Shannon Pluhowsky and Liz Johnson (left, l-r, with Team USA head coach, Rod Ross) flew past Singapore's New Hui Fen and Jazreel Tan (right, l-r) in the Doubles championship match, 453-392, to give Team USA its first gold medal of the 2011 Women's World Championships Tuesday afternoon at Hong Kong Bowling City in Hong Kong, China.

Fourth-seeded Pluhowsky/Johnson, who eliminated their team mates and No. 1 seed, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard and Kelly Kulick,(below left, r-l)  in the semifinal, 455-419, both started the gold medal match with three consecutive strikes and never looked back.

Third-seeded New/Tan, who ousted No. 2 seed Kamilla Kjeldsen and Mai Ginge Jensen (pictured right, r-l), Denmark, in the other semifinal match, 454-391, had a slow start into the match (spare; open) and was unable to put any pressure on the Americans.

Johnson, who has won the Women's U.S. Open twice (1996; 2007) and USBC Queens in 2009 and even has won a title on the European Bowling Tour (Viernheim, Germany in 2006) had a pair of single-pin spares in frames four and five followed by another three-bagger, a spare and three strikes in the 10th frame for 247.

Pluhowsky, who won the USBC Queens in 2006 and a pair of World Cup titles in 2002 and 2004, suffered the American's sole open frame in the fourth but rebounded with two spares, two strikes and two spares to put the match away well before the final frame. Tan, who studies in the U.S. at Wichita State University, started with an open after failing to convert the 2-8-10 split and could not match her vigorous pace from the semifinal, where she fired a 268 game to carry her team mate to victory over the Danes, who had dominated Squad 3 earlier today.

Tan doubles in the second and third frame and again in the fifth and sixth before she struck three-times in the last frame for 215. New contributed 177 due to two open frames in the fourth and tenth frame.

The Singaporeans earned the silver medals, while USA and Denmark shared the bronze medal. It was the second medal for Singapore and Denmark in the championships after Shayna Ng shared the bronze in Singles with Mai Ginge Jensen. With two out of four events in the books, the United States lead the medal tally with one gold and one bronze.

Action shifts to the Trios preliminaries on Wednesday and Thursday. The finals start on Thursday afternoon at 3.30 pm.

The fourth Women's World Championships takes place at bowling center 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 compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in Singles, Doubles, Trios, five-player Team event, All Events and Masters in the nine-day event.

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 was played on "Paris" and Doubles was contested on "Seoul", while Trios and Team will feature both oil patterns (3 games on each pattern). Masters match play will be staged on dual lane condition (one lane dressed with the Seoul pattern and the other lane dressed with the Paris 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 the 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. Pictured left are commentators Jason Overstreet (l.) and Lucas Wiseman (r.) at work.

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.

 

2ß11 Women's World Championships - Doubles Finals