By Bill Vint
PBA Communications
DOHA, Qatar – Fresh off her victory in the World Bowling Tour Women’s Final, presented by the PBA, Danielle McEwan of Stony Point, N.Y., defeated Bahrain’s Yousif Falah, 540-416, in the two-game total pinfall final match, to win the H.H. Emir Cup Wednesday at Qatar Bowling Centre.
McEwan, who earned US$20,000 for her win, fired games of 266 and 274 at Falah, including eight “handicap” pins-per-game awarded to women bowlers in the event. Falah had games of 224 and 192 in the title match. McEwan didn’t need the bonus pins, but by accepting them, she became ineligible to win a PBA International Tour title.
McEwan advanced to the championship match by defeating another female competitor, Singapore’s Daphne Tan, 435-422, in the semifinal round while Falah was eliminating Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash., 498-361, in the other semifinal match.
The H.H. Emir Cup was the first PBA International-World Bowling Tour event of the 2016 season. Competition points earned in Qatar will go toward determining the three men and three women who will compete the 2017 World Bowling Tour Men’s and Women’s Finals presented by the PBA. McEwan, who ranked second on the two-year rolling points list for the 2016 WBT Women’s Finals and No. 2 Liz Johnson of Cheektowaga, N.Y., and top qualifier Kelly Kulick of Union, N.J., to win the $20,000 women’s first prize.
PBA International-WBT competition continues with the Kingdom of Bahrain Open at Ozone Entertainment Centre in Manama, Bahrain, March 3-9, and the Brunswick Euro Challenge at Dream Bowl Palace in Munich, Germany, March 13-20. Sweden’s Jesper Svensson is defending champion in Bahrain; Josh Blanchard of Mesa, Ariz., is defending champion in Munich. PBA fans can follow the action in Bahrain by visiting abf-online.org and in Munich by visiting brunswickeurochallenge.com.
Blanchard and the PBA contingent will then return to the U.S. for the PBA Maine Event, March 31-April 6, at Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine. A weekend of PBA League Elias Cup competition April 2-3 will result in four consecutive ESPN telecasts on Sundays at 1 p.m. ET starting April 17, Blanchard will then try to defend his Xtra Frame PBA Maine Shootout April 4-6. The Maine Shootout will be covered live, exclusively on PBA’s video-streaming service, Xtra Frame.
PBA fans also can follow daily reports from all three international events on Bowlingdigital.com, abf-online.org (Qatar and Bahrain) and http://brunswickeurochallenge.com/ (Brunswick Euro Challenge).
H.H. EMIR CUP
Qatar Bowling Centre, Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, March 2
Championship (two games, total pinfall; women entrants receive 8 handicap pins per game)
f-Danielle McEwan, Stony Point, N.Y. ($20,000) def. Yousif Falah, Bahrain, ($12,000),.
Step 4 Final Standings (two games, total pinfall; winners advance to Step 4 championship, losers earned $6,000)
Falah def. Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 498-361.
f-McEwan def. f-Daphne Tan, Singapore, 435-422.
Step 3 Cashers (after 8 games, top 4 advanced to Step 3 semifinal round)
5, Robert Andersson, Sweden, 1,851, $3,000.
6, f-Jazreel Tan, Singapore, 1,814, $3,000.
7, Michael Mak, Hong Kong, 1,808, $3,000.
8, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 1,793, $3,000.
9, f-Shayna Ng, Singapore, 1,754, $2,400.
10, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 1,721, $2,400.
11, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 1,686, $2,400.
12, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 1,649, $2,400.
Step 2 Cashers (after 8 games, top 12 plus qualifiers 1-4 advanced to Step 3 semifinal round)
13, f-Joey Yeo, Singapore, 1,796, $2,100.
14 (tie), Mostafa Almousawi, Kuwait, and Cameron Weier, Federal Way, Wash., 1,753, $2,100.
16, Hazeem Almuraikhi, Qatar, 1,706, $2,100.
17, Mike Koivuniemi, Finland, 1,682, $2,000.
18, Jassim Almuraikhi, Qatar, 1,679, $2,000.
19, f-Bernice Lim, Singapore, 1,667, $2,000.
20, AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 1,633, $2,000.
Step 1 Cashers (after 8 games; top 12 plus qualifiers 5-8 advanced to Step 2 elimination round)
21, Yousef Aljaber, Qatar, 1,827, $2,000.
22, Ghanim Aboujassoum, Qatar, 1,788, $1,600.
23, Stuart Williams, England, 1,766, $1,600.
24, Rickle Kam, Hong Kong, 1,765, $1,600.
25, Mohammed Alsaud, Saudi Arabia, 1,740, $1,600.
26, Mohammed Al-Marzooqi, UAE, 1,707, $1,600.
27, Mohammed Almerekhi, Qatar, 1,702, $1,600.
28, Anthony Simonsen, Princeton, Texas, 1,671, $1,600.
29 (tie), Jassem, Alsaqer, Kuwait, and Khaled Aldebayyan, Kuwait, 1,668, $1,500.
31, Eric Tseng, Hong King, 1,638, $1,400.
32, Mansour Alawami, Qatar, 1,575, $1,400.
f-denotes female competitors who receive 8 handicap pins per game in addition to actual pinfall totals
