4th November, Doha: Ghanim M Aboujassoum of Qatar shone in the qualifying rounds of the H.H. Amir Cup 2025 after taking up second in the standings of the H.H. Amir Cup 2025 behind 2023 Kuwait Open champion, Pontus Andersson of Sweden in top spot.
Ghanim had topped the standings since the start of qualifying rounds six days ago with 2193 from 751, 735 and 707 3-game series. Andersson registered 730, 715 and 776 in three straight squads to take over the lead with 2221 yesterday.
Day 2 High Series award winner, Mostafa Almousawi of Kuwait remained in third position with 2192 followed by team-mate and Day 5 High Series award winner, Soliman Alshuaibi in fourth with 2177. Swedish youngster, Noel Torgersen Haglund, who picked up Day 6 High Series award with 789, leapfrog up into fifth in the standings with 2165.
Two Qatari youths, Bader Al Sada and Masaed Al Muraikhi did well to take up sixth and seventh positions with 2165 and 2162 respectively. A second Kuwaiti, Aseel Alroomi shot a big 3-game series of 761 to take his 9-game tally to 2152 and occupied eighth position.
Ghanim M Aboujassoum winning Day 3 High Series award to go second in the standings
The top 8 will earn a bye and automatically advance to Step 2 Finals. A fourth Qatari, Nasser Jamal Al-Sahoti missed the top bracket by five pins with 2147 to head qualifiers positioned 9 to 32 who will contest the Step 1 finals. Last year's second runner-up, Tun Hakim of Malaysia rounded out the top 10 with 2146.
Current cut went to Anar Jonsson of Iceland with 2019, just 209 over. With two days left for qualifying, the cut could well reach an estimated 250 to 270 over. Ibrahim Sattam Almoraikhi of Qatar missed the cut by just one pin with 2018.
The top 2 highest qualifiers (positioned 33 to 34) from the first two days of competition will make the cut for Step 1 finals. The top 2 highest Qatari youths (positioned 35 to 36) will join in Step 1 finals as well. The top 2 highest Qataris (positioned 37 to 38) and the top 2 from Desperado squad (positioned 39 to 40) will make up the 36 qualifiers.
Qualifying will continue for another two days, up to November 6. The top 3 youths will advance to the stepladder finals after which Step 1 finals will be held on November 7. The top 16 with the highest pinfalls after 8 games will advance to Step 3 finals joined by the eight seeded qualifier for another 8 game.
The top 5 finishers will proceed to the Stepladder knockout shootout to determine this year's champion and taking home the top prize of US$25,000 plus a trophy.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Doha, Qatar.
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