1st December, Hong Kong: France held on to the 5-Player Team lead in Squad 2 to finish the first block in second overall at the 2018 CGSE • Million Tinkle World Men Championships with Team USA in second and Team Indonesia third.

Valentin Saulnier, Maximilien Fialon, Thibaut Lanos, Julien Sermand and Gaetan Mouveroux of France got off to an impressive start with 1094 in their opening game to lead Indonesia by 85 pins. Ryan Lalisang, Hengki Susanto, Yeri Ramadona, Billy Muhammad Islam and Hardy Rachmadian downed 1009.

Italy's Marco Reviglio, Pierpaolo De Filippi, Nicola Pongolini, Erik Davolio and Antonio Fiorentino surprised the field with 977 in their opening game to stay in third while Team USA managed only 974 for fourth, just 3 pins behind the Italians.

Indonesia upped the pace with 1105 to take over the running with the French team following their first game with 1019 in the second game to trail the leader by just one pin. Sweden rolled the highest second game of 1115 to move up to third ahead of the Americans in fourth.