22nd October, London: Among the players who have already qualified through their national elimination events are several with a Bowling World Cup pedigree. They will be converging on Ljubljana, Slovenia for the 41st QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, to be played in the Gladiator centre from 13th to 21st November.

And we now also know the players from the host country: Marjan Pecaver from the Tivoli Club shot 220 in the final game of the final to win through from a field of 58 men. Accompanying him will be Barbara Brezic from the home Gladiator club, who also waited till the last game of the final to win her place.

Anne-Marie Board, QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup Manager, said: "We are very pleased to welcome back Mika Luoto from Finland, who won the title in Riga, Latvia, in 2002. He is our only returning champion so far but many of the players who have won through to the event are top players and we expect an exciting tournament.

"Also, we do have five players who have won the coveted 'Sportsman of the Tournament' award, which is voted for by the players themselves."

In addition to Mika, the talent will be there in no small measure. In the men's section, Petter Hansen from Norway will be trying to go one better than last year when he finished runner-up, while players like Steve Thornton (England), Kai Guenther (Germany), Alex Liew (Malaysia) and Daniel Falconi (Mexico) will join players already entered such as Anders Ohman of Sweden and Rhino Page of the USA as favourites to take the title. And 20 years after finishing second, in Seoul, Korea, Erik Kok of the Netherlands will be making a welcome return.

In the women's section, Patricia Schwarz will be representing Germany and hoping to make it a family double as she is married to Mika. Anne-Marie commented: "Their 18-month old daughter Mia will be with them, hoping that both Mum and Dad can win the tournament. That really would be a first for the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup!"

Norway's Ann Louise Haugen will also be trying to take the trophy back to her family – her brother, Kim, won the cup in 2001 in Pattay, Thailand. But they will have plenty of competition, not least from Fiona Banks of England, Piritta Kantola of Finland, Wendy Chai of Malaysia and the USA's Lynda Barnes.

Three of the players can boast perfect games in the Bowling World Cup: Kai Guenther of Germany, and Lisa Paluzzi of South Africa, who both hit 300s in the 2002 Bowling World Cup in Riga, Latvia, and Petter Hansen of Norway whose perfect game came last year in Singapore.

"We are also looking forward to welcoming many players back again," said Anne-Marie. "Shant Panos Tomassian from Iraq, who was such a star last year, will be competing again, as well as Maurice Talane from French Guiana who will be taking part for the fifth time and Derek Tomlin of Guernsey, making his sixth appearance. Patrick Leroy of Morocco will be with us for the ninth time, but pride of place will go again to Aida Granillo of El Salvador, who will be competing for an amazing 15th time! We are delighted that so many players come back time and time again!"

The 41st edition of the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup will be held at the Gladiator Bowling Centre, a brand new centre which opened in May 2005. The centre is owned and operated by Kolosej, one of the biggest leisure and entertainment companies in Slovenia and QubicaAMF’s key partner for this year's event. More can be found on their web site: www.kolosej.si. For further information on the Gladiator leisure complex, please go to www.arenalive.si.

Additional information on the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, including archives and bulletins for this year's tournament, can be found on www.amfbowlingworldcup.com.

QubicaAMF Bowling Worldwide is the founder, organiser and principal sponsor of the Bowling World Cup and is also one of the leading bowling products manufacturers and marketers in the world. With worldwide headquarters near Richmond, Virginia, USA and European headquarters in Bologna, Italy, the joint venture offers a complete line of high quality, innovative solutions for new and existing bowling and entertainment centres. The name of the event was changed to QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup following the merger of Qubica and AMF earlier this year. For more information on the merger on QubicaAMF worldwide can be found in www.qubicaamf.com.

Photos courtesy of Ljubljana, Slovenia.