Lior Koren, Sara Aviram/Harlap win individual titles at 2014 Israel National Championships

    05/18/14

    Israel

    Lior Koren of Holon club and Sara Harlap of Super Strike club won the men's and women's individual titles at the 2014 Israel National Championships which were held at Hutzot bowling center in Haifa.

    The champions, who repeated their victory from 2012, will represent Israel at the European Champions Cup in Reykjavik, Iceland (Oct. 13-19).

    Click images to enlarge. Photos: David Ben Noon

    40 players participated in the 25th running of the Israel National Championships. All players bowled 20 games of qualifying over five days to determine the top 8 men and top 8 women for the single-elimination finals.

    The qualifying leaders, reigning Bowling World Cup champion Or Aviram and his mother Sara Aviram/Harlap, were automatically seeded into the championship match, while second seeded Omer Nehushtan and Shir Azulay were seeded into the semifinals.

    The quarterfinals and semifinals were contested in best-of-five format. The championship match featured three games with the total pinfall to determine the winner.

    In the men's quarterfinals, 8th seeded Asaf Morad won the last three games to defeat No. 3 Aviv Alfital , three-games-to-two. Also advancing to the semifinals were No. 7 Guy Hamra (3-1 vs. Tziko Dekel) and No. 6 Lior Koren (vs. Ido Sharet).

    Morad and Koren carried the momentum into the semifinals. Morad defeated Nehushtan, 3-1, while Koren used a 229-165 win in the decider, to beat Hamra, 3-2.

    In the championship round, Koren spared a 10-pin in the last frame to beat out Morad and Aviram for the top spot, 574-570-549. L-R Or Aviram, Lior Koren and Asaf Morad.

    In the women's quarterfinals, defending champion Sarit Mizrachi eliminated her mother, Mali Mizrachi, three-games-to-two. Both Mizrachis have won the women's title five times in their careers.

    In the other matches, Yifat Tal went the distance against young Edva Eliav, 3-2, while youth national team member Lynne Fishler topped Gila Roman, 3-1.

    In the semifinals Azulay came back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat Fishler, 3-1, and Mizrachi sidelined Tal, 3-2, after being down, 2-1. In the championship round, Aviram/Harlap defeated Azulay and Mizrachi, 590-573-527, to claim the third national title of her career.

    L-R Sarit Mizrachi, Sara Harlap, and Shir Azulay.

     


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    2014 Israel National Championships - Men's Finals

     


    2014 Israel National Championships - Women's Finals

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