Field is set for the International Bowling Championship in Hakata, Japan

    02/09/12

    2012 World Bowling Tour #4

    Lee Ik-Kyu, Jacqueline Sijore lead top 16 men and women from the International Trials into the main event; Yoshihiro Haji, Mayumi Yoshida finish atop the third local qualifier

    2012IBCLogo.jpg 2012IBCHakataStarLanes.jpgThe field is set for the main event of the International Bowling Championship 2012 supported by DHC which will be held from Feb. 9-11 at Hakata Star Lanes, a 60 wooden-lane center on two floors, in Hakata, Japan.

    The tournament is the fourth stop of the 2012 World Bowling Tour and offers total prize fund of 30 million Yen or more than 380,000 U.S. Dollars.

    Men and women will compete in separate divisions. Each division consists of 84 players - 45 local bowlers (15 each from three pre-qualifying tournament), the top 16 of the international trials (Feb. 7 and 8), as well as seeded and invited players.

    The prize money for each division is the same, with the men's and women's winner each taking 6 million Yen or more than $75,000, with $37,500 and $18,750 going to the second and third place finishers, respectively..

    In addition to the enormous prize fund, a 300-game award of 10 million Yen or approx. USD125,000 will be given to EVERY player who rolls a 300 game during the stepladder finals of the International Bowling Championship 2012 supported by DHC.

    The TV Final to be broadcasted nationwide by NHK Global Media Services, Inc will be staged on specially constructed lanes in Diamond Hall on the second floor of the building.

    Yoshihiro Haji and Mayumi Yoshida of the Japan Professional Bowlers Association led the third and final local pre-qualifying tournament with the top 15 men and women advancing to the main event.

    Haji used three-game series of 748 and two 719s to finish atop the men's field with 2186 nine-game total and an average of 242.89. Japan Bowling Congress member Yuugo Imakita was 17 pins behind in second place with 2159.

    Yoshida had a high series of 714 and added 693 and 638 to lead the women's division with 2045 and an average of 227.22. Fellow JPBA bowlers Yuko Nakatani and Keiko Aiko were in second and third with 2041 and 2016, respectively.

    The International Trials featured four squads over six games total pinfall. Each block was split into two three-game blocks, one on each floor of Hakata Star Lanes. The highest six-game total was used for the qualifying standings.

    2011DeajeonRobertSmith2.jpg2011EBT04SyafiqRidhwan2.jpg Lee Ik-Kyu of Korea and Jacqueline Sijore of Malaysia led the top 16 men and the top 16 women into the main event.

    Ik-Kyu had games of 247, 235, 235, 299, 215 and 234 to top the 32-player men's trials with 1465 total and an average of! 244.17. His compatriot Seo Jeong-Hwan was second with 1447 and was followed by former U.S. Open champion Robert Smith (pictured left), United States, with 1437.

    Places four to six belonged to Malaysian national team members Syafiq Ridhwan (right, 1423), Alex Liew (1414) and Zulmazran Zulkifli (1410).

    201112PBAMikeFagan.jpg201112PBAScottNorton.jpgJoining those six in the main event were USBC Masters champion Mike Fagan (left, 8th, 1399) and fellow PBA champion Scott Norton (right), both United States (12th, 1370), Australia's George Frilingos (13th, 1366), Aaron Kong, Malaysia (15th, 1364) as well as another six Korean players including Cho Young-Seon, who hit the cutoff for 16th place with 1356 or an average of 226.

    Malaysian national team member Sijore (below left) paced the 28-player women's trials with 1402 six-game total and an average of 233.67. The 2009 Women's World Championships Singles champion had games of 215, 237, 213, 267, 244 and 226 to beat out her compatriot Dayang Khairuniza for the top spot by ten pins. Khairuniza was second with 1392.

    2011BWCDiandraAsbaty3.jpg2012IBCJacquelineSijore.jpgThird place belonged to Team USA member Diandra Asbaty (right) with 1386. World and Asian champion Jeon Eun-Hee was fourth with 1368. Rounding out the top 5 was 20-time PWBA and 10-time JPBA champion Wendy Macpherson, United States, with 1363.

    Also advancing to main event were another two players from Malaysia and four each from Korea and Singapore. Rounding out the top 16 were current World Bowling Tour women's point ranking leader Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, United States (7th, 1354) and fellow PWBA champion Carol Gianotti, Australia, Australia. Gianotti tied Shayna Ng of Singapore for the 16th and last spot to advance at 1325 (220.83) and advanced due to the higher last game, 214-176.

    2012IBCLogo.jpg The main event of the International Bowling Championship will be held from Thursday, Oct. 9 through Saturday, Oct. 11.

    All 84 men and 84 women will bowl nine games of qualifying divided into three blocks of three games - the first block on Thursday and blocks 2 and 3 on Friday. Based on the nine-game total, the top 24 men and the top 24 women will advance to the semifinals.

    Those 24 will bowl a six-game block with the pinfall from the qualifying being carried forward. The top 9 men and the top 9 women with the highest 15-game total will proceed to TV Finals.

    The top three in each division will directly advance to the TV stepladder finals. Bowlers seeded fourth to ninth will compete in a single-game shoot-out match, The winner of that match will earn the No. 4 seed for the stepladder.

    In the TV stepladder finals, which will be staged on specially constructed lanes, the No. 4 seed will bowl the No. 3 seed. The winner of the single-game match will take on the No. 2 seed for the right to bowl the No. 1 seed for the title. The men's and women's winner of the championship matches will earn the title and the $75,000 top prize.

     


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    IBC International Trials - Men's Division


    The top 16 qualify for the main event.

     


    IBC International Trials - Women's Division


    The top 16 qualify for the main event.

     


    IBC Pre-Qualifying #3 (local bowlers only) - Men's Division


    The top 15 qualify for the main event.

     


    IBC Pre-Qualifying #3 (local bowlers only) - Women's Division


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