Team USA's Kelly Kulick paces women's division after 6/12 qualifying games

    09/22/12

    2012 WSC

    Russian Alena Korobkova falls to second place and is sandwiched between Kulick and her team mate Shannon O'Keefe

    2012WSCKellyKulick.jpg2011EBT15AlenaKorobkova.jpgKelly Kulick (pictured left), United States, posted 1373 in Squad 3 Friday morning at Galactica Bowling Center in Limassol, Cyprus en route to lead the women's division of the World Singles Championships after 6 of 12 qualifying games.

    Kulick, who made sports history by winning the 2010 PBA Tournament of Champions to become the first woman to win a PBA Tour event, came out of the gates quickly with 279 and added games of 207, 218, 226, 205 and 238, an average of 228.83 for six games, to overtake day one leader Alena Korobkova (right) by three pins.

    2012WSCShannonOKeefe.jpg2012WSCDianaZavjalova.jpgThe Russian led the players of Squads 1 and 2, who completed their first block on Friday, with 1370 and an average of 228.33. Kulick's team mate Shannon O'Keefe (left) positioned herself in third place with 1363 and an average of 227.17.

    The 2007 World Champion in Singles at the Women's World Championships in Mexico, started her series in Squad 5 with games of 225, 233, 239, 247 and 219 but missed the top spot by ten pins due to 200 in the last game.

    Squad 4 leader Diana Zavjalova (right) of Latvia was 53 pins behind O'Keefe in fourth place with 1310. Two-time European Champion, Rebecka Larsen (below left) of Sweden was second to O'Keefe with 1298, good for fifth place overall.

    2012EBT12RebeckaLarsen.jpg2011WWCAliciaMarcanoKarenMarcano2.jpgEsther Cheah of Malaysia, the 2005 World Champion in Singles, fell from second to sixth place with 1295. Korobkova's compatriot Evgeniya Smirnova slipped from third to seventh place with 1290.

    PABCON champion Karen Marcano (pictured right with sister Alicia, left) of Venezuela was third in Squad 5 to move into eighth place with 1280. Rounding out the top 10 were World Games champion Krista Pöllänen of Finland and former World Ranking Masters champion Britt Brøndsted of Denmark with 1272 and 1271, respectively.

    2012WYCMastersJacquelineSijore.jpg2011BWCMaltaQSueAbela.jpgReigning World Champion in Singles, Jacqueline Sijore (left) of Malaysia, who won the title in Hong Kong in 2011, rollercoastered her way to 1243 to sit in 13th place. Sue Abela (right) of Malta currently holds the 24th and last spot to advance with 1181 or an average of 196.83.

    Squads 2 and 1 will bowl their second block on Saturday while Squads 4, 5 and 3 will complete the preliminaries on Sunday.

    All 57 women from 33 countries bowl 12 games of qualifying on the 41 feet WTBA Montreal oil pattern (Lane Map Guide). before the cut to the top 24 players, who advance to the finals Sept. 24 and 25.

    Free live streaming will be provided of the entire championships. To view the live streaming and the archived videos click here.

     


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    Women's Division - Qualifying Block 1/2 (all five squads)


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