USA's Tommy Jones holds comfortable lead in men's division after first qualifying block

    09/22/12

    2012 WSC

    Fellow PBA champion Osku Palermaa is 105 pins behind in second place; six players crack top 10 in Squads 3 and 4 as preliminaries reach halfway mark

    2012EBT04TommyJones.jpg2012WSCOskuPalermaa.jpgTommy Jones (pictured left), United States, continued to lead the men's division at the World Singles Championships in Cyprus as all 71 players from 40 countries have completed the first block of qualifying at Galactica Bowling Center in Limassol.

    The world champion and 13-time PBA titlist, who averaged 251.83 and toppled 1511 pins in Squad 2 Thursday, has a 105-pin cushion over fellow PBA champion Osku Palermaa (right) as the preliminaries have reached the halfway mark.

    2010BWCMattMiller3.jpg2012EBT04SyafiqRidhwan.jpgThe two-hander from Finland totaled 1406 pins, an average of 234.33, including six games between 213 and 256 to beat out England's Matt Miller (left) for second place by one pin. Miller, who also bowled in Squad 4 on Friday afternoon, had a low game of 216 and two 246 high games to move into third place with 1405 (234.17).

    Martin Paulsson of Sweden, the reigning Doubles World Champion, fell to fourth place with 1395. Another three players of Squad 4 cracked the top 10. Syafiq Ridwan (right) of Malaysia took over fifth place with 1379 and was followed by Asian Team Champion Michael Mak of Hong Kong in sixth place with 1361.

    201112PBA05AndresGomez2.jpg2012EBT04StuartWilliams2.jpgAnother PBA champion, Andrés Gómez (left) of Colombia positioned himself in ninth place with 1329 just behind Mahmoud Mazloum of Egypt and Mohammed Kamel of Kuwait, who slipped to seventh and eighth place with 1349 and 1338, respectively.

    Rounding out the top 10 was England's first PBA champion, Stuart Williams (right), who led Squad 3 with 1320 and an average of 220. Michael Holzapfel of Germany, who was next to Williams in that squad, finished the first half of the qualifying in 11th place with 1308.

    With another six-game block to go, Catalin Gheorghe of Romania holds the 24th and last place to advance to the finals with 1229 or an average of 204.83. Squads 2 and 1 will bowl their second block on Saturday while Squads 4 and 3 will complete the preliminaries on Sunday.

    All 71 men from 40 countries bowl 12 games of qualifying on the 41 feet WTBA Montreal oil pattern (Lane Map Guide). before the cut to the top 24 players, who advance to the finals Sept. 24 and 25.

    Free live streaming will be provided of the entire championships. To view the live streaming and the archived videos click here.

     


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    Men's Division - Qualifying Block 1/2 (all four squads)


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