Falah, Nadia crowned champions in HH Shaikh Khalid bowling

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s two most decorated international bowling stars, Yousef Falah and Nadia Al Awadhi were last night crowned men’s and women’s champions, respectively, in the His Highness Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa First Bowling Championship.

Falah won the men’s title while Nadia claimed the women’s crown.

Both players needed two games in the final match-up of their respective step-ladder contests to secure their championships.

In the men’s division, Falah finished the 10-bowler semi-finals as the second seed to be among the five who moved on to the step-ladder.

Mohammed Darwish from the UAE was the top seed, while third through fifth were Ahmed Al Mehri, also from the UAE, Abdulrahman Alkheliwi from Saudi Arabia, and Ahmed Al Khaja.

The first step saw Al Khaja claim the win after playing a 234 game.

Alkheliwi scored 192 while Al Mehri had a 173 outing.

Al Khaja earned the right to move on to the next step to face Falah, who then narrowly claimed their head-to-head 213-205.

That set up the title-deciding match-up against a waiting Darwish, who had a twice-to-beat advantage.

Falah claimed the first game 213-191 to force the winner-take-all affair, which he eventually claimed 193-160 to secure the men’s title.

Meanwhile, Nadia finished as the top seed following the women’s eight-bowler semi-finals and was joined in the step-ladder by Noora Sultan, Jaezen Plata from the Philippines, Hind Al Hammadi from the UAE and Reem Sultan.

Jaezen was the winner in the opening step with a 211 game, beating Hind’s 172 scores and Reem’s 154.

Jaezen moved on to face Noora, who won their match-up 199-153 to set up a date in the final against a waiting Nadia, who also had a twice-to beat advantage.

Noora put up a strong fight in the final and was able to force a second game after eking out the first by just a single pin, 194-193.

But Nadia was able to bounce back and eventually claimed her crown with a 184-142 triumph in the women’s title-clincher.

Falah and Nadia joined seniors’ division winner Prince Mohammed bin Sultan bin Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi as the champions of the tournament.