IBowl Strike Down Fire Fly, Al Qwassem, Kegler Strikers, Kuwait Federation Bowlers, Pin Pointers, Whiplash & Spare Us gaining momentum in the final weeks.

KUWAITCITY, November 18: In a week where mostof the pace setters are under pressure leagueleader Al Qwassem stood tall by keeping the lead after routing Solo Sorisso inthe 12th week. The Time masters of West End Watches Co. got back on track andclose in at No.5 in the intermediate group. While The Kuwait Federation Bowlersmaintain their position at No.2. Pin Pointers lead in the Greenie Group. FireFly got struck down in a stunning match up with iBowl. Three weeks will decidewhich teams will lock in their respective categories.

Meanwhile,Al Qwassem the No.1 standing in the champion group who finallyplayed againstSolo Sorisso at no.4 position also in the Championship group found themselvesevenly matched. As the teams bowled toeto toe in the opening game, Al Qwassen crew of Ali Boulishi, Ayad Amiri, Fahad Abul, Fahad Rughaib & Yacoub Shatti eventually subdued Solo Sorisso magnates 820-735. The nip and tuck affair continued on the next game where Solo Sorisso pulled off a 928-822 victory. Sensing danger AlQwassem once again revamped its lineup in game three and this move earned thema decisive 882-819 win. Suiting up for Solo Sorisso (Just Smile) in this matchwere Abdullah Behbehani, Ibrahim Al Jaddi, Mohammed Al-Rashed, Nawaf Al Hassan& Hamoud Al-Rashed.

In another upset of some sort, iBowl took advantage of asurprisingly weak spot of Fire Fly witha 2142-2061 shake up to the big pinbuster team. iBowl booked a win in allthree games with a 729-685, 659-650 & 754-726. iBowl with a sudden streakof luck dished out Fire Fly with ease and went home victorious after weeks.Bowling for iBowl team were Kamran Shaikh, Xavier Mascarenhas, Ramona Soares,Sameera Shaikh & Roy Vaz. A badly beaten up Fire Fly Team disappointed forthe first time as three weeks more to qualify for the Championship Group.

Moving on to the highlights of the scheduled 12th week matches, Kegler Strikers with Al Berlarmino, Ed Mendoza,Jane Nance, Rommel Genciana & Joe White on board were able to nip their rivals Bowling Stones 2458-2227 total pin falls. Bowling Stones however did not take the set back lightly as Branden Pinto, Conrad Pinto, Leroy Rodrigues & Cary Pereira stepped up in the game two to deliver a 751-749 victory. Witheverything falling in the right place, Kegeler Strikers went on to claim gameone and three 890-703 & 819-773 after crushing Bowling Stones in the final.

Meanwhile Kuwait Federation Bowlers stopped their skid in the team standings by clobbering the neophyte Alleygators2239-2126. After surviving a scare in game one where Alleygators put up astrong challenge before they were able to post a close 676-664 win. The Kuwait Federation Bowlers regrouped in the next two games and showed their opponentshow things are done via convincing 775-703 and 800-747 victories. Top point contributors for Kuwait Federation Bowlers in this match were Paul Delany,Salem Hajras, Mohammed Yousef & Ahmad Aloun. The losing side on the otherhand was bannered by Rohan Fernandes, Samantha Fernandes & GloyneFernandes.

Banking on its hard earned win in gametwo and three, the Pin Pointers subdued Amaya 2321-2173. For Amaya who snatchedgame one 767-755, the leading strikerswere Rey Ualat, Raine Ualat, Marj Mercado & Lito Mercado who gave the PinPointers a scare in the first game. The Pin Pointers quartet who successfully regroupedand eluded Amaya on their way to a 775-663 and 791-743 victories were AlfredAvila, Joe Presenta, Rudy Delima & Fe Ferrer.

In the remaining two matches of theweek also fighting desperately for a seat in the Championship Group, Whiplashstayed within striking distance. NoStrikes !! shook them with a shared win points in Game one 679-679. Whiplashhaving changed their game plan managed to over power the youngsters with a 808-771 & 834-775win in Game two and three. Whiplash crew were led by Aga Cuadrazal, Rico Baluyot, Aldin Avila & Vernie Villaruel went home victorious with atotal pin fall of 2321-2225.

West End Watches Co. also made up for their disappointing performance in thepast two weeks by stopping the Street Bowlers dead in their tracks with a 2492-2113 win. Led by the super charged Ahmad Sultan, Lloyd Fernandes, Rudolph Castelino, Nelson D’Souza & Caloy Garay who sent the Street Bowler down the alley with an 788-706 win in game one. Finally capitalizing on their stronger lineup, that closed the gap 854-716 & 850-691 in game two and three. West End Watches Co. move up from 7th place to 5th place right outside the championshipgroup. The losing team were lead by Amaldo Fernandes, Shirley Castellino,Celine Fernandes, Domnic Picardo & Floyd Suares.

In a week where the matches were all closely contested, the Spare Us who booked their victory stood out from the rest of the field when they clobbered Petrolink with a 782-761 in game one. In Game two Petrolink did some fine tuning and came back with a 832-768 win against Spare Us. In Game three Spare Us bowled like professionals and annihilated the Petrolink lane masters with a 753-670 victory. Spare us was lead to victory by the amazing games of Anthony King 220, 233 & 237 rest of the support crew were Adrian Noronha, Bala Subramanyam, Brian Fernandes, Colin Costa & Monali Jeremiah.

The team standings after twelve weeks are as follows (read as rank, team name and totalpoints)

Championship Group :

1. Al Qwassen - 330

2. Kuwait Federation Bowlers – 317.5

3. Kegler Strikers - 275

4. Solo Sorisso - 240

Intermediate Group :

5. West End Watches Co. - 230

6. Petrolink - 230

7. Firefly - 225

8. Whiplash – 202.5

9. Spare Us – 190

10. No Strikes !! –172.5

Greenie Group :

11. Pin Pointers -145

12. Amaya - 145

13. Street Bowlers -135

14. Alleygators -115

15. I Bowl – 90

16. Bowling Stones –82.5

Weekly High Team Series was taken by Al Qwassem with 2524. The Weekly Men’s High game was bowled by Abdullah Khalid of Petrolink with a 257 game. The Weekly Women’s High Game was captured by Blanca Mercado of Amaya with a score of 218.

TheIBL Season 2 has been made possible with the help of their Sponsors Advanced Technology Company, New India Assurance Co.& Amman Bhel Puri Restaurant Salmiya established in 1971.

The matches of the Indian Bowling League are held every Friday at the Salmiya CozmoBowling Center at 1.30pm