2018 CGSE Million Tinkle World Men Championships
Korea clinches Semi-finals spot
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28th November, Hong Kong: World Championships and Asian Games multiple gold medallist, Park Jongwoo and Kim Kyungmin of Korea clinched the fourth Doubles Semi-finals spot after topping the final squad of the preliminaries of the 2018 CGSE • Million Tinkle World Men Championships.

2017 PBA Cheetah Championship winner and 2016 PBA-WBT Thailand champion, Jesper Svensson and Martin Larsen of Sweden got off the block with a sizzling 484 in their opening game to lead 2018 World Youth Singles bronze medallist, Abdulrahman Alkheliwi and Hassan Alshaikh of Saudi Arabia by 24 pins.

Finland's third pair of Joonas Jahi and Sami Konsteri and Germany's third pair of Pascal Winternheimer and Tobias Boarding shared third spot with identical 455 while Indonesia's third pair of Billy Muhammad Islam and Ryan Lalisang was fifth with 444.

Canada's third pair of Zach Wilkins and Mitch Hupe, who had a moderate start with 419 in their opening game, posted the high score of 523 in the second game to move into the front of the pack. Sweden added a creditable 449 but slipped down to second, just nine pins adrift.


Kim Kyungmin and Park Jongwoo clinching the fourth Semi-finals spot

The Finish pair remained third with 429 after the second game as Korea's third pair of Park and Kim moved up to fourth. Singapore's Muhd Jaris Goh and Darren Ong leapfrogged into fifth spot with a superb 490. As pressure began to mount, Canada managed to retain the lead despite posting only 383. Sweden missed the opportunity to overtake the Canadians after stumbling to a lowly 355 and had to trail by 37 pins.

But the Swedes bounced back with a srong 445 to take over the lead. Finland also added a superb 456 to move back up to second. Korea also put in a decent 446 to take up third spot with Canada dropping down to fourth.

The inconsistent Swede managed only 385 in the fifth game to allow Finland to move ahead of them with a better 452. Korea kept their strong momentum with 448 to force Sweden into fourth as Singapore took up fourth.

Finland needed 433 or more to topple Squad 2 leader, Malaysia, who was third overall and 386 or more to beat Squad 1 leader and the first American pair. Korea required 442 or more to beat Malaysia and 395 to overhaul the Americans.

Park and Kim kept their composure to end with 425 and although they did not overtake the Malaysian, the Koreans clinched fourth spot with 2579 and topping the final squad. Finland came home with 401 to miss the Semi-finals cut by 15 pins with 2564 for fifth overall.


Squad 4 Top 4, Finland, Korea, Canada and Singapore

Canada stormed home with a stunning 489 to finish third in the squad with 2549 to tie with Squad 1 leader of Jakob Butturff and Kyle Troup in sixth position. Singapore finished fourth in this squad with 2498.

Squad 3 leader, EJ Tackett and Andrew Anderson of Team USA remained unbeaten and as topseed, will face Korea in the first Semi-finals match while second-seed Dan MacLelland and Francois Lavoie of Canada will meet third-seed, Adrian Ang and Tun Ameerul Al-Hakim of Malaysia in the other semi.

The Doubles Semi-finals will be held on December 2 after the second block of the 5-player Team Squad B ends. The Singles Semi-finals will be staged on December 1 after the 5-player Team first block ends.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Hong Kong, China.


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