TWO of Bahrain’s bowling team pairs yesterday (JULY 2) were sent out crashing in the men’s doubles event in the Fourth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG), being held at Incheon, in South Korea.
The nationals returned to action on the second day of the bowling championship, when two pairs competed it out with some of the continent’s finest bowlers while hoping to pass the preliminary stage and progress into the competition’s second round.
With only the best four pairs from each squad reaching the quarter-finals knock-out round and the combined results of both players count, it was a tough mission for the Bahrainis who faced more experienced and talented bowlers.
First it was Ahmed Al Qaoud and Taha Ebrahim who teamed up in their preliminary Squad A at Anyang Hogye Gymnasium at Incheon, where they could only finish seventh among 19 pairs with a combined total of 2,369 points after each player played six games.
Bahrain’s other tandem Masaud Akber and Isa Abduljabbar combined forces for their Squad B challenge, where 18 more pairs were in the fray. The Bahrainis showed outstanding playing skills, but were only able to claim 13th position with a 2,188 total.
Despite the early exit, Bahrain’s coach and former national team player Aref Mersal said he was satisfied with his teams’ performance in the first round, noting that they both faced teams of higher skills and experience.
The women’s 10-Ball Billiards Championship gets underway yesterday at Songdo Convensia with the women’s singles last-32 round, where the up-and-coming Bahraini cueist Nahla Al Sunni suffered a 3-7 defeat to the more experienced Junnainy Hartono of Indonesia.
The 22-year-old Bahraini put on a brave show to recover from a shaky start where she found herself behind at 0-4 to win the next three frames and reduce the deficit to 3-4.
But a string of faults cost Nahla dearly as she lost three consecutive frames and with it the tie, while 39-year-old Junnainy took advantage of her opponent lapses to claim straight victories and secure her berth in the competition’s last-16 round.
Nahla is part of a four-member women’s team who travelled to Incheon. The remaining three are Jumeya Al Dosseyr Fatma Yousuf and May Al Doseri, who were scheduled to play late yesterday while eyeing a place in the next stage of this knock-out championship.
Elsewhere, Bahrain swimmers signed off in an honorable way as they improved on their personal best at the Dowon Aquatics Center.
Farhan Faraj was eighth among eight entrants in the men’s 200m freestyle heat, but was successful in breaking his previous record.
Faraj completed the heat in two minutes and 6.70 seconds to break his personal best of two minutes and 10.26 seconds scored during the 2012 World Championship held in Turkey.
Bahrain other representative Sameera Al Bitar was also out after coming last as she battled in the women’s 200m freestyle heat 1 along with seven other swimmers.
However, Sameera also headed into her heat event looking to set up a new Bahraini record, marked by Sara Al Flaij (2:21:88). Indeed Sameera was in top form as she beat Sara’s finish after clocking 2:16.27.
The Bahrain delegation to Incheon Games is being headed by Bahrain Olympic Committee sports Affairs executive director Noaman Al Hassan.
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