Etihad Airways unseated three-time holders Emirates Airline for the overall championship in the sixth edition of the biennial World Airline Bowling Championship held in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Etihad – with team captain Dilan Selvadurai, Sandra Dekoj, Michael Bruenjes and Izwan Bin Idris – accumulated a total of 65 points and won first place in the singles male and female categories and mixed team event.
“We are overjoyed. We came here with one purpose and that was to get the Cup. With the help of the entire team, we did just that,” Selvadurai said.
Dekoj, who flew all the way from Chicago, USA, to participate in the three-day tournament, added: “The feeling to lift the Cup with my bowling family is indescribable and amazing.”
The team of Tariq Nabil Nader, Mohammed Alam, Al Marzooqi Abdulla and Edward O’Neill representing Emirates Mauritius came in second with 63 points.
“We ran out of luck this time,” Nader said. “But we will prepare hard by participating in other tournaments in Singapore and Phuket, Thailand to recover the trophy in 2014.”
New entrant DHL Team had a good run on day one after Butch Vargas and his sons Juan Paulo and Juan Rafael, and Arnold Garcia captured the male team event but they hit a rough patch on the second day and earned no points. They settled for third place overall with 50 points.
Rounding up the top 10 among 18 participating airlines and aviation-associated companies were Emirates Auckland, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)-Denmark, Dubai Duty Free, Emirates Barcelona, Swiss International/American Airlines, Emirates Lisbon and Finnair.
In the masters events, Sascha Graf from Swiss International Airlines dominated the men’s division by beating Jan Christiansen of SAS-Denmark in the step-ladder competition. Graf registered 213 pinfalls while Christiansen had 201.
“I just had fun and enjoyed the game,” said Graf, who won his first international bowling competition.
In the ladies masters event, Rica Asuncion from Emirates Lisbon came back from a five-year hiatus and lifted the trophy which she won in 2004 and 2006. She beat Dekoj 484-427.
“This win was unexpected coming from a five-year break,” said Asuncion. “But after I made a six-bagger in Game 1, I was confident I’ll bring home the crown.”
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