Al Suwaidi on a roll at Dubai International Bowling

First perfect gamer, Sayed Ebrahim Al Hashemi of the UAE took a slender four-pin lead over Sweden's Rebecka Larsen at the end of the Round 3 Finals at the 2nd Dubai International Open Bowling being held at the Dubai Bowling Centre. On an exciting Friday evening, Under-23 second runner-up Mahmoud Al Attar of the UAE scorched the lanes with a sizzling 270 opening game to take an early lead in the field of 20 finalists. But the lead quickly changed hands with Bahrain's Yousef Falah and the UAE's Al Hashemi jostling each other after the second game followed by Hareb Al Mansouri in close second. Al Mansouri surged ahead in the thrid game but at the halfway mark, Al Hashemi bounced back to take over, a mere 25 pins ahead of Sweden's Peter Ljung in second as Al Mansouri and Falah dropped their pace. Al Hashemi's consistent lines of 224, 237, 225 and 226 paid off for the 37-year-old Emirati after the national bowler ended the Round 3 in the lead with a total pinfall of 1880 while Larsen of Sweden finished strongly in the second half to take up second with 1876 thanks to an eight-pin handicap she got for competing against the men. Former UAE national coach Patrick Healey Jr. also finished strongly for third spot with a total of 1864 while two Emiratis, Shaker Al Hassan and early leader Al Attar rounded the top five. Round 2 leader Dominic Barrett could not repeat the form he displayed earlier and squeezed into the next round finishing in tenth position with 1802. Missing the cut by just two pins was Yousef Falah who slipped down to 11th position on a total of 1800 while defending champion, Osku Palermaa of Finland took 12th spot with 1792. The UAE's Hussain Al Suwaidi, who had been dominant in round two also failed to progress finishing 16th. The top ten who advanced into the Round 4 finals will bowl their final eight games with pins carried forward from the previous round. The top five at the end of this round will qualify for the stepladder finals with the first match for third, fourth and fifth-places over one game. The winner of this match will meet No. 2 seed for the second match and the winner of this match will then earn the right to challenge the top seed in a twice to beat format and the top prize of Dhs60,000.