BAHRAINSPORTS
APRIL 2014
THE CHAMP
Shaker Al Hassan
“... you cannot
afford to make any
mistakes and that
was exactly what
I said to myself,
so I put in all my
concentration
into making good
shots.”
– SHAKER AL HASSAN
NEW WORLD BOWLING TOUR
(WBT) CHAMPION
52
t h e g a m e sports magazine
AL HASSAN WINS
WORLD BOWLING
TOUR TROPHY
I
t was an accolade that had evaded him for his entire career, but now Shaker
Al Hassan can proudly stake his claim to a World Bowling Tour (WBT) title
after winning the 12th Kingdom of Bahrain International Championship.
The tournament was part of the 2014 Professional Bowlers Association
(PBA) WBT, with pros from all over the world coming over to compete.
Al Hassan won the crown after narrowly defeating John Szczerbinski by just
two pins, 231-229, in the championship match.
Al Hassan, who had secured his spot in the title-decider as the stepladder
finals’ top seed, started off splendidly with four strikes in a row to open up a gap
of 23 pins over third seed Szczerbinski, who managed only a double in the third
and fourth frames.
The Emirati southpaw knocked down another double in the seventh and
eight frames, and looked set to cruise to a comfortable victory. But his American rival rolled four strikes from frame eight and a nine-pin count in the 12th to
end with 229 hoping to put pressure on his opponent.