Korean woman leads top 12 into round robin match play in Daejeon International

    08/25/11

    Korea

    Smith falls to fifth place; Koivuniemi rolls back-to-back 300s to leap to ninth place

    2011DeajeonJeonGueAe.jpg2011DeajeonKimJunSoo.jpgJeon Gui-Ae (pictured left), Korea, posted the highest six-game series in the Round of 48 en route to lead the top 12 players into round robin match play in the Daejeon International Bowling Tournament in Korea.

    Gui-Ae, the best of eleven women who survived the cut to the top 48, had games of 247, 257, 204, 257, 299 and 247 for 1511, a 151.83 average, and added 42 pins handicap for 1553 to leap from fifth to first place with 5876 24-game total (237.83).

    Kim Jun-Soo (right), Korea, had the highest scratch series of 1515 to move from fourth to second place with 5847 and the field-best 243.63 average for 24 games. Despite rolling the tenth 300 game of the main event, Kim Taek-Yeon, Korea, fell one spot to third place with 5828 with KPBA pro Kim Young-Kwan in fourth place at 5827.

    2011DeajeonRobertSmith2.jpg2011DeajeonMikaKoivuniemi2.jpg18-game leader Robert Smith (left) averaged 227.17 for the round and fell to fifth place with 5815. The seven-time PBA champion had five games between 217 and 258 and a low game of 189.

    Sixth place Kim Min-Hee is the second women, who mad the cut to round robin with 5797 including seven pins handicap each game. Places seven and eight belonged to Jeong Seung-Joo, Korea, and Kim Hyun-Bum, the only other KPBA pro, who advanced, with 5777 and 5728, respectively.

    Reigning PBA Player of the Year and current World Bowling Tour men's ranking leader, Mika Koivuniemi (right), Finland, fired back-to-back 300 games (No. 11 and 12 in the finals) to leap from 14th to ninth place with 5726 (238.58 average). Koivuniemi's 1477 series also included games of 211, 217, 234 and 215.

    Sasaki Tomoyuki of the Japan Bowling Congress (JBC) leaped from 19th to tenth place with 5718 behind a 1501 series today. Lim Dong-Sung of the Korean men's national team (KNT) was eleventh with 5709.

    Kim Kyung-Min, Korea, hit the cutoff number for 12th place with 5704 or an average of 237.67. His compatriot Choi Tae-Seung had the 13th 300 in the fourth game but had to settle for 31st place with 5514.

    2011DeajeonOpenLogo2.jpg WBTLogo.jpgThe Daejeon International Bowling Tournament, the sixth stop of the inaugural World Bowling Tour, will be held at Daejeon World Cup Stadium Bowling Center in Daejeon, Korea, from Aug. 8-26, 2011.

    Daejeon, located in the center of the country, is South Korea's fifth largest metropolis with a population of over 1.5 million in 2010. The Stadium was constructed in preparation for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

    The tournament organized by the Korea Professional Bowling Association (KPBA) offers total prize money of 200 million South Korean Won (KW) or approximately 186.720 U.S. Dollar. 30 million Won will be distributed in the preliminaries and the remaining 170 million are the payout for the main event.

    The winner will walk away with the 50 million KW top prize or approx. $46.680. The first runner-up receives 25 million with 12 million going to the third-place finisher, while fourth and fifth place are worth 9 and 7 million won, resp.

    The top 125 qualifiers joined a group of one hundred players made up from members of KPBA, Korean National Team, DBC, Japan Professional Bowlers Association (JPBA), Japan Bowling Congress (JBC) and invited international players, who were automatically seeded into the finals.

    Those 225 players bowled three blocks of six games over three days on a 44 feet oil pattern to cut to the top 48 who advanced to semifinal round to bowl another six game block with the previous pinfall total being carried forward.

    The top 12 after 24 games advanced to twelve games round robin match play to determine the top six players who will make the TV stepladder finals.

    The No. 4, 5 and 6 seed will square off in the opening shoot-out match. The winner takes on the No. 3 seed; the winner of that match bowls the No. 2 seed for the right to bowl the tournament leader for the title.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women will also earn points for the World Bowling Tour ranking (current standings).

    Results and photos courtesy of Asian Bowling Federation.

     


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    Standings after Round of 48


    The top 12 advance to round robin match play. Women's scores (F) including seven pins handicap each game.

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