Current National Champion Sue Abela’s fantastic display in St Petersburg continues, her now having played 18 of her 24 qualifying games in the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup. While the 12-game mark saw her improve from third to second, nine-time World Cup participant Abela has now taken the top spot showing awesome skill an consistency an incredible six-game series of 1331 (221.8 ave), for a 3923 tally to date (217.9 ave) with only six more qualifying games to play before the first cut to the top 24, Abela will now be looking to maintain her composure and position, as all qualifiers will carry forward their Round 1 total scores to the second stage, for a further eight games.
Abela has replaced Korea’s Sun Hee Lee (3864 pins) in the lead ahead of no less than 72 other competitors from all corners of the globe. Aumi Guerra of the Dominican Republic has moved up into third place on 3854 after registering the women’s high series to date (1403).
The 43rd annual QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup is ongoing at the Kontinent Bowling Centre in St Petersburg, Russia, where Malta is represented by Sue Abela and Kenneth Arpa. The able pair earned the right to represent their country in this the most prestigious event in the world tenpin bowling calendar by winning a qualification tournament recently organized at the Eden SuperBowl by the Malta Tenpin Bowling Association.
Top bowlers from an incredible 86 nations are competing in this event, which consists of a 24-game qualifying round for both the male and female divisions, after which the top 24 athletes from each will play a further eight games before being cut back to the top eight qualifiers. The final stages will consists of head-to-head elimination matches on a best-of-three basis until the eventual champions are known.
Men’s Division
All of the 86 male competitors have now played 12 of their qualifying games, with the standard showing a general increase in the top half of the field. Malta’s Kenneth Arpa is on a 2310 total (192.5 ave), which puts him in 52nd plays, with a virtual mountain to climb if he is to make the top 24 cut with his next twelve games.
Australian wonder Jason Belmonte still holds the lead on 2826 (235.5 ave), and is being chased by Bill Hoffman from the USA on 2800 (233.3), and Finland’s Petteri Salonen in third on 2696 (224.6). Salonen made the news in St Petersburg for breaking a World Cup record in his second set of six, shooting an incredible 1538 series (256.3 ave) to leap up the classification.
Play continues from qualification right through to the finals on Saturday.
The Maltese contingent is backed by the MTBA and also the Malta Olympic Committee, while the Eden SuperBowl has provided training facilities for the bowlers representing Malta in the 43rd QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup.