Inaugurated in the year 2013, the World Senior Championships will set new participation records when the third edition of the premiere event for men and women age 50 and older will be staged August 13-20 at Dream-Bowl Palace in Unterföhring in suburban Munich, Germany, Europe’s biggest bowling center featuring 52 Brunswick equipped lanes.

262 bowlers, 163 men and 109 women, from 44 countries will bowl for medals in five disciplines. The two previous editions of the event, which is held every two years, were both contested in Las Vegas.

The inaugural World Senior Championships 2013 at Red Rock Lanes drew 213 players (123 men and 90 women) from 33 countries, while 206 players (117 men and 89 women from 33 countries participated in the second edition at Sam’s Town Bowling Center.

Bowlingdigital.com will provide onsite coverage of the event commencing Tuesday, August 15, with the singles preliminaries all the way through to the masters finals which will conclude the Championships on Sunday, August 20.

The European Tenpin Bowling Federation (ETBF) is represented by 29 countries alone, including Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jersey, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Wales and the host country Germany.

Eleven countries come from the Pan American Bowling Confederation (PABCON), including Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, United States and Venezuela, while just four countries from the Asian Bowling Federation (ABF) take part, including Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia.

Up to four men and four women per country (players must be 50 years of age or above in the year of the championship) will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in singles, doubles, four-player teams, all-events and masters in the seven-day competition.

All rounds will be broadcast live on the internet. For more information on the World Senior Championships 2017, click here or download Bulletin No. 1 and Bulletin No. 2.

Bowling officially gets underway Aug. 15. Singles, doubles and team events include six games of qualifying before the field is narrowed to the top four who advance to the medal round. The winners of the semi-finals bowl for gold and silver, the losers share the bronze medals.

The top 3 players in all-events (combined scores in singles, doubles and team preliminaries) also earn medals. The top 24 in all-events determine the medalists in masters in best-of-three games single-elimination match play format. The top 8 receive a first-round bye.

In accordance with World Bowling Statutes and Playing Rules Chapter 4.6.2, the 2017 World Senior Championships will be contested on one lane condition selected from the World Bowling bank of patterns. The specific lane pattern to be used in Munich will be chosen from Bank 2 (formerly “medium”) patterns and will be announced at the Team Managers’ Meeting on Sunday, August 13.

The countries to beat in World Senior Championships are the teams from the United States and Sweden.

Senior Team USA led the medal tally in 2013 winning six gold, three silver and six bronze, and in 2015 with a 4-3-7 record. Sweden was second on both occasions with 3-5-5- and 2-2-2, respectively. Mexico, Australia and Canada are the only other countries who have won gold medals in World Senior Championships competition.

15 current and former World Senior Champions, nine men and six women, will be on hand in Munich.

In the men’s competition, Andrew Frawley (left with women’s masters champion Susanne Olsson) of Australia will put his titles in singles and masters on the line same as Nicolas Ruiz and Julio Soto of Colombia (right, l-r), who are the defending champions in doubles, and 2015 team champions Bob Learn Jr., Lennie Boresch and Ron Mohr, United States.

Joining Learn, Boresch and Mohr (left with John Petraglia) on this year’s squad is PBA and USBC Hall of Famer, Parker Bohn III, 54, a 35-time PBA champion and four-time PBA50 titlist.

Other returning champions are Christer Pettersson, Stefan Yngström and Christer Danielsson of Sweden (right, with Jan Nordberg and coach Magnus Johnson), who won gold in team and singles (Danielsson) in 2013. John Chapman of Canada, who won gold in all-events in 2015, is not on the Canadian team for Munich.

On the women’s side, all four members of Senior Team Sweden are World Senior Champions. Susanne Olsson, who is the defending masters champion, and her team mates Lena Sulkanen and Christel Carlsson (left with Ann-Ki Larsson Carlsson) won the team gold in 2013. Kristina Nordenson (below right) puts her singles title on the line.

Also competing in Germany are 2013 doubles champion Teresa Piccini of Mexico and Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour standout Tish Johnson, United States, who was part of the gold medal team two years ago.

Her team mates and defending doubles champions Paula Vidad and Lucy Sandelin as well as all-events gold medalist Robin Romeo (left) will not return. Joining Johnson on Senior Team USA 2017 are two-time PWBA champion and World Cup champion Lynda Barnes and legends Carolyn Dorin-Ballard and Leanne Hulsenberg, who own 20 and 26 Professional Women’s Bowling Association titles, respectively.

The 4th World Senior Championships will return to Las Vegas in August 2019, this time to the new South Point Bowling Plaza, which is part of the South Point Hotel and Casino.

World Bowling provides governance to international bowling and is made up of 134 bowling international federations. For more information on World Bowling, click here.

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World Senior Championships 2017 – Schedule of Events

Local Time is Central European Summer Time (CEST).

Saturday – August 12, 2017
10:00 – 18:00 Ball Registration / Unofficial Practice

Sunday – August 13, 2017
10:00 – 18:00 Ball Registration / Unofficial Practice
18:00 – 19:00 Team Managers’ Meeting
Last day of arrival

Monday – August 14, 2017
09:00 – 18:00 Ball Registration (continued)
09:00 – 10:30 Official Practice (Squad A)
10:30 – 11:30 Lane Maintenance
11:30 – 13:00 Official Practice (Squad B)
13:00 – 14:00 Lane Maintenance
14:00 – 15:30 Official Practice (Squad C)
15:30 – 16:30 Lane Maintenance
16:30 – 18:00 Official Practice (Squad D)
18:30 – 19:30 Opening Ceremony

Tuesday – August 15, 2017
08:30 – 12:00 Singles – Men (Squad A)
12:00 – 13:00 Lane Maintenance
13:00 – 16:30 Singles – Men (Squad B)
16:30 – 17:30 Lane Maintenance
17:30 – 21:00 Singles – Women (Squad A)

Wednesday – August 16, 2017
08:30 – 12:00 Singles – Women (Squad B)
12:00 – 13:00 Lane Maintenance
12:30 – 13:30 Singles Semi-Finals and Finals – Men & Women
13:30 – 14:30 Lane Maintenance
13:30 Medal Presentation for Singles (Men & Women)
14:30 – 18:00 Doubles – Men (Squad A)

Thursday – August 17, 2017
08:30 – 12:00 Doubles – Men (Squad B)
12:00 – 13:00 Lane Maintenance
13:00 – 16:30 Doubles – Women (Squad A)
16:30 – 17:30 Lane Maintenance
17:30 – 21:00 Doubles – Women (Squad B)

Friday – August 18, 2017
10:00 – 13:00 Team – Men – 1st Block
13:00 – 14:00 Lane Maintenance
14:00 – 17:00 Team – Women – 1st Block
17:00 – 18:00 Lane Maintenance
18:00 – 19:00 Doubles Semi-Finals and Finals – Men & Women
19:00 Medal Presentation for Doubles (Men & Women)

Saturday – August 19, 2017
08:30 – 11:30 Team – Men – 2nd Block
11:30 – 12:30 Lane Maintenance
12:30 – 15:30 Team – Women – 2nd Block
15:30 – 16:00 Lane Maintenance
16:00 – 17:30 Team Semi-Finals and Finals – Men & Women
17:30 Medal Presentation for All Events (Men & Women)
18:00 Medal Presentation for Team (Men & Women)

Sunday – August 20, 2017
08:30 – 10:00 Masters (Round 1) – Men & Women
10:00 – 11:00 Lane Maintenance
11:00 – 12:30 Masters (Round 2) – Men & Women
12:30 – 13:30 Lane Maintenance
13:30 – 15:00 Masters (Round 3) – Men & Women
15:00 – 16:30 Masters (Round 4) – Men & Women
16:30 – 18:00 Masters (Round 5) – Men & Women
18:00 Medal Presentation for Masters (Men & Women)
20:30 Farewell Celebration