2019 World Bowling Women's Championships
Team USA seals topspot
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27th August, Las Vegas: Team USA sealed topspot in semi-finals after an emphatic victory in the Team of 5 preliminaries of the 2019 World Bowling Women's Championships with Mexico, Sweden and Colombia joining in second, third and fourth.

Trios semi-finalists, Missy Parkin and Ilz Kuhlkin along with Stefanie Johnson, Singles semi-finalists, Danielle McEwan and Shannon O'Keefe got off the block with a sizzling 1136 in their opening game to lead defending champion, Malaysia by 62 pins.

Favourites, Colombia and fancied Mexico followed in third and fourth with 1071 and 1039 respectively. The Americans added anothr superb 1106 in the second game to stretch their lead to 84 pins.

Mexico's Adriana Perez, Aseret Zetter, Paola Limon, Sandra Gongora and Iliana Lomeli posted a superb 1117 in which Gongora almost rolled the championships' first perfect game but was contented with 298 to trail USA. Malaysia slipped down to third with Colombia and Canada in the top 5.


Team USA winning the Team of 5 preliminaries to advance to the semi-finals as topseed

The American ended the first block of three games with another sizzling 1147 for the break with 3389 extending their lead to 143 pins. Colombia's Juliana Franco, Laura Plazas, Clara Guerrero and Doubles semi-finalists topseed, Rocio Restrepo and Maria Rodriguez ended with 1142 to move into second with 3246.

Malaysia managed only 1026 to slip down to fourth with 3164 while Canada shot 1139 to take up third position with a total of 3238. Mexico stumbled to a low 936 and fell down to seventh.

At the start of the second block, Team USA continued their sizzling pace with yet another 1181 to stay firmly in the lead, 272 pins ahead of their nearest rival. Canada kept their strong momentum to move into second as Colombia dropped to fourth behind Sweden making their bid in third.

USA erased their disappointment at the 2017 World Championships for not making the semi-finals after ending the second block with 1124 and 1056 to seal topspot with 6750.

Mexico bounced back with 1110 in the fifth game and 1064 in their final game to secure second position with 6371. The battle for third and fourth positions were hotly contested amongst Canada, Sweden and Colombia.


Team Top 4 semi-finalists, USA, Mexico, Sweden and Colombia

Sweden's Joline Persson Planfors, Sandra Andersson, Cajsa Wegner, Josefin Hermansson and Jenny Wegner shot identical 1059 in their last two games to secure third position with 6353. Colombia fired 1021 and 1094 to clinch fourth spot with 6341 while Canada missed the cut by 40 pins ending with 6301. The fancied Korean, Singapore and Malaysia finished sixth, seventh and eighth positions respectively.

Maria Rodriguez won the first gold medal for Colombia after topping the All Events standings with 5488 from 24 games bowled in the Singles, Doubles, Trios and Team of 5. Joline Persson Planfors of Sweden snatched the silver medal with 5425 while Shannon O'Keefe of USA picked up the bronze medal with 5422.

Son Hyerin of Korea, Cherie Tan of Singapore, Missy Parkin and Danielle McEwan of USA and Juliana Franco joined the All Event winners to earn a bye and automatically qualify for the Round 2 Masters finals in the top 8.

Clara Guerrero missed the top 8 by five pins to head qualifiers positioned 9 to 24 in the All Events standings for Round 1 Masters finals. Jung Dawun of Korea and Bernice Lim of Singpaore tied at the cut with 5132. Rocio Restrpo of Colombia missed the cut by 11 pins after finishing 25th.

A total of five from Sweden, four from USA, three each from Colombia and Korea, two each from Malaysia and Singapore, and one each from Canada, Finland, Indonesia, Japan and Russia made up the 24 Masters finals qualifiers.


All Events winners, Shannon O'Keefe, Maria Rodriguez and Joline Persson Planfors

Qualifiers positioned 9 to 24 will contest Round 1 finals with the highest seed meeting the lowest seed, the next highest seed meeting the next lowest seed and so on, in a best-of-3 games elimination knockout round.

The winners will advance to meet the top 8 seeded qualifiers in Round 2 finals for another best-of-3 games elimination knockout round. The winners will proceed to the quarter-finals and thereafter to the semi-finals, scheduled on August 30, the final day of the championships.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Las Vegas, USA.


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