RIYADH: As the Interbank Tenpin Bowling Tournament enters the homestretch the teams are battling each other hard to try and land a place in the magic five. This was the scene during the 19th week of the ITBR tournament being held every Tuesday night at the InterContinental Bowling lanes.
For the second week in a row, SABB Amanah EasyBuy has been dishing out excellent games against its opponents. EasyBuy claimed its fourth Team of the Week award after blanking sister team SABB Securities Ltd 370-0.
The victory installed EasyBuy as a legitimate title contender as it further reduced the gap on the top five in the team standings. Captain Francis Guron (797), Ruel Barrayoga (772), Jaffer Al Kathiri (753) and Jerry Austria (739) and Arnold Jesena (683) made up the single set of five players that clinched the win for EasyBuy.
Saudi Hollandi Bank remained solid at No. 1, blanking SABB Credit Cards 280-0. After regaining the lead the previous week SHB is expected to go all-out in a bid to complete a championship-winning season.
Defending champion Banque Saudi Fransi is closely behind leader SHB with only 14 points. Its grueling match against ANB-SAMA ended in a 2-2 draw. However, BSF took the winner’s stand (290-210) with additional 80 bonus points after beating its rival with 1-pin advantage during the second game. ANB-SAMA is stuck at fifth position.
It was not a rewarding week for PNB Unified playing bye this week when it dropped from second to fourth spot with a mere 100 win points.
Saudi Investment Bank overpowered handicap-rich SABB Premier 260-50 and landed in sixth spot. Alfredo “Pido” Villarosa grabbed Bowler of the Week honors when he shot the high series of 809. Handicap-rich Alinma Bank crushed Bank Albilad 180-50 in a grueling match.
Only three weeks are left to conclude the second round of ITBR’s 2009 Conference. It is still anybody’s ball game particularly the teams in the top 6 positions.
