26th October, Riga: Mika Luoto of Finland, the eighth-seeded player in the Round of 8, defeated #7 seed Remy Ong of Singapore, 2 games to 0, to take the men's title at the 2002 AMF Bowling World Cup in Toss Boulinga Halle, Riga, Latvia.

Luoto, a 33-year-old bowling center owner from Hyvinkaa, easily dispatched the triple gold medallist form the recent Asian Games, 232-216 and 279-222. Luoto defeated Saudi Arabia’s Talal Al-Towereb, 2 games to 0 (211-188, 244-191) in the semifinals to move into the championship round. The victory made Luoto the first Finnish player to win the Bowling World Cup since 1990.

"Again, today, luck was with me," Luoto said. "My strategy is to start strong in each game, with good shots and strikes, and I was able to do it today. I am the lead-off bowler on my team at home, and they depend on me to get them off to a fast start; so it was easy to use that approach here, too."

In the first men's semifinal, the current leader of the Asian rankings, Remy Ong had was forced into 3 sets by USA's Andrew Cain.

The 23 year-old Singaporean took the first set 220-203 but the 20 year-old U.S. national amateur champion stormed home to win the second set convincingly, 268-224. In the deciding match, Ong took advantage of Andrew's two opened frames to win, 255-172 for the final.

AMF Bowling Products Inc. is a world leader in the manufacturing and marketing of high quality bowling products. AMF Bowling Worldwide, Inc., its parent company, is the world’s largest bowling company, owning and operating 490 bowling centers around the world. Information about AMF is available on the Internet at www.amf.com.

Story by Lydia Rypcinski, AMF Bowling World Cup Media Coordinator. Detailed scores: Men's Semifinals and Men's Finals.

26th October, Riga: Shannon Pluhowsky became the first U.S. woman since 1990 to win the AMF Bowling World Cup when she defeated England's Nikki Harvey, 2 games to 0, in the women's championship round Saturday at Toss Boulinga Halle, Riga, Latvia.

Pluhowsky, a 20-year-old Phoenix resident who attends the University of Nebraska, advanced to the title round by defeating Pascale Moynot of France, 2 games to 1 (204-176, 221-253, 225-211). In the match against Harvey, Pluhowsky converted the 6-7-10 split and two difficult four-pin spares to roll up scores of 224 and 202 to Harvey’s 165 and 183.

This is the third major international victory for Pluhowsky in 2002. Earlier in the year, she captured the Masters titles at the American Zone Youth Championships in Costa Rica and at the World Youth Championships in Thailand.

"I just wanted to take this tournament one round at a time," said Pluhowsky, who led from wire to wire. "I'm excited that I won for my country. I hope this will give other bowlers something to shoot for and I hope that I'll be back next year to shoot for it again, too."

In the first women's semifinal, Nikki Harvey of England stopped Amanda Bradley's effort for her second AMF World Cup title defeating the champion also in the deciding game. Although Nikki won the first set comfortably 216-170, the 27 year-old Aussie fought on gamely to win the second 278-248 in an action-packed game in front of the TV. Nerves showed on the 1999 champion when she missed two 10-pin spare to literally hand the set to Nikki, 238-194 who was on a roll to the title.

Nikki's hope of capturing the coveted title eluded her when she faced the mighty, Shannon Pluhowsky. The 25 year-old Nikki never looked composed in the final crunch as nerves began to creep in and eventually lost in two straight sets.

AMF Bowling Products Inc. is a world leader in the manufacturing and marketing of high quality bowling products. AMF Bowling Worldwide, Inc., its parent company, is the world’s largest bowling company, owning and operating 490 bowling centers around the world. Information about AMF is available on the Internet at www.amf.com.

Story by Lydia Rypcinski, AMF Bowling World Cup Media Coordinator. Detailed scores: Women's Semifinals and Women's Finals.

25th October, Riga: Talal Towereb ousted No. 3 seed Wayne Greenall of England 2 - 0 to become the first-ever Saudi Arabian bowler to make the semifinals in its 38-year history of the AMF Bowling World Cup at Riga, Latvia, joined by Singapore's Remy Ong, Andrew Cain of USA and Mika Luoto of Finland.

The Saudi had a good start and took advantage of Wayne Greenall's two opened frames to win the first set comfortably 224-181. The second match was a much closed fought match when both players opened twice. The young Saudi got a turkey midway and started to open up a small gap over the Greenall but the Englishman soon closed the gap after stringing a series of strikes. Al-Towereb eventually won the match only in the last frame by 206-204.

Al-Towereb, a 21-year-old bank employee, had to borrow from his allotted vacation time next year to compete in Riga this week. "My manager said if I did well, I could possibly get more time off to compete and maybe even a sponsorship," Al-Towereb said.

"Even though my brain is telling me to be satisfied just to make the top 8, my heart is telling me there is something more I can do in this tournament."

In the other matches, Mika Luoto from Finland, who barely escaped elimination himself Thursday night in the final game of qualifying, ended Trotter's quest by defeating the Australian 2 games to 0 in the best-of-three, head-to-head "knockout" match. Luoto bested Trotter, who rolled one of four perfect games carded in the tournament thus far, by scores of 215-160 and 244-222.

"I was lucky last night to get into the Round of 8, and I had luck again today," Luoto said. "I think Paul made a couple of mistakes in his equipment choice and his lane positioning, and I benefited from that."

Joining Luoto and Towereb in the men's semis are the USA's Andrew Cain and Singapore's Remy Ong. Cain, the No. 5 seed, disabled the 1999 Bowling World Cup champion and No. 4 seed Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar, 2 games to 1 (181-189, 226-198, 275-241). Ong, a triple gold medallist in the recent Asian Games and the No. 7 seed in Riga, trounced Germany's Kai Guenther, 2 games to 0 (221-187, 268-242).

AMF Bowling Products Inc. is a world leader in the manufacturing and marketing of high quality bowling products. AMF Bowling Worldwide, Inc., its parent company, is the world’s largest bowling company, owning and operating 490 bowling centers around the world. Information about AMF is available on the Internet at www.amf.com.

Story by Lydia Rypcinski, AMF Bowling World Cup Media Coordinator. For detailed scores, please click here.

25th October, Riga: Top-seeded Shannon Pluhowsky of the USA moved one step closer to the AMF Bowling World Cup title by defeating No. 8 seed Teresa Piccini of Mexico, 2 games to 0, in the women’s quarterfinals at Toss Boulinga Halle, joined by Australia's Amanda Bradley, England's Nikki Harvey and Pascale Moynot of France.

Pluhowsky clipped her ankle and sent the ball into the gutter in the second frame of the first game, but she was able to recover and squeak out a 183-177 victory in the first game. She took the match by outlasting Piccini in the second game, 221-206, stringing four strikes together in the final frames. (Note: In the head-to-head "knockout" format used from the quarterfinals through the championship round, a bowler must win two of three games against an opponent to win the match and advance to the next round.)

"I was a little unnerved after hitting my ankle. I swing the ball pretty close to it and sometimes they meet," Pluhowsky said. "After that, I knew I had to relax, because if I tightened up, the same thing might happen again. I just had to put it out of my mind and refocus."

In the other quarterfinal matches, the 1999 women's Bowling World Cup champion and No. 5 seed in the tournament Amanda Bradley slipped past No. 4 seed Mari Kimura of Japan, 2 games to 1; Nikki Harvey of England, the No. 7 seed, dropped No. 2 seed Wendy Chai of Malaysia, 2 games to 1; and No. 3 seed Pascale Moynot of France dispatched No. 6 seed Sara Vargas of Colombia in two straight games.

The men's quarterfinals begin Friday afternoon, when the 1999 men's Bowling World Cup champion and No. 4 seed Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar takes on the No. 5 seed, U.S. national amateur champion Andrew Cain. Top-seeded Paul Trotter of Australia squares off against No. 8 seed Mika Luoto of Finland later in the day.

AMF Bowling Products Inc. is a world leader in the manufacturing and marketing of high quality bowling products. AMF Bowling Worldwide, Inc., its parent company, is the world’s largest bowling company, owning and operating 490 bowling centers around the world. Information about AMF is available on the Internet at www.amf.com.

Story by Lydia Rypcinski, AMF Bowling World Cup Media Coordinator. For detailed scores, please click here.

24th October, Riga: Australia's Paul Trotter, who opened his AMF Bowling World Cup campaign with a 300 game, nearly duplicated the feat in the final game of the men's qualifying Thursday at Toss Boulinga Halle and regained the top seed position for Friday's quarterfinals round with Germany's Kai Guenther in second and England's Wayne Greenall third.

Trotter's 299 closer capped a 32-game total of 7493 pins and edged Germany's Kai Guenther by 54 sticks, despite Guenther's rolling the tournament’s fourth 300 game this week. Trotter averaged 234.16 to Guenther's 232.47.

"So far, this has just been a dream," said the 30-year-old customer service representative from suburban Melbourne. "I was hoping just to finish in the middle of the field, and look at me. I was really relaxed going into the last game, and that always tends to help my swing loosen up."

Trotter will face the No. 8 seed, Mika Luoto of Finland, in the quarterfinals Friday night. Luoto snatched the last position in the Round of 8 from the Philippines’ Christian Jan Suarez by just two pins, 7227-7225.

Filling in between Trotter and Luoto are Guenther, England's Wayne Greenall, 1999 men's World Cup champion Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar, Andrew Cain of the USA, Talal Towereb of Saudi Arabia, and Asian Games triple gold medallist Remy Ong of Singapore.

Towereb is the first Saudi bowler ever to make it to the Round of 8 in the 38-year history of the Bowling World Cup.

Quarterfinal action begins at with the women at 8 a.m. Friday, when Japan's Kimura squares off against Australia's Bradley. The format changes from total pinfall to best-of-three-games, head-to-head matches; all pinfall accumulated prior to Friday is dropped. In the best-of-three format, the match loser is eliminated from the tournament.

The Drawlist for tommrrow's quarterfinals:
Women
Shannon Pluhowsky (USA) vs Teresa Piccini (Mexico)
Pascale Moynot (France) vs Sara Vargas (Columbia)
Mari Kimura (Japan) vs Amanda Bradley (Australia)
Wendy Chai (Malaysia) vs Nikki Harvey (England)

Men
Paul Trotter (Australia) vs Mika Luoto (Finland)
Wayne Greeall (England) vs Talal Towereb (Saudi Arabia)
Ahmed Shaheen (Qatar) vs Andrew Cain (USA)
Kai Guenther (Germany) vs Remy Ong (Singapore)

The 2002 AMF Bowling World Cup champions will be crowned Saturday afternoon. The quarterfinals, semifinals and championship matches will be taped by Matchroom Sport for later worldwide distribution.

AMF Bowling Products Inc. is a world leader in the manufacturing and marketing of high quality bowling products. AMF Bowling Worldwide, Inc., its parent company, is the world’s largest bowling company, owning and operating 490 bowling centers around the world. Information about AMF is available on the Internet at www.amf.com.

Story by Lydia Rypcinski, AMF Bowling World Cup Media Coordinator. For detailed scores, please click here.

24th October, Riga: The USA's national amateur champion, Shannon Pluhowsky, continued to dominate the women's competition Thursday morning during the second stage of qualifying at the 2002 AMF Bowling World Cup, underway at Toss Boulinga Halle with Malaysia's Wendy Chai in second and France's Pascale Moynot third.

Pluhowsky, 20, came within a 7-pin of perfection late in the morning, firing a 299 game that highlighted a 12-game series of 2734 pins. She enters Friday’s "Round of 8" quarterfinals as the women's top seed, emerging from 32 games of qualifying with 7434 pins and a 232.31 average.

"I just tried to stay calm and focused today, especially during the 299 game," Pluhowsky said. "I made a ball change today, to something that was more aggressive on the lanes. I opened with a 170 game, and that surprised me a little, because the lanes were not at all reacting the way they had all week. I thought I was making good shots, but I just wasn’t lined up properly. Once I made the adjustment, I was OK."

While Pluhowsky was solidifying her lead, South Africa's Lisa Paluzzi became the fourth woman in World Cup history, and the third person in this year’s tournament, to roll a 300 game. It came on the same pair of lanes where Pluhowsky fired her 299 earlier in the day. Paluzzi used her first-ever perfect game to pull herself to 16th place with a total of 6,509 pins and a 203.41 average.

"My favorite bowling balls, along with my shoes and bags, were stolen two weeks ago," Paluzzi said, "and up until last Thursday I wasn’t even sure I was going to be here in Riga. I brought some older equipment with me but I struggled with it. Finally, after the third game Wednesday, I decided to drill up a new ball. That’s the one I used for the 300 game."

Paluzzi’s father Gerald hosted the 1993 AMF Bowling World Cup in South Africa.

Advancing to the Round of 8 with Pluhowsky are Malaysia's Wendy Chai, France's Pascale Moynot, Mari Kimura of Japan, the 1999 Bowling World Cup champion Amanda Bradley of Australia, Sara Vargas of Colombia, England's Nikki Harvey and Mexico's Teresa Piccini.

The top 8 men and women after Thursday's action move into the Round of 8 quarterfinals Friday. The format changes from total pinfall to best-of-three-games head-to-head matches, and all pinfall accumulated prior to Friday is dropped. In the best-of-three format, the match loser is eliminated from the tournament. The quarterfinals, semifinals and championship matches will be taped by Matchroom Sport for later worldwide distribution.

AMF Bowling Products Inc. is a world leader in the manufacturing and marketing of high quality bowling products. AMF Bowling Worldwide, Inc., its parent company, is the world’s largest bowling company, owning and operating 490 bowling centers around the world. Information about AMF is available on the Internet at www.amf.com.

Story by Lydia Rypcinski, AMF Bowling World Cup Media Coordinator. For detailed scores, please click here.