Al Hassan, Hannan retain top position

UAE's Shaker Ali Al Hassan and Britain's Samantha Hannan maintained their stranglehold on the leaderboard after day eight of 3rd Dubai International Bowling Tournament being held at the Dubai Bowling Club at Al Mamzar.

Al Hassan remained at the top in the Open competition rolling series of 688, 722 and 760 to keep clear of Jordan Evan from the Philippines and compatriots Ali Ahmed Al Saffar and Hussain Al Suwaidi.

Bahrain's Yousuf Falah was the only new face jostling at the top with series of 713, 720 and 706 to place himself in fifth, while the UAE’s Mahmoud Al Attar improved to seventh from his overnight 10th.

Syed Ibrahim Al Hashemi, Hareb Al Mansoori and former UAE coach Patrick Healy took the next three positions.

In the Under-23 competition, Hannan improved her average from 224.56 overnight to 234.11 with recorded series of 713, 682 and 712 to lead for an eighth straight day.

Sultan Al Qubaisi was in second place with series rolls of 668, 670 and 632, while Abdullah Nabil Marzouk kept his third position with scores of 632, 676 and 604.

The qualifying rounds of the competition will continue this week with the second round of the Open competition featuring the top 26 finishers including two UAE locals being held on February 24. The third round will be held the same evening for the best 20 bowlers while the field will scale down to the top ten bowlers in round four.

There is a total prize fund of Dh300,000 for both categories besides the event being a ranking tournament on the Asian Bowling Federation(ABF) calendar towards World Ranking Masters Final organized by the WorldTen-Pin Bowling Association (WTPBA). It is organised by the UAE Bowling Association with the support of the Dubai Sports Council (DSC).

Earlier, Hessa Al Kous, Head Of events department at DSC, awarded the best players in the previous day of the tournament.

The tournament is sponsored by SuperPrice Rent A Car, MarsDigital Printing, French Bakery, Grand Service Station, La Marquise Coffee andGrand Capital.

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