Choi Bok-Eum, Missy Parkin win qualifying of International Bowling Championship

    02/10/12

    2012 World Bowling Tour #4

    Lead the top 24 men and the top 24 women into Friday's semifinals

    2012IBCChoiBokEum.jpg2011USBCQMissyParkin2.jpgChoi Bok-Eum (pictured right) of Korea and Missy Parkin (left), United States, won the qualifying of the International Bowling Championship 2012 supported by DHC en route to lead the top 24 men and the top 24 women into Friday's semifinals at Hakata Star Lanes in Hakata, Japan.

    Left-handed Bok-Eum, the anchor bowler of the highly successful Korean national team, maintained his lead in the men's division with a 686 series in the third and last three-game block to lead the 84-player field with 2104 pinfall total and an average of 233.78.

    2011BWCTommyJones3.jpg201112PBAChrisBarnes.jpgThe Korean held a 45-pin lead over PBA Player of the Year 2005-06, Tommy Jones (left). who was second with 2059. The top 9 consists of five Americans (Jones, Chris Barnes (r.), Sean Rash, Bill O'Neill and Michael Fagan) and four Koreans (Bok Eum, Park Kyung-Sin Jang Dong-Chul and Cho Young-Seon).

    Barnes, a 13-time PBA champion, had the field-best 723 series in block 3 to leap from 20th to fourth place with 2024.

    Rounding out the top 10 was Canadian Dan MacLelland with 1979. Daisuke Yoshida was the best Japanese qualifier and one of eight locals, who survived the first cut, in 11th place with 1962.

    2011EBT04ZulmazranZulkifli.jpg201112PBAPatrickAllen.jpgReigning PBA Player of the Year Mika Koivuniemi, Finland, finished qualifying in 12th place with 1960. Zulmazran Zulkifli (left) was the sole player of the Malaysian national team who advanced to the semifinals finishing 18th with 1928.

    PBA champions Patrick Allen (right) and Scott Norton, United States, made the cut in 19th and 23rd place with 1927 and 1911, respectively. Fumiyoshi Nakae, Japan, took the 24th and last spot with 1909 and an average of 212.11.

    USBC Queens champion Missy Parkin closed out her 673 series on Friday morning with a huge 263 game to help grab the lead in the 84-player women's division with 2051 nine-game total and an average of 227.89. Her compatriot Diandra Asbaty, a past World, World Ranking Masters and World Cup champion, was 26 pins behind in second place with 2025.

    2011USBCOCWendyMacpherson.jpg2011USWOCarolGianotti2.jpgDayang Khairuniza of Malaysia leaped from fifth to third place with 2018. Yukari Homma was the best of twelve Japanese women, who finished among the top 24, in fourth place with 2016.

    Block 1 leader Cherie Tan of Singapore was fifth with 2008 and was followed by former PWBA stars Wendy Macpherson (left), United States, and Carol Gianotti (right), Australia, in sixth and seventh place with 1998.

    Block 2 leader Siti Shazwani suffered a sub-par 565 series and fell to ninth place with 1988. World and Asian champion Jeon Eun-Hee was the best Korean woman in tenth place with 1983.

    201112PBAKellyKulick.jpg2012IntlOpenShannonPluhowsky.jpgKelly Kulick (left) United States, who made sports history by winning the 2010 PBA Tournament of Champions to become the first woman to win a PBA Tour event, had the highest 709 series in the final block to jump from 44th to 15th place with 1924.

    Her fellow Team USA member, four-time World Champion Shannon Pluhowsky (right) was 20th with 1989 with Kim Monn-Jeong of Korea in 21st place with 1889 and Daphne Tan of Singapore in 23rd place with 1880.

    Keiko Aikoh and Hiroko Shimizu, Japan, were tied for 24th place at 1878 (208.67). Aikoh advanced thanks to the higher last game, 223 to 198.

    The top 24 men and the top 24 women will return on Friday afternoon for semifinals starting a 4.30 p.m. local time.

    2012IBCLogo.jpg The International Bowling Championship 2012 supported by DHC 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 23 seeded and invited players.

    All 84 men and 84 women bowled nine games of qualifying divided into three blocks of three games. Based on the nine-game total, the top 24 men and the top 24 women will advance to the semifinals.

    Those 24 will bowl another two three-game blocks on Friday 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 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.

    In the stepladder, 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 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.

     


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    Men's Division - Standings after Qualifying


    Three blocks of three games. The top 24 advance to the semifinals.

     


    Women's Division - Standings after Qualifying


    Three blocks of three games. The top 24 advance to the semifinals.

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