Gye Min Young and Kong Byoung Hee (pictured left) from Korea won the first gold medal in the bowling competition of the World Games 2009 when they defeated top seeded Anggie Ramirez and Manuel Otalora (right), Colombia, in the championship match at Happy Bowling Alley in Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei, 840-710 over two games.

The Koreans took a slim 11-pin lead after the first game (413-402) but flew past their opponents in games #2 (427-308) to put the match away well before the final frame.

In the opening match, the Koreans, seeded second ousted No. 3 Zatil Iman and Adrian Ang, Malaysia, 421-391. The Koreans bowled all three games over 400 and that made the difference in both matches.

The Colombians settled for the silver medal while the Malaysians got bronze.

Ramirez and Otalora earned the No. 1 seed for the stepladder finals with a 2605 pinfall total in the six-game preliminaries, an average of 217.08. The Colombians had to sit and wait for the winner of the opening match between second-place Korea (2588) and third-place Malaysia (left, 2576).

The bowling competition of the World Games 2009 started on Monday morning at Happy Bowling Center. The top three teams after six games advanced to the stepladder final to determine the medalists.

The players' individual scores from the mixed doubles carry forward and are combined with 12 additional qualifying games of singles on Tuesday. The top 10 men and top 10 women after the 18 games advance to round robin match play Wednesday morning. The top three men and top three women then advance to the stepladder finals.

The Singles finals will be screened live on Eurosport 2 Wednesday, July 22nd between 8.30 and 10.30am BST.

Bowling is one of more than 30 sports not currently included in the Olympics that are being showcased in the World Games until July 26. Bowling, along with archery, billiards and bocce, is classified as a precision sport.

The American Zone is represented by Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, El Salvador and the United States. The Asian Zone has sent Chinese Taipei, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Philippines, China and Hong Kong, while the European Zone countries are Austria, England, Finland, Germany, Belgium, France, Norway and South Africa.

 

8th World Games 2009 - Mixed Doubles Stepladder Finals

Bowling events: Happy Bowling Alley in Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei (July 20-22, 2009)

Championship Round:
1. Korea (Kong Byoung Hee/Gye Min Young), 1261 (3 games)
2. Colombia (Manuel Otalora/Anggie Ramirez), 710 (2 games)
3. Malaysia (Adrian Ang/Zatil Iman), 391 (1 game)

Playoff Results:
Semifinal: #2 Korea (Kong 215/Gye 206) def. #3 Malaysia (Ang 197/Iman 194), 421-391
Championship: Korea (Kong 205, 192/Gye 208, 235) def. #1 Colombia (Otalora 183, 147/Ramirez 219, 161), 840 (413, 427) -710 (402, 308).

 

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