KUWAIT CITY, September 16: In a week where most of the pace setters went down in defeat, league leader Federation stood tall by keeping the lead after routing Fire Fly in one of the fourth week featured match at the on-going 2011 Indian Bowling League Tournament held at the Cozmo, Salmiya. The Federation, Bowling Stones and the Spare Us on the other clinched impressive wins with No Strikes !! and Whiplash also chalking up victories of their own. The fourth week results saw the Federation and the time masters West End Watches Co. taking the first and second places with Spare Us and Whiplash hanging on to their seat in the Top 4. While the television camera’s kept rolling IBL were on the air on live tv for the first time.

Awakened by their loss to underdog Solo Sorisso last week, the all-Indian of No Strikes !! gave the Street Bowlers crew a hint of what is in store for them. Street Bowlers considered as an offshoot team of the Bowligans in Season 1, they are slowly but surely breaking away from that identity after dishing out tenacious performance that enabled them to retain the lead. Totally not in the mood to show some mercy the Street Bowlers bannered by the dynamic duo of Julian D’Silva and Shirley Castellino once again clobbered their beleaguered nemesis 758-711 in game one and Shirley Castellino winning the weeks ladies high game. No Strikes !! did some fine tune up in Game two Joel Fernandes, Max Gomes, Ulysses Menezes & Fatima Sequeira then helped put the icing on the Street Bowlers 752-659. Finally No Strikes !! win by total pinfall after losing the Game 3 to Street Bowlers 755-779. Street Bowlers were bannered by Amaldo Fernandes, Julian D’Silva, Celine Fernandes, Dominc Jerry Picardo & Floyd Denver Suares.

Whiplash on the other hand improved their position on the leader board by coming back from a game down to beat Pin Pointers 2435-2182. In game one where both teams struggled to find their marks, Whiplash with Aga Cuadrazal, Edwin De Mesa, Rico Baluyot, Aldin Avila & Vernie Villaruel emerged a winner due to the absentee in Pin Pointers. In search of a winning combination, the Pin Pointers opted kept the same lineup in the next game and with addition of Rudy Delima this didn’t pay off either as they ended up with a 665-826 defeat. Ahead on pinfalls after two games, Whiplash booked the final match clinching all three games. Pin Pointers were lead by Alfred Avila, Joe Presenta, Lito Michael, Rocky Castil & Rudy Delima.

Meanwhile, a much strong team at the Greenie Level has begun to rise up Petro Link who finally found their winning rhythm edged the Alleygators 727-633 in game one.The Alleygators quartet of Samantha Fernandes, Rohan Fernandes, Jason D’Souza & Jafar Soleiman scored 681-763 in game two only to lose to a more powerful and experienced bowlers who were fueled by Farid Gabriel, Mishari Fadley, Mohannad Ebrahim, Abdullah Khalid & Abdul Aziz Aslawi. Petro Link were totally gased up and took control of the entire three games heading a easy victory 2351-1913 against Alleygators.

The tenpin strikers of Spare Us masterfully eked out a 2280-2229 decision over Al Qwassem. In the nip and tuck opening game, Anthony King, Brian Fernandes, Colin Costa & Anisley lifted Spare Us to a close 714-684 win in game one. Al Qwassem with more years of experience and mileage couldn’t match up Spare Us as the underdogs whizzed past through them in yet another victory in Game two 773-724. Al Qwassem manned by Ali Boulishi, Fadel Qwassem, Fahad Abul & Fahad Rughaib finally braced themselves for a possible tit for tat affair in game three and won 821-793 and winning bonus points for crossing 800 but unfortunately lost on the overall pinfalls. Bowling for Spare Us in this match were Adrian Noronha, Anthony King, Bala Subramanyam, Brian Fernandes, Colin Costa, Valentine Gonsalves & Anisley Jeremiah.

Up against the Time Keepers West End Watches Co., Kegler Strikers took off without any delay and crash landed with 766-774 loss. Looking for the emergency exit Kegler Strikers came close in Game 2 with 679-709 loss against the time masters of Ahmad Sultan, Mousa Abdullah, Rudolph Castelino & Caloy Garay. Despite the two game loss Kegler Strikers once again in full throttle they managed to garner a total pinfall of 842-788 finally finding their road to victory by winning the bonus point and the overall pinfalls against the Time Masters. Kegler Strikers are Al Belarmino, Aqeel Al Farisy, Bobby Ferrera, Ed Mendoza, Jr Sabado & Jane Nance.

Meanwhile, Solo Sorriso (Just Smile) finally making their way to the sixth position at intermediate group got their turn at the top of the leader board after successfully turning back the fast improving iBowl 2299-2038. With Kamran Shaikh, Xavier Mascarenhas, Ramona Soares, Cleona D’Souza & Roy manning the lanes, iBowl gave Solo Sorriso a big scare in game one but lost is due to less experience. However, the seasoned bowlers of Solo Sorriso wasted no time in taking the lead with their own 749-675 victory in game two and then went on to win the match by compiling another convincing 794-682 victory in game three. Responsible for Solo Sorriso meteoric rise to the top of the standings were Abdullah Behbehani, Mohammed Al-Rashed, Ibrahim Al-Jaddi, Nawaf Al-Hassan, Yousef Al-Huraibi & Hamoud Al-Rashed.

The spicy pin busters of the Bowling stones who are fast rising and ready to stay in the Intermediate group stopped Amaya dead in their tracks with a 2210-2132 win. In the opening game, Bowling Stones stopped the season bowlers with a 734-673 victory. Amaya fielding another team combination on the next game composed of Loukmaan King, Marj Mercado, Blanca Mercado & Lito Mercado, Amaya came close to a win but lost by 3 pins difference from their rivals 692-695. Bowling Stones stepping back into the lanes for the final game of the match, completed their annihilation of the Amaya with an 781-746 beating in game three. Bowling Stones crew of Branden Pinto, Conrad Pinto, Leandro Rodrigues, Leroy Rodrigues & Raoul Pinto went home with smiles on their faces.

By sneaking past the league’s last week’s leaders, the Federation also found their way back on top dominating the championship group. Expecting a tough match ahead against Fire Fly, the Federation fielded a well balanced lineup with Andrew Frawley, Moustafa Mousawi, Paul Delany & Salem Hajras that responded well with a 869-750 win in game one. Fire Fly then made changes in their roster and this slightly favored them even with a 277 game from Nourie Amiri fetching the weeks high game but losing the game to Federation with 777-806. Out to win and leaving nothing to ensure it, the Federation put their top keglers on the frontline for the third and final game of the match and just as expected, this move resulted in a convincing 846-751 victory also winning the weeks High Series 2528-2278. Manning the post for Fire Fly were Lee Mills, Nourie Amiri, Abdurahman Swaydeh, Saleh Khalid & Jassim Darwish.

The team standings after three weeks are as follows (read as rank, team name and total points) Championship Group 1. Federation Bowlers.- 135, 2. West End Watches Co. - 110, 3. Spare Us - 85, 4. Whiplash - 80, Intermediate Group 5. Al Qwassem - 80, 6. Solo Sorisso - 80, 7. Fire Fly - 60, 8. Street Bowlers – 60, 9. Kegler Strikers – 55 Greenie Group 10. No Strikes!! – 50, 11. Bowling Stones – 50, 12. Petrolink – 45, 13. Amaya – 35, 14. Alleygatorz – 20, 15. Pin Pointers – 10, 16. I Bowl – 10.

Weekly High Team Series was taken by Federation Bowlers with 2528. The Weekly Men’s High game was captured by Nouri Amiri of Fire Fly with a 277 game. The Weekly Women’s High Game was delivered by Shirley Castellino with a score of 214. Cash prizes for the weekly winner’s was sponsored by AMMAN BHEL PURI - RESTAURANT – SALMIYA.

The matches of the Indian Bowling League are held every Friday at 1.30pm at the Cozmo Bowling Center located at the Salmiya City Center.