Tommy Jones, Dayang Khairuniza earn No. 1 seed for stepladder finals in Japan

    02/11/12

    2012 World Bowling Tour #4

    Koivuniemi, Bok-Eum and Tan, Eun-Hee secure No. 2 and No. 3 seeds; Parkin wins women's shoot-out match to earn No. 4 seed

    2012IBCTommyJones.jpg2012IBCDayangKhairuniza.jpgTommy Jones (pictured left), United States, and Malaysia's Dayang Khairuniza (right) finished the six-game semifinal round of the International Bowling Championship 2012 supported by DHC atop the men's and women's leaderboard to earn the No. 1 seed for the stepladder finals Saturday at Hakata Star Lanes in Hakata, Japan.

    Jones and Khairuniza, who led the top nine men and top nine women into the TV finals, are just one win away from the 6 million Yen top prize (approx. $77,500) which will be awarded to both men's and women's champion.

    Jones, a 13-time PBA champion and PBA Player of the Year 2005-06, averaged 241.50 in the semis to leap one spot and to overtake the lead in the men's division with 3508 total and an average of 233.87 for 15 games.

    201112PBAMikaKoivuniemi.jpg2012IBCChoiBokEum.jpgReigning PBA Player of the Year and current World Bowling Tour point ranking leader, Mika Koivuniemi (left), Finland, posted the field-best 1478 series (246.33 avg.) to jump from 12th to second place with 3438 total.

    Qualifying leader Choi Bok-Eum (right), Korea, fell to third place behind a solid 1319 series en route to earn the No. 3 seed for the stepladder finals with 3423.

    The top three in each division advanced to the TV finals. Places 4-9 will determine the No. 4 seed for the stepladder finals in a single-game shoot-out match. Battling it out on the men's side will be three PBA pros and one player each from Korea, Malaysia and the host country Japan. Fresh off his victory in The International Mini, Dan MacLelland of Canada finished the 15-game preliminaries in fourth place with 3372 and was followed by USBC Masters champion Mike Fagan and runner-up Chris Barnes in fifth and sixth place with 3356 and 3324.

    Park Kyung-Sin of Korea started the day with a 149 game but managed to stay into the top 9 in seventh place with 3319. Shota Kawazoe rolled a 1367 semifinal series including a high game of 278 to jump from 21st to eighth place with 3288.

    Long-time Malaysian international, Zulmazran Zulkifli, closed out his set with 177, but maintained a 16-pin lead over PBA champion Scott Norton (184) to grab the ninth and last spot for the finals with 3279 and an average of 218.60.

    2012IBCCherieTan.jpg2011WWCJeonEunHee.jpgDayang Khairuniza started the final six-game round in third place trailing Missy Parkin and Diandra Asbaty, United States, by 33 and seven pins. The young Malaysian posted the third-highest 1363 series to claim the No. 1 seed for the TV stepladder finals with 3381 pinfall total and an average of 225.40 for 15 games.

    Block 1 leader Cherie Tan (left) of Singapore was five pins better than the Malaysian yet fell five pins short of the lead to take the No. 2 seed with 3376. World and Asian champion Jeon Eun-Hee (right), Korea, secured the No. 3 seed with the field-best 1390 series, a 231.67 average and 3373 pinfall total.

    15-time PWBA champion Carol Gianotti, Asutralia, was 50 pins off the pace for the top 3 in fourth place with 3323. Parkin, the reigning USBC Queens champion, finished in firth place with 3261. Sixth place belonged to 20-time PWBA champion and 10-time JPBA champion Wendy Macpherson, United States, with 3249.

    2012IBCMissyParkin.jpgZandra Aziela, Malaysia, was five pins behind in seventh place with 3244. Rounding out the top nine were Mari Kimura and Maki Nakano from the host country Japan with 3235 and 3221, respectively.

    Parkin (right, 267) defeated Macpherson (246), Nakano (218), Aziela (212), Kimura (208) and Gianotti (183) in the shoot-out match to earn the No. 4 seed in the stepladder finals.

    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 compete in separate divisions. Each division consisted 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 advanced to the semifinals.

    Those 24 bowled 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 qualified for the TV Finals.

    The top three in each division advanced straight to the TV stepladder finals on Saturday. 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 $77,000, with $38,500 and $19,250 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 almost $130,000 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 Semifinals


    Two blocks of three games. The top 9 advance to the TV finals.

     


    Women's Division - Standings after Semifinals


    Two blocks of three games. The top 9 advance to the TV finals.

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