Pair of Tulane Bowlers Representing in Qatar Championship
Tulane bowlers Juanelyz Solla and Valeria Colon will compete this week in the 14th International Friendship Youth Bowling Championship in Doha, Qatar. The annual friendly event is hosted by the Qatar Bowling Federation (QBF) with competition beginning Wednesday, February 11.
The QBF extends invitations to different nations each year to participate. This year’s invitees are Czechia, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, and Sweden, all of whom will compete alongside the host nation of Qatar. With Puerto Rico’s invite and acceptance, the Green Wave tandem of Solla and Colon will represent their country as half of Puerto Rico’s contingent of four bowlers.
Qatar Bowling Championship Format
The event consists of four events. After Tuesday's practice rounds, action starts Wednesday with boys and girls singles. Thursday will feature doubles play, and Friday will be the team portion of the competition. The final day of the event is Saturday, February 14, which is the Masters Finals. On the girls side, the top six in all events standings plus the two best from each country (18 total) will qualify for and compete in the Masters Finals. This consists of six games with 50 percent of pinfalls from all events carried forward. The field is trimmed to the top eight for the knockout elimination rounds until a champion is crowned.
After competing in Doha, Solla and Colon will rejoin the No. 17 Tulane squad for The National Bowling Association’s TNBA Open in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The event begins in two weekends and runs from Friday, February 27, to Sunday, March 1.
Portions Courtesy Tulane Athletics
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.