The fourth Women's World Championships got underway Saturday morning with the first of three squads of Singles at Hong Kong Bowling City, a 48-laner inside EMAX mall in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong, China.

Among the players, who took to the lanes at 9 a.m., were 2007 and 2009 Singles world champions Shannon O'Keefe (pictured left) and Stefanie Nation (right), United States, and two-time gold medalists from the 2009 WWC, Clara Juliana Guerrero (below left) of Colombia (All Events and Masters) and Korea's Hwang Sun-Ok (below right; Doubles and Team), and 2009 Team champion Son Yun-Hee.

34 of the 58 players in Squad 1 started with a 200-plus game. Son led the field with 258 and added 256 in game two for 514. Another two players, Daphne Tan of Singapore (504) and O'Keefe (500) reached the 500-mark. Hwang leaped to fourth place with 494 behind a 279 game.

Son matched her 257 average in game three for 771, but O'Keefe (768) narrowed the gap to three pins with a 268 game. Both players broke the previous WWC record for three games set by Cha Min Jung, Korea, back in 1999 (747).

Tan (pictured left with Geraldine Ng, right) dropped to third with 731 with Hwang in fourth at 729 and the second Singaporean, Geraldine Ng, in fifth at 725. Rounding out the top 7 players, who had a 700-plus series were Sweden's Rebecka Larsen (706) and Nina Flack (703).

In the fourth game, Son fired a 279 to widen her lead to 48 pins with 1050 or an average of 262.50. O'Keefe, who posted 234, also cracked the 1000-mark with 1002. Tan was mere four pins behind with 998.

Latvia's Diana Zavjalova (left) leaped into fourth with 964 behind a 269 game, while Hwang dropped to fifth with 945 due to a low game of 216. Larsen was close behind in sixth with 943 and was followed by Ng in seventh with 930. Guerrero moved into eighth behind back-to-back 268 games.

The top three Son (1270), O'Keefe (1241) and Tan (1207) remained unchanged after games of 220, 239 and 209 in the fifth game. Ng moved into fourth place with 1187 behind a 257 and Guerrero continued to leap with a 256 game and 1181 total, good fir fifth place.

Son (right) finished her series with 226 but missed the 1500-mark by four pins with 1496 and an average of 249.33. The top 5 broke the 12-year-old championship record for six games of 1407.

Second place belonged to O'Keefe with 1441 after finishing with a 200 game. Ng (244) and Guerrero (249) both overtook Tan in the last game. Ng maintained a one-pin lead to sit in third place with 1431, while Guerrero broke her own record with 1430 to sit in fourth place. Fifth place Tan (1416) is already out of contention for the top four, who will make it to the semifinals on Sunday afternoon.

Zavjalova landed in sixth place with 1384 and was followed by Hwang in seventh with 1380. Colombia's Rocio Restrepo (left) closed out her series with 263 and 257 to take eighth place with 1366.

Tannya Roumimper, Indonesia, finished with 259 to move into ninth place with 1364. Rounding out the top 10 was Larsen with 1342. At the 2009 Women's World Championships in Las Vegas, the cut for the top 4 was 1345.

Rikke Holm Agerbo, Denmark, had the highest game of the day so far when she rolled a 290 in the fifth game en route 1275, good for 26zh place.

The fourth Women's World Championships takes place at Hong Kong Bowling City in Hong Kong, China, from Sept. 1 through 11, 2011.

171 of the best women bowlers in the world featuring 33 countries will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in Singles, Doubles, Trios, five-player Team event, All Events and Masters.

The WTBA patterns "Seoul" and "Paris" will be used in Hong Kong. The 39-feet Seoul pattern is the second-shortest of the four "medium" WTBA certified lane patterns. With a length of 47 feet, Paris is the longest of all 12 certified patterns.

Singles will be played on "Paris" and Doubles will be contested on "Seoul", while Trios and Team will feature both oil patterns (3 games on each pattern). The Masters will be staged on dual lane condition (one lane dressed with the medium pattern and the other lane dressed with the long pattern).

The top four players and teams after six games in Singles, Doubles, Trios and Team, respectively, will advance to the semifinals. The No. 1 meet No. 4 and No. 2 takes on No. 3. The winners will determine the world champion, while losers will share the bronze medal. All matches are single-game matches.

Bowlingdigital will cover the 2011 Women's World Championships live from Hong Kong with stories and results after each squad and each round of the finals.

Bowling fans around the world will be able to watch all qualifying rounds, semifinals and finals live on BOWL.com and the coverage will be available on demand as well. The live streaming coverage is a partnership between USBC, WTBA, the Hong Kong Tenpin Bowling Congress and Bowlingdigital.com. The live streaming schedule is identical with the tournament schedule.