John Szczerbinski and Chris Barnes (pictured left, l-r) averaged 228.25 in the Men's Doubles competition of the World Championships en route to lead the first of two qualifying squads Wednesday morning at Sunset Station's Strike Zone in Henderson, Nev.

Barnes, a 15-time PBA champion and defending WTBA World Champion in Team and Masters, led the duo with the squad-best 1502 series (250.33 average) on the 39-feet Seoul lane conditioning pattern including the fourth 300 game of the Championships and the first 800 series (245, 300, 264). Szczerbinski contributed 1237.

Barnes and Szczerbinski finished with a huge 481 game for 2739 total to take a 62-pin lead over Canada's David Simard and PBA Touring pro Dan MacLelland (right, r-l), who closed out with 494 to shoot into second place with 2677 (223.08).

Choi Bok-Eum and Kim Jun-Yung (left, l-r) of South Korea were 18 pins behind the Canadians in third place with 2659 (221.58).

England's Mike Quarry and PBA champion Stuart Williams (right, l-r) led the 54 doubles after five games between 403 and 492 but slipped to fourth place with 2647 (220.58) due to a final 364 game. The top four duos at the end of the qualifying will advance to the medal round.

The second Korean team in this squad, Shin Seung-Hyeon and Cho Young-Seon finished the round with 457 and 462 but fell 13 pins short off the top 4 in fifth place with 2634.

Denmark's Frederik Øhrgaard and Jimmy Mortensen (pictured with coach Mika Koivuniemi, r-l), who led the field after three games with 1402 (455, 489, 458), finished further seven pins behind in sixth place with 2627.

Singles World Champion Bill O'Neill and fellow PBA champion Tommy Jones were seventh with 2602.

With the bowlers from Squad 1 having completed 12 out of 24 games in All-Events (combined qualifying results in Singles, Doubles, Trios and Team), Barnes leads with 2866 total and an average of 238.33. O'Neill slipped to second place with 2691 with Korea's Shin in third at 2680.

Squad B bowlers will bowl their six-game qualifying block starting at 3 p.m. PDT. The semifinals and finals are scheduled to start at 6 and 7 p.m. with the award ceremony to follow immediately afterwards.

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The World Tenpin Bowling Association World Championships run from Aug. 16 thru 31, 2013 at Sunset Station's Strike Zone in Henderson, Nev. in the Las Vegas area. The Championships will award medals in six disciplines - Singles, Doubles, Trios, Team, All Events and Masters.

The entire competition will be broadcast live on BOWL.com's BowlTV. Bowling fans will be able to watch live and on demand for free. The schedule is available at BOWL.com/LiveStream.

 

Men's Doubles - Chris Barnes 300