Peter Hellström (pictured left) of Sweden averaged 257.17 in the opening qualifying block to take the lead in the men's division after the opening round in the 49th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup.

The two-time European Bowling Tour champion started his six-game series with back-to-back 267 games and a high game of 279and closed things out with back-to-back 236 low games and a final 258.

Photo Album 1

Another twelve players cracked the 1400-bar Monday at Sharovaya Molniya (translation: Lightning Ball or Fireball, after the meteor that struck the area last February) Bowling Center in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia.

Trailing Hellström by 48 pins to sit in second place was William Ching (left) of Venezuela, who used high games of 277 and 276 and four games between 224 and 257 for 1495 or an average of 249.17.

Third place belonged to Benshir Layoso, Philippines, who had high games of 279 and 277 and four games between 205 and 246 and a 1479 series (246.50). Vincent Cayez (right) of France was mere one pin behind Layoso in fourth place with 1478 including a 248 triplicate.

Bodo Konieczny (left) of Germany, silver medalist in Singles at the 2013 World Championships, toppled 1468 pins (279 high, 209 low) to take fifth place.

Sixth place belonged to Alex de Vries (right), Netherlands, who had 1437 including one of three 300 games in the round. 11th place Derek Lee of Macau (1426) and 18th place Kestutis Gudauskas (below left) of Lithuania (1387) had the others.

The three perfectos brought the total number of 300 games in BWC history to 54.

Rounding out the top 8, who will advance to round robin match play after 32 games, were Dmitri Chilkine of Belarus and Mykhaylo Kalika (right) of Ukraine, both on 1436.

Besides one 1500-series and twelve 1400-series there were another 26 players, who surpassed the 1300-mark.

After the first qualifying block, World Cup veteran Guy Caminsky of South Africa and Joel Tan of Singapore were tied for the 24th and last place to advance with 1364 or an average of 227.33.

The 49th edition of the World Cup drew male bowlers from 74 countries to tie Tegucigalpa, Honduras (2003) for the lowest number of entries in the past fifteen years.

The men are done for today and will return Tuesday for the second six-game block with Squad A starting at 8 a.m. and Squad B to follow at noon Krasnoyarsk Time (CET -7 hours; EST -13 hours).

The World Cup features a long qualifying format as all players bowl four six-game blocks over four days. The field is then cut to the top 24 men and top 24 women for eight additional games to determine the top eight for round-robin match play. After match play, the top three men and top three women advance to the stepladder finals.

BowlTV will provide live streaming of the entire World Cup from start to finish. To watch the live stream commented by Lucas Wiseman (pictured), click here.

Photos by Beat Grauwiler/Bowlingdigital.

 

Related Articles

49th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup Preview and Qualifiers

 

Review: Men's Round 1, Squad B