Sarawat Superstores completed a near wire-to-wire run to the championship, beating challenger Sky Freight-TFC to win the FTBJ-ICBL 32nd Conference bowling tournament at Jeddah Lanes here.

With a twice-to-beat edge as the No. 1 finalist Sarawat never had to use up the privilege stopping Sky Freight 994-916 in the championship match.

With the win Sarawat captain Igna Salgado was fourth time lucky after being rebuffed each time by Danny Pamintuan in their head-to-head the last three times they clashed in the finals.

And Pamintuan’s team, Cristal Global? A potential Salgado-Pamintuan faceoff part 4 had been ruined when Sky Freight took out Cristal Global 1,012-963 in the third match of the stepladder finals.

Cristal was the second seeded team after No. 3 Falcon to fall to the Sky Freight rampage that began when Emy De Guzman’s charges beat out Jeddah Lanes and Hidada Ltd. in a shootout and stepladder first match among the three teams that qualified from the repechage.

Sky Freight returned 954 to Hidada’s 923 and Jeddah Lanes’ 915.

Against Falcon Sky Freight easily won at 983-930 with Goying Salazar going great guns on 214, Oca Bernabe on 193, Babes Tiongson 192, Ellen Bernabe 165 and Rene Santiago 157.

Two matches away from title-victory and with momentum on its side Sky Freight took on and won against second seed Cristal Global and this time Santiago made up for a previous so-so game with 204, Oca shot 223, Tiongson fired a second straight 192, while Ellen and Salazar tallied 172 and 159 respectively.

Three matches down and two to go for Sky Freight.

But the two Sky Freight needed to complete what looked an improbable final day surge by an underdog in this five-man team Friday afternoon league event was simply out of reach against an inspired display by Sarawat, which never relinquished the lead after taking it on the 10th week of the competition.

Salgado’s 229 and Majid Aslani’s 193 were numbers that separated the eventual champion from the challenger. Tossed in, too Paolo Allego’s 174 and the 173 by Lourdes Punzalan who finally reaped the fruit of her practice games on Saturdays, while Marie Gumpal had 155.

Salazar shot scratch game of 203 and Oca had 183 for Sky Freight which also netted 171 from Santiago, 168 from Ellen and game with handicap of 173 from Tiongson who was named Best Bowler of the day for her consistency during the stepladder finals.

Qatar Airways-FTBJ Saturday League

Meantime, the Qatar Airways-FTBJ Saturday League 48th Conference is tentatively set to open Dec. 7, according to organizers. Twelve teams have so far registered but the field could increase to 14 teams, according to organizers.

Final team standings

Sarawat Superstores champion, Sky Freight-TFC 1st runner-up, Cristal Global 2nd runner-up, Falcon 3rd runner-up, Hidada Ltd. 5th place, Jeddah Lanes 6th place; Lance & 3rdy 7th place, JM Derby 8th place, Jem Strikers 9th place, D’ Barkads 10th place.