KUWAIT CITY, June 15: Bowling in a totally different and tricky lane condition, Striking Force king pin Edwin de Mesa was made to dig deep into his tenpin arsenal before clinching the Men’s Division Class A singles title of the on-going 2011 Indian Bowling League (IBL) Tenpin Bowling Tournament being held at the 300 Club Bowling Center in Bneid Al Ghar. In the mixed doubles event, the favored tandem of Yousef Al-Huraibi and Aisha Cabanero who are both familiar with the lane condition had no trouble bagging the doubles crown in convincing fashion.

Suiting up for the Men Class A 9-games series Singles Event were Nelson D’ Souza, Jassem Al Khandari, Jason D’ Souza, Ulysses Menesses, Yousef Al Huraibi, Jun Domingo, Colin Costa, Salem Al Saif, Hamoud Al Rashed, Brian Fernandes, Cris Bulacja, Bala Subramanyam, Khalil Al Salim, Edwin de Mesa and Mohammad Al Rashed. Just Smile stalwart Hamoud Al Rashed (323) who bowled opening games of 156 and 167 took a slim lead over teammate Mohammed Al Rashed (316) after the first two games of the competition. Also in the lead pack just one mark behind were Jason D’ Souza (3130 and Brian Fernandes (310). On the next 2-game block, Yousef Al Huraibi grabbed the upper hand by rolling in 159 and 170 that brought his 4-game tally to 635 pin falls. At this point, just 4 pins down in second was Mohammed Al Rashed (631) likewise followed closely by Brian Fernandes with 628 pin falls.

Like a roller coaster ride, the lead changed hands once more as Edwin de Mesa (790) took over the top spot as he submitted a 182 in game 5. On the next game Yousef Al Huraibi took his turn at the driver’s seat and stayed on it going to the penultimate game. With two more games left, Yousef Al Huraibi towed the field with 1112 pin falls to his name followed by Edwin de Mesa-1069, Brian Fernandes-1064 and Hamoud Al Rashed-1039. In the penultimate game, Edwin outscored Yousef 168-124 to take a single pin advantage 1237-1236 going to the final game of the event. And with only a game left, the remaining title contenders were Hamoud Al Rashed-1194, Brian Fernandes-1191 and Mohammed Al Rashed-1176. By finishing with a 157 and total 9-game series score of 1394 pin falls, Edwin de Mesa emerged with the title tucked under his belt nipping Yousef Al Huraibi (1390) who settled for the first runner up post followed down the wire by the second runner up holder Hamoud Al Rashed who carded 1364 pin falls.

Moving on to the mixed doubles event where each member of the doubles team bowled 6 games to determine the final ranking, Celine and Amaldo Fernandes were the early front runners after garnering a total scratch plus handicap score of 392 pin falls in game one of the 6-game series event. Also up on the leader board was the pair Valentine Gonsalves and Muriel Fernandes with 391 followed by Samantha Fernandes and Anastasius Menesses who carded 336. In game two Celine and Amaldo retained the top spot through their combined score of 668 pin falls while moving into contention now was Yousef Al Huraibi and Aisha Cabanero who took over second place with 616 followed in third by Colin Costa and Monali Jeremiah with 610.

Even as Celine and Amaldo (947) were able to hang on to the lead after another game, Aisha and Yousef (926) were dangerously close at this stage knowing that these two bowlers knew the lanes like the palm of their hands. As expected the leader board supremacy was snatched away by the partnership of Aisha and Yousef in game four where they bowled 149 and 172 respectively to bring their 4-game tally to 1247 pin falls. Climbing up to second spot with 1186 was the duo of Ramona Soares and Marvin D’ Souza with the fading tandem of Celine and Amaldo (1182) skidding down to third. As the favored partnership of Aisha and Yousef started to pull away, the rest of field was left to battle it out for the two runners up positions. At the end of the 6-game series mixed doubles event, Aisha Cabanero and Yousef Al Huraibi took home the title after compiling a total score of 1832 pin falls and grabbing the first and second runner positions were the tandems of Ramona Soares/Marvin D’ Souza (1737) and Sarel de Leon/Mohammed Al Rashed (1732).