JM Villanueva shone brightest in Group A of the qualifying round on Saturday at the 2019 edition of The Godfathers Tournament being held at Funland Centre.
The Filipino registered the daily high score of 716 pins among elite bowlers to climb to fourth place on the standings following his outing.
Also sharing the day’s honours were Shaker Daraj and Layla Janahi who emerged the daily high scorers in their respective groups.
Daraj led all scorers amongst the intermediate bowlers of Group B after rolling a 666 series, while Janahi posted a 571 series to top the day’s participants in Group C, featuring beginning bowlers.
Only three days remain in the qualification stage and the participating bowlers are feverishly jostling for position as they look to make it through to the ensuing rounds of this competition which is being held in memory of the late Murtadha Qudrat Rasti and the late Shaikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa.
Villanueva’s 716 series was his second-best of the tournament. It added to his two other top scores of 723 and 658, giving him a 233.0 average and 2,097 total.
Bahrain’s Fawaz Abdulla continued to lead with a 239.7 average and 2,157 total. Abdulla Abdulkarim followed in second with marks of 238.6 ad 2,147, while Dante Tisdom of the USA ranked third with a 236.4 average and 2,128 aggregate.
Classified right ahead of Villanueva was countryman Emerson Gotencio, while behind him from sixth through 12th, respectively, were Yousef Falah, Mohammed Almannai, Ahmed Fareed, Ahmed Almalki, Abdullah Aldulaijan, Ahmed Algaoud and Ahmed Alkhaja.
In Group B, Daraj’s 666 score was his best of the competition. His two other top series were 663 and 650, bringing his average to 219.9 pins per game from a 1,979 total. He improved to seventh place on the division standings.
Mustafa Qaed stayed in first place with a 230.7 average ad 2,076 total, while Ali Abdulla was second with a 225.7 pins-per-game count and a 2,031 aggregate. Abdulrahman Alali was third on marks of 224.0 and 2,106.
Fourth to sixth were Mohammed Mahmoud, Essa Taqi and Abdulla Almurbati; while completing the top 12 were Patrick Toney, Siddiq Siddiq, Mohammed Alansari, Tin-Tin Cruz and Arnold Garcia.
In Group C, Janahi’s 571 score helped her climb to second place on the standings after she raised her average to 187.4 with a 1,687 total. Her series was her best so far, going with her other top scores of 570 and 546.
She continued to be ranked behind leader Hisham Mohammed who boasts a 196.3 average and 1,767 total. In third place was Leah Siruno from the Philippines with a 184.3 average and 1,659 aggregate.
Fourth through sixth were Maricel Sultan, Ahmed Refacs and American AJ Edwards; while rounding out the leading 12 in qualifying from their group were Joses Garcia, Ali Mahmoud, Albert Barrozo, Ahmed Alansari, Khalid Al Qaed and Cora Jabile.
Competing
There are also a number of women players from Saudi Arabia competing in the group, including Wessam Alharbi, Shomool Alharbi, Yasa Alboulushi and Nahla Adas.
The qualification round continues at Funland each night until Wednesday, May 29. At the end of this stage, the first and second from each group advance directly to Round Three, while those ranked third through 12th move on to Round Two. These stages will be played on May 30 and 31, along with the ensuing Step-ladder Final round.
A total of BD4,400 in prizes is up for grabs in the tournament, with BD1,000 going to the overall champion. Cash prizes will also be awarded to those finishing in the top 18, as well as the first scorer of a perfect game.
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