TOKYO– Five American PBA champions will join bowlers from 55 countries in singles finals of the inaugural Bowling World Open, a showcase event for observers considering additional sports for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games program. Bowling is one of eight sports in contention for possible inclusion in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
At the close of Friday’s open qualifying competition, 2014 PBA Rookie of the Year Marshall Kent rolled a 747 three-game series to qualify third among the top 20 men who advanced to Saturday’s main event. PBA stars Mika Koivuniemi, Finland, and American champions Bill O’Neill, Tommy Jones and Sean Rash retained their positions among the top 20 men.
The Bowling World Open, which is offering the richest prize fund on the World Bowling Tour schedule, will pay shares of its estimated US$390,000 in prize money equally to men and women. First prize in each division will be roughly $81,000. As a part of its support of the event and the Olympic movement, the PBA will award a PBA Tour title to the men’s champion.
A field of 110 men and 110 women will begin competition in the singles main events Saturday. An international mixed doubles competition also will be part of the program. The main event fields will include 78 invited representatives from 55 countries plus 20 international players and 12 local qualifiers from the open qualifying events hosted by Shinagawa Prince Hotel Bowling Center.
Among the invited players granted automatic berths in men’s singles are PBA champions Jason Belmonte, Australia; Thomas Larsen, Denmark; Dom Barrett and Paul Moor, England; Osku Palermaa, Finland; Jesper Svensson, Sweden, and Mike Fagan and Chris Barnes, representing the PBA and the U.S. A number of additional international PBA members who have not yet won a PBA title also are among the exempt men.
The women’s exempt field will include PBA/PWBA members Clara Guerrero, Colombia; Aumi Guerra, Dominican Republic; Diana Zavjalova, Latvia; and American stars Kelly Kulick, Liz Johnson and Danielle McEwan, who tied for 17th in the women’s open qualifying round. Kulick is the only woman ever to win a PBA Tour title (2010 PBA Tournament of Champions). Kulick, Johnson and Guerrero all have appeared in PBA Tour television finals and all three are PBA Regional title winners.
The main singles competitions will involve five qualifying games Saturday with the top 33 players in each division advancing to a three-game semifinal round at Round1 Minamisuna Bowling Center. Based on pinfall for eight games, the top four will advance to the televised finals where No. 1 will bowl No. 4, and No. 2 will bowl No. 3, in one-game matches. The winners will then bowl for their respective titles.
Sunday’s men’s and women’s finals, along with international mixed doubles finals, will be contested on a special six-lane installation in an exhibition hall at the Makuhari-Messe convention center on the outskirts of Tokyo.
BOWLING WORLD OPEN
Shinagawa Prince Hotel Bowling Center, Tokyo, Thursday
Final Men’s Open Qualifying (after three games; top 20 advance to Saturday’s men’s singles main event)
1, Namyi Jo, Korea, 757.
2, Haesol Hong, Korea, 755,
3, Marshal Kent, U.S., 747.
4, Youngjun Lee, Korea, 746.
5, Jenghwan Seo, Korea, 742.
6, Mika Koivuniemi, Finland, 741.
7, Sangpil Park, Korea, 737.
8, Junsoo Kim, Korea, 736.
9, Bill O'Neill, U.S., 733.
10, Taehwa Jeong, Korea, 729.
11, Tommy Jones, U.S., 724.
12, Youngkwan Kim, Korea, 722.
13, Sean Rash, U.S., 721.
14 (tie), Kang Seongyu, Korea, and Kowoon Kim, Korea, 719.
16, Timmy Tan, Malaysia, 718.
17 (tie), Heewon Kang, Korea, and Kyungmin Kim, Korea, 712.
19 (tie), Alex Liew, Malaysia, and Gu Yonglin, Korea, 711.
Final Women’s Open Qualifying (after three games; top 20 advance to Saturday’s women’s singles main event)
1, Nahyun Lee, Korea, 760.
2, Yeonju Hwang, Korea, 749.
3, Dawun Jung, Korea, 734.
4, Seungja Baek, Korea, 727.
5, Syaidatul Afifah, Malaysia, 726.
6, Joey Yeo, Singapore, 725.
7, Cherie Tan, Singapore, 720.
8 (tie), Yeong Seung Lee, Korea, and Hyun Lim An, Korea, 717.
10, Siti Safiyah, Malaysia, 716.
11, Jenny Wegner, Sweden, 713.
12, Jazreel Tan, Singapore, 711,
13, Jinsun Kim, Korea, 711.
14, New Hui Fen, Singapore, 705.
15, Bernice Lim, Singapore, 703.
16, Byul Han, Korea, 700.
17 (tie), Eunok Kim, Korea, and Danielle McEwan, U.S., 697.
19, Hyunsook Choi, Korea, 690.
20, Kristin Quah, Singapore, 686.