2018 CGSE Million Tinkle World Men Championships
Team USA tops Doubles opening squad
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27th November, Hong Kong: 2017 QubicaAMF World Cup champion, Jakob Butturff and Singles Semi-finalist, Kyle Troup of Team USA topped the opening squad of the Doubles preliminaries on the third day of the 2018 CGSE • Million Tinkle World Men Championships.

Maksim Krupenin and Pavel Sobolev of Belarus surprised the field when they started off with 439 to lead Youris Fens and 2017 World Championships Singles gold medallist, Xander van Mazjik of Netherlands in second by six pins.

Surasak Manuwong and Sithiphol Kunaksorn of Thailand started off well with 432 to take up third spot followed by the American pair and the Russian pair in fourth and fifth positions. Butturff, who owns four PBA titles, and finished first runner-up in both the 2018 and 2017 U.S. Open, and the two-handed Troup added a superb 465 to take over the running.

2018 Palembang Asian Games Trios silver medallists, Timmy Tan and Singles Semi-finalist, Muhd Rafiq Ismail moved into second spot with 410 and 437 in their first two games, 30 pins behind the Americans.


Left-handed Jakob Butturff and two-handed Kyle Troup leading Squad 1

Singapore's first pair of Joel Tan and Jonovan Neo took up third spot, a further 37 pins away with Thailand and Belarus slipping away. Butturff and Troup set a consistent pace with 433, 437 and 438 in their next three games, stretching their lead over their nearest rival up to 188 pins.

Malaysia reduced their gap to four pins after the third game but allowed the Americans to pull away as they were lack luster in their fourth and fifth games. Singapore also did not make headway while Hong Kong's Tony Wong and Ivan Tse made up good grounds.

Despite ending with a lowly 362 in the sixth game, USA topped the squad with 2549 with Butturff scoring 1203 and Troup contributing 1346. Tan and Neo stormed home with 494 in their final game to snatch second position with 2491.

Malaysia, after a disastrous 314 in the fifth game, recovered with 460 in the sixth game to clinch third position with 2459. Host Hong Kong claimed fourth position with 2440. Thailand again missed out of the top four with 2407 in fifth with France in sixth position with 2403.

The second Doubles squad will be contested after lane maintenance while Squad 3 and 4 will be staged tomorrow morning and afternoon. The top four pairs from the combined four squads will advance to the Semi-finals and Final scheduled to take place on December 2.


Top 4 finishers, Singapore, USA, Malaysia and Hong Kong

Photos by Terence Yaw in Hong Kong, China.


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