Joachim B. Hansen joined Kurt Kitayama at the top of the leaderboard before play was suspended due to a sandstorm and high winds at the Oman Open on Friday.

Kitayama led the way on six under after the opening round and was level par through 13 holes when his second round was cut short at Al Mouj Golf.

The American was blemish-free on Thursday, but made a third bogey of the day at the fourth after starting on the back nine to lose the overall lead before the hooter sounded in Muscat.

Dane Hansen - who also started at the 10th - was four under with two holes to play in his round and would have been out on his own but for a double bogey at the fifth and a dropped shot at six.

Maximilian Kieffer was in the minority of players who was able to finish his second round, carding a two-under 70 to sit in a share of second place with Scott Jamieson and Yusaku Miyazato on five under.

Hugo Leon, Fabrizio Zanotti and Gaganjeet Bhullar moved to four under along with the likes of Thomas Pieters, Raphael Jacquelin and Alexander Levy - who were unable to get their rounds under way.

Play will resume at 7:40am local time on Saturday, with defending champion Joost Luiten in need of an upturn in fortunes after he was four over through 15 holes to slide down the leaderboard at one over.