JEDDAH, 27 February 2008 — After a two-year hiatus the Saudi Bowling Districts Championship will be back in the local sports scene with Riyadh-based defending champion Badr Al-Sheikh to defend his title in the tournament March 8 to 13 at the Al-Gosaibi Hotel Bowling Center in Alkhobar.

The FIQ-style tournament features competition in the singles, doubles, trios, team of five and Masters among the best bowlers from the four districts of Makkah Province, Assir, Eastern Province and Riyadh.

Brothers Faisal and Fahad Al-Juraifani banner a Makkah Province squad that also includes Faisal Al-Sugati, Naif Bakhet and Majid Aslani.

Badr is teaming up with younger brother Hassan at the vanguard of the Riyadh challenge. Ahmed Al-Hithiyyan, Yasser Abureish, Fahad Al-Hujailan and Rashid Al-Farraj are the other members of the team. Prince Abdulhakeem ibn Mosaed and Prince Mohammed ibn Sultan ibn Saud are the reserve players.

Saeed Al-Zahrani, Gablan Al-Qahtani, Ali Al-Wadi, Abdulrahman Al-Zahrani, Adil Al-Bargi and Adnan Daabas comprise the Assir team.

Prizes up for grabs are SR24, 000 for the first place, SR18,00 for second, SR12,00 for third and SR6,00 for fourth. The top prize will go to the team with the highest number of golds in the medal tally. The countback in silver medals won will be applied to break the tie for golds, and if a tie still persists the count goes further back to the bronze.

The top 12 bowlers after 24 games will advance to the Masters semifinal where they play a further 12 games to determine the stepladder finalists.

Aslani said Makkah team had been training with the Saudi national team coach. “The enthusiasm is overwhelming and the team have shown great excitement during training and, of course, we wish the best to all.”

Fahad, 17, son of Saudi Bowling Federation President Ibrahim Al-Juraifani, said Riyadh is the team to beat.

“Riyadh and Eastern Province have the best players but we hope we could win this time,” said Fahad. He said they enjoy the edge from being trained by the national team coach and playing the competition lanes oiled in a similar way as the ones they train on. The presence of Faisal Al-Sugati would be a plus factor, he added.

For his part, Bader, 20, who reached the quarterfinals at the 2007 World Tenpin Masters and said, “We will start training this week and looking forward to defend our title. It won’t be easy though and we believe the Eastern Province will be a tough competitor.”