JEDDAH, 21 August 2007 — Badr Al-Alshaikh won the boys all-events gold medal yesterday and remained on course for another medal in the Masters by leading the top 16 qualifiers in the 14th Asian Youth Tenpin Bowling Championships at the Holiday Inn Lido Bowling Center in Beijing, China.
Saudi Bowling Federation President Ibrahim Al-Juraifani told Arab News in an interview from Beijing the Saudi team also took the silver medal in the four-man team event on Sunday.
The eight-day tournament that ends tomorrow attracted 118 bowlers from 19 countries namely Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, Guam, Hong Kong of China, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Macao of China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.
Wang Baoliang, president of the host Chinese Bowling Association, said the competition “is by far the largest Asian Youth Championships with so many young bowlers participating.”
Badr carded total pinfalls of 3,9004 in 18 games to win the all-events in runaway fashion. Kuwait’s Khaled Al-Dubyyan finished second with 3,790 points and Hung Kun Yi of Chinese Taipei finished third with 3,773.The massive total also gave Badr the top spot in the Masters qualifying, where the field has been cut by half to 16.
With Badr in the team that finished runner-up to champion Kuwait were his younger brother Hassan, Yousef Akbar and Faisal Al-Juraifani. They tallied 4,913 points for the silver to Kuwait’s 4,946. The Malaysian team took the bronze with 4,897. The Al-Alshaikh brothers missed out on the medals in the doubles with a score of 2,381 for fifth place. Prior to the China trip, the Saudi national bowling team under the tutelage of British coach Mario Joseph participated in the 5th Indonesia International Open, Jakarta from Aug. 1-11 as part of their training. Four players were then chosen to compete in China and they were brothers Badr and Hassan Al-Alshaikh, Akbar, and Al-Juraifani. The Saudi bowlers had been riding high since the Doha Asian Games last December, where they brought home two gold medals and two bronzes, the first in the history of Kingdom participation in Asiad bowling.
