Qatar shocked hot favourites Korea 827-802 in the men’s Team of Four bowling semi-final at the 2017 Ashgabat Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games yesterday to assure yet another medal, even as the men’s Rapid Chess team brought home a bronze yesterday.
Qatar now has four gold, three silver and three bronze medals to their name going into the final day today.
The nail-biting bowling contest saw both teams struggle to carry on the first ball, with Qatar leading from early in the game and fending off a last-minute surge from the Koreans, including ten strikes in a row in the eighth frame from Cho Young Seon.
Qatar had only squeaked into the semi-final by finishing fourth in Block 2 competition on Monday, just 48 pins ahead of Thailand.
“Right now I can’t believe it,” said Jassim Mohamed al-Muraikhi, the youngest member of the Qatari team. “Thank God we did our job.
“To beat the world champions is tough. We just tried to control our emotions and bowl our best.”
Qatar’s Yousef al-Jabir had the most pins to his name in the semi-finals at 235, with al-Muraikhi adding 234 in the 827-pin total.
Teammate Saoud Abdulla, who had accounted for 172 pins, added: “It was an amazing game. It was really tough when I missed the spare (early in the game) and then we got back in it when I spared the split (eighth frame).”
Asked if he was nervous going into the semis, Abdulla said, “Of course, I was. This is the first official tournament for me because I have only been bowling for four years.”
Republic of Korea had beaten Qatar by 332 points in the preliminary phase, but could not reproduce the performance when it really mattered.
In the other semi-final, Chinese Taipei beat Indonesia 784-730 to also advance to the final.
The results mean Republic of Korea and Indonesia both take bronze medals in the event.
Billy Mohamed Islam of Indonesia was clearly upset about not making the final, but did see the silver lining.
“I’m sad, I’m disappointed,” Islam said. “I made a lot of mistakes on the right lane, but it’s good we got a medal in the team event.
“We made some late adjustments in the last few frames but I think we left it a bit late.”
Chinese Taipei in the men’s Team of Four final at the Bowling Centre today.
In men’s Rapid Team chess event, Qatar started the day with a 1.5-0.5 defeat of Iran in the fifth round.
Qatar’s men’s Rapid Team reached the medal round ahead of Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and others. It was a credit to Qatar’s Moldovan-born head trainer Viktor Bologan for preparing his top players, Mohamed al-Sayed and Husein Aziz Nezad.
In the semi-final, Nezad seemed to have China’s Li Chao on the ropes with Nf5, but he played imprecisely, losing a pawn and the resulting endgame. So China moved into the final, while Qatar had to settle for bronze.
Turkmenistan, who lost the other semi-final on the day to eventual champions Vietnam, were the other team who were awarded bronze in the rapid chess competition.
Qatar Team of Four bowling players Saoud Ahmad Abdulla (left) and Jassim al-Muraikhi (centre) celebrate with Yousef al-Jabir during their semi-final against Korea at Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. (Laurel) Picture at right: Qatar’s bronze medal-winning team of Husein Aziz Nezad (second from right) and Mohamed al-Sayed (right) with gold medallists from Vietnam on the men’s Rapid Chess Team podium yesterday.
