Displaying the form that earned Australia's Jason Belmonte the 2007 World Bowler of the Year Award, the 24 year-old two-handed bowler captured the champion's title for the third time at the fifth Kuwait Open 2008.

A perfect start to this year's event with a 300 in Game One augured well, and Orange-based Belmonte led the field of 100 international bowlers throughout all three stages of qualifying, posting an average of 224.83 in the first block of 6 games, 234 after the second block, and 228.83 after 18 games.

Going into the round-robin finals as top seed, Belmonte was briefly overtaken by Sweden's Martin Larsen who shot back-to-back 279 games in the first finals block of eight games, but Belmonte responded with a second perfect game in Game 8 and lines of 268, 246, 244, 243, 192, 180, 238 and 264 in the second block, plus bonus points for seven wins, to regain the lead for the stepladder final.

Fellow Aussie, Andrew Frawley (right) slipped to 8th place in the first finals block, but grittily held on to make the cut and finish fourth for the stepladder final.

Frawley overcame Finland's Sami Konsteri (left), 211-202, in the first match, and went on to eliminate Hussain Al-Suwaidi in the second, 246-202.

In a heart-stopping 202-201 third match, Frawley was ousted by second seed Martin Larsen and denied the unique opportunity of an all-Aussie grand final at the Cozmo Bowling Centre in Kuwait City. Belmo went on to defeat Larsen in a decisive, although low-scoring match, scooping the coveted title for a third time in his career.

"I have a great history with this event, winning in ' 05 and '06 and the format this year is terrific….26 games of qualifying, cut to the top 16, drop the pins, round robin, top 5 making the step ladder," said Belmonte enthusiastically at the start of the tournament.

"I started like a road train, 300, 254, then it got a little fuzzy", he admitted, but at the end of the second day of qualifying he announced "I really think I can win this tournament!" Tonight's victory justified his confidence.

Jason Belmonte, Australia, won the qualifying in the 5th Kuwait Open 2008 at Cozmo Bowling Center in Kuwait City with 4119 18-game pinfall and an average of 228.83 to lead 32 players - the top 28 plus the next four local players - into the next round.

Belmonte, left, who led the field of 100 players since day one, had six-game series of 1349, 1459 and 1311. The two-hander rolled the tournament's sole 300 game thus far in his first game.

Trailing Belmonte by 163 pins to sit in second place was Hussain Al Suwaidi with 3956 pins. Mere one pin behind in third place was Martin Larsen, Sweden with 3955. Dominic Barrett (right), England, was another 10 pins behind in fourth with 3945.

Belmonte's fellow countryman Andrew Frawley (left) posted the highest series of the qualifying on day three (1478) to jump into fifth place with 3937.

Rounding out the top 10 were 6. Sami Konsteri, Finland 7. Tim Mack (right), United States 8. Basel Al Enizy, Kuwait 9. Patrick Healey, United States and 10. Lucas Legnani, Argentina.

2008 ABF Tour Tournament of champions winner Shuk Han Chan, Hong Kong, was the sole woman, who survived the first cut in 20th place with 3678 including 5 pins handicap each game, a 199.33 average.

Josh Blanchard (left), United States, took the 28th and final qualifying spot with 3598 pinfall total and an average of 199.89.

Bader Nasser Al Omair (39th), Yaqoub Al Shati (43rd), Jassim Darwish (46th) and Dhari Al Bishi (58th) received the four extra spots for local bowlers.

The 32 finalists - 4 from Asia, 5 from America, 8 from Europe and 15 from Arabic countries - will bowl another 8 games to cut to the top 16 for round robin match play: 15 games round robin match play plus position round starting from scratch. 30 pins bonus per win, 10 pins for a tie.

The top 5 will advance to the stepladder finals. The No. 1 seed must be defeated twice to win the title. The winner will walk away with the $25,000 top prize. The top four women will bowl in an extra stepladder final for extra prize money of $7,150.

Photos from Kuwait by Ammar Yamin.