Safawa Tech-Build bags FTBJ-ICBL 29th Conference title

Safawa Tech-Build finished off a remarkable run to the title by beating challenger Nasser Al-Hajri in the FTBJ-ICBL 29th Conference bowling tournament at Jeddah Lanes in Mossadia Plaza here.
As the No. 1 finalist Safawa had a twice-to-beat edge on Al-Hajri team that gained a crack at the eventual champion by progressing to and winning the fourth stepladder final match.
The first match, a one-game sudden death shootout among 3 teams that qualified via the repechage, was won by Al Bahjah Optical.
With 974 Al Bahjah bested Geely Cars 934 and Sadia 920.
The fourth finalist Kulisap ni Moe was up next for Bahjah and the second match ended 969-916 to Kulisap, paving the way for a matchup between the No. 4 seed and No. 3 qualifier Al Hajri.
The result went according to seedings with Hajri ousting Kulisap 1034-949 thanks to robust games of 249, 233 and 221 by Bonnie Garcia, Cris Villavelez and Randy Mata in that order.
With the victory Hajri moved up to the next match against No. 2 Hidada Contracting Ltd. Hidada entered the match with a chance to redeem itself from two failed title bids in the past.
Hajri though had other ideas, stopping Hidada 1004-933 and setting up a championship match wit Safawa.
With momentum on its side, Hajri faced the task of having to win two more games against Safawa to win the crown.
But Hajri failed to get the job done as Safawa reasserted its supremacy after it dropped the first game 937-922.
Not skipping a beat after it grabbed the lead for good during the 10th week, Safawa showed it has enough left in the tank by winning the decisive winner-take-all finale 957-936.
Bheng Cerbito’s 146 was about the only spot in Safawa’s otherwise impeccable display at the last as the best team in the league mustered 227 from Pancho Cuevas, 202 from Gail Mata, 201 from Zaldy Bacero and 181 from Danny Pamintuan.
At Hajri only Mata managed to shoot 200-game at 236. Len-Len Berina was five pins short on 195, Villavelez made 178, Garcia tallied 166 and Merlen Pamintuan, the hottest bowler on the distaff side in the last conference, added 161.
Meantime, the 30th Conference dubbed Casio Inter-Company Bowling League and sponsored by Casio, a division of Mahmood Saleh Abbar Co., will roll off July 6. For more details, please contact FTBJ Membership Director Efren San Pedro at 0506356152 or Igna Salgado, FTBJ league-tournament director.
Final team standings
Champion Safawa Tech-Build, 1st runner-up Nasser Al Hajri, 2nd runner-up Hidada Contracting Ltd., 3rd runner-up Kulisap ni Moe, 5th place Al-Bahjah Optical, 6th place Geely Cars, 7th place Sadia, 8th place Saudi Diyar Consultants, 9th place TFC-Sky Freight, 10th place Almarai Co., 11th place Muchkilla, 12th place Lance & 3rdy, 13th place Symmetry-Genesis, 14th place D’ Barkads Reloaded.