Sports | Wednesday 24 June, 2015 3:29 am |

Zayed Sports City, the UAE’s premier sports and recreation venue, has lined up the country’s best bowlers for the NDC Ramadan Bowling Tournament’s 15th anniversary. A mix of national team members and returning champions are competing alongside the country’s most avid bowlers for a slice of the AED 140,000 cash prize at stake in the competition, which runs until July 13.

More than a hundred participants comprising 15 different nationalities have signed up for the milestone tournament, with notable players including reigning Open Division champion Ghalib Rashid Al Busaidi of Oman and Emirati Shaker Al Hassan, who won silver in the World Bowling Championship at Zayed Sports City last year.

Competition, which is currently in its qualifying stages, is set to heat up in the Youth and Open categories with high-finishing Emirati brothers Ahmed and Sultan Al Qubaisi participating in each respectively. In what will be a family affair, the siblings are joined by their younger brother Yaqoob and father Mohamed Al Qubaisi, most famous for winning a gold medal in the World Bowling Masters in 1988.

Sultan, who won last year’s Youth competition and is competing in the Open category for the first time, said: “When we talk about Ramadan, one of the first things that comes to my mind is bowling. It’s a habit for me. It’s about playing with my brothers and the whole community.

“This year I’m solely focused on the Open division. It was challenging keeping up when I was also in the youth division, and I always used to qualify for the Open semi-finals only on the last day. Now I have more flexibility.”

With Abu Dhabi set to host the Women’s World Bowling Championship this December, the Ramadan competition is a prime opportunity for the UAE women’s team bowlers to test their skills against other top talents ahead of joining the World Championship squad. The women’s category will see tough competition from 19-year-old perennial top scorer Samantha Hannan, who bowled an impressive 243.3 in last year’s tournament, earning her fourth place in the overall standings.

Barry Bremner, Zayed Sports City’s General Manager, said: “It’s fantastic to see the strength and diversity in this year’s 15th anniversary competition. Since we launched the tournament in 2000, it has grown into the UAE’s biggest and best bowling event, thanks in part to the generous support of the National Drilling Company. With the World Bowling Championships in town later this year, the excitement of the competition is especially heightened.

“Last year there were seven perfect (300) games, and with the impressive quality of this year’s field, we are expecting to see many more.”

Making the tournament accessible to the wider community, this year organisers have added a disabled division to complement the already popular youth, intermediate amateur, and high-powered open categories.

The Ramadan Bowling Tournament sponsored by NDC is held from 9pm - 3am until 13 July at Khalifa International Bowling Centre, inside Zayed Sports City. Registration is still open for eligible individuals at any time during the qualifying period by visiting the bowling centre or contacting [email protected] or call 02 403 4648 for further details.

For further information please visit the website – www.zsc.ae – or visit the Facebook page by searching ‘Zayed Sports City’.