairo.
The quintet of Yousef Falah, Ahmed Rahimi, Ahmed Alqaod, Ahmed Al Khaja and Osama Abdulrahman bested six other squads to claim first place in the Men’s Teams event. Following that success, Falah secured his spot atop the final ranking in the Men’s All Events, earning him his second gold medal of the day.
Their two-medal haul brought Bahrain’s tally to six so far in the tournament, including three gold, one silver and two bronze medals. That virtually ensured their place in first place overall amongst the seven participating nations, with two days of action still remaining.
Falah claimed his third and fourth medals individually with yesterday’s results. He previously won the Men’s Doubles event paired up with Rahimi, and then also clinched the bronze in the Men’s Trios alongside Rahimi and Alqaod. On the distaff, the partnership of Noora Sultan and Nadia Al Awadhi claimed silver in the Women’s Doubles, before teaming up with Layla Janahi and Reem Sultan to win the Women’s Teams bronze medals.
Bahrain still have a chance to add to their medal tally in the Men’s and Women’s Masters, which are set to be held today and tomorrow.
Six Bahrainis have qualified for those competitions, including Falah, Al Khaja, Rahimi, Abdulrahman and Alqaod for the Men’s Masters; and Nadia for the Women’s Masters.
In yesterday’s action, the Bahrainis clinched first place after playing a combined total of 6,612 pins for a 220.4 average in their six-game series. They posted a high game of 1,141 in their fifth, and a low of 1,046 in their final outing.
Abdulrahman had the best individual marks of 1,384 and 230.67. He was followed by Al Khaja (1,371, 228.50), Rahimi (1,329, 221.50), Falah (1,302, 217.00) and Alqaod (1,226, 204.33).
The triumphant Bahrainis enjoyed a comfortable lead over runners-up Saudi Arabia, who won the silver with a 6,336 total and 211.2 average. Their team featured Hassan Al Shaiekh, Adel Al Bariqi, Ammar Tarrad, Sari Al JAzeeri, Abdulrahman Alkheliwi and Kamal Felimban. Al Bariqi and Felimban shared the duties, playing three games apiece.
Claiming the bronze medals were Kuwait with a 6,188 team total and 206.27 average. Their team included Mustafa Al Mousawi, Abullah Al Dubayan, Faisal Saleem, Soliman Al Shuaibi and Aseel Al Roomi.
Rounding out the Men’s Teams classification from fourth through seventh, respectively, were Egypt, the UAE, Oman and Iraq.
In the Men’s All Events final standings, Falah topped the 42-player field with a total of 5,357 pinfalls and a 223.21 average after adding all his performances in the championship’s Singles, Doubles, Trios and Teams competitions.
Sayed Ibrahim (5,338, 222.42) of the UAE won the silver medal while Alkheliwi (5,320, 221.67) of Saudi took home the bronze.
Joining Falah from Bahrain in the men’s top 16, thus earning a berth in the Masters, were Al Khaja (5,285, 220.21) in fifth, Rahimi (5,200, 216.67) in seventh, Abdulrahman (5,084, 211.83) in ninth and Alqaod (5,079, 211.63) in 11th. Bahrain’s last player, Abdulla Abdulkarim, (4,702, 195.92) was ranked 31st in All Events.