31st October, London: C.J. Suarez, the Filipino bowler who delighted his native country with a victory in the 2003 World Cup, will not defend his title after loosing out to Chester King in Philippines World Cup roll-offs.

King, who rolled a perfect 300 score in this year's Indonesian Open, continues a family tradition by qualifying for the 2004 World Cup. His father, Cas King, represented the Philippines in 1973 - coincidentally, the only other time the AMF World Cup has been held in Singapore.

Liza del Rosario won the Philippines' women's national finals and will make her second World Cup appearance. She was runner-up to Japan's Nachimi Itakura in 2001 in Pattaya, Thailand. Del Rosario has been on a tear in recent Asian tournaments, winning the Singapore Open in September and the Indonesian Open Masters title earlier this month. She is the defending Asian Bowling Federation Tour Grand Slam women's champion.

Malaysia has also announced that it will be sending Shalin Zulkifli and Daniel Lim as its representatives. This will be Zulkifli's seventh appearance in the AMF World Cup; she has never finished lower than tied for fifth place. Her best showing came in 1996 in Northern Ireland, where she finished second.

Zulkifli's teammate Lim, like King, is making his first run at the World Cup title. He already has claimed this year's Malaysian Open and is the top ranked male bowler on the ABF Tour through five events.

Del Rosario and Zulkifli are considered strong contenders to wrest the women's crown from defending champion Kerrie Ryan-Ciach of Canada, who will also compete in Singapore. Other previous women's champions who have qualified are Shannon Pluhowsky of the USA (2002) and Martina Beckel of Germany (1992).

With Suarez out of the picture, the men's field is wide open. Early favorites include the 1988 champion Mohammed Khalifa Al-Qubaisi of the UAE; Marcel van den Bosch of the Netherlands, who finished second to Suarez in 2003; and Paul Moor of England, who leads the men's European Bowling Federation rankings

More than 100 countries, including newcomers Afghanistan, Libya, Nigeria, Slovakia and Tajikistan, have pledged to send athletes to the 2004 AMF Bowling World Cup thus far.

The AMF Bowling World Cup is the world's largest annual international sports championship in terms of number of participation countries. Additional information on the AMF Bowling World Cup, including archives and bulletins for this year's tournament, is available on the Internet at www.amfbowlingworldcup.com.

SuperBowl Management Pte Ltd is part of the SuperBowl Group. More information about the company can be accessed at www.superbowl.com.sg.

The AMF Bowling World Cup is the world's largest annual international sports championship in terms of number of participating nations. AMF Bowling Worldwide Inc., the founder and principal sponsor of the Bowling World Cup, is the world's largest owner and operator of bowling centers. AMF is also a leader in the manufacturing and marketing of bowling and billiards products. More information about AMF is available on the Internet at www.amf.com.

For further information, please contact: Anne-Marie Board at amboard@amf.com.

Photos courtesy of MTBC.