Squad 1 leaders Kimmo Lehtonen and Joonas Jehkinen (pictured left, l-r) of Finland remained unchallenged in Squad 4 on Tuesday morning to finish the Doubles preliminaries atop the leaderboard with 2729 total and an average of 227.42 en route to earn the No. 1 seed for the medal round at the Men's World Championships in Abu Dhabi.

Japan's Daisuke Yoshida and Shusaku Asato (right, l-r) stayed in second place with 2725 (227.08) and Korea's Shin Seunghyeon and Kang Heewon remained in third place with 2717 (226.42).

The only players of Squad 4, who made it into the medal round, were Park Jongwoo and Choi Bokeum (pictured left, l-r) of Korea, who beat out Swedes Daniel Fransson and Martin Larsen (right, r-l) for fourth and last place by 25 pins, 2703 to 2688.

The situation for the Squad 4 bowlers was pretty clear. The aim was to win the squad and surpass at least the fourth-placed Swedes (+288 based on a 200 average).

Plan B was to finish second and beat the third-place Koreans (+317) or to finish third and overtake second-placed Japanese bowlers (+325) or to finish fourth and beat Lehtonen/Jehkinen (+329), who had led since the very first squad.

The day, however, started with bad news for the Philippines as 2006 World Champion in Masters, Biboy Rivera (pictured left), suffered knee injuries during the practice session. He was brought to the hospital and is in danger to miss the rest of the World Championships.

Korea's Choi Bokeum (259) and Park Jongwoo (248) came out of the gates commandingly taking the lead with 507 with Central American & Caribbean Games Doubles champions Cristian Azcona (202) and Jean Perez (276) (right, r-l) of Puerto Rico in second place on 478.

2006 World Champion in Doubles Robert Andersson and reigning World Youth Championships Masters champion Jesper Svenssson (left, l-r) started with 470 and 461 to move to the top after game two with 931. Korea was second with 926 and Puerto Rico third with 922. Averaging over 230, the three duos would be ahead of leader Finland (227.42) if they would maintain their scoring pace.

Sweden and Korea remained in 1, 2 after three games based on average with 1384 (230.67) and 1372 (228.67) with previous leaders Finland and Japan in third and fourth position at that time.

Asian Games Doubles champions Toshihiko Takahashi and Yoshinao Masatoki (right, r-l) of Japan rebounded from a slow start (353, 385) with 485. Takahashi had the front 11 but failed to strike on the last shot finishing with 298, the highest game of the Championships so far.

Bokeum and Jongwoo, who won the gold medal at the Asian Games with the Korean team, took the lead in Squad 4 and overall with 455 in game four and 1827 total (228.38), while the Swedes fell out of the top 4 to fifth place with 1801 (225.12).

Malaysia's Adrian Ang and Zulmazran Zulkifli (left, r-l) were ninth with 1772 (221.50) and Hong Kong bowlers Wu Siu Hong and Michael Mak (right, l-r) rounded out the top 10 with 1745 (218.12).

Korea (425) and Sweden (395) both struggled in the penultimate game and lost some ground. Korea slipped to fourth place overall with 2252 and needed a 437 final to stay ahead of Swedes Fransson and Larsen. The Puerto Ricans, who moved into second place in the squad with a 494 game and 2215 total had to catch the Koreans and the Swedes to make it into the medal round.

Swedes Andersson/Svensson probably had to shoot 500 or higher and hope for low games of their opponents to have a realistic chance to survive the cut. When the dust had settled, the Korean's 451 game was enough to squeeze into the top 4, while Svensson/Andersson had to settle for sixth place with 2680 despite a 484 last game.

Malaysian Ang/Zulkifli finished with a 492 game for 2646, good for third place in squad 4 and ninth overall. Puerto Ricans Azcona/Perez were one place behind with 2629. The medal round starts at 13.30 with the first semifinal match. The No. 1 will bowl No. 4 and No. 2 meets No. 3 in a one-game semi-final match. The No. 1 seed will decide whether to bowl in the first or in the second semi-final match. The winners of the semi-final matches bowl for gold and silver while the losers share the bronze medal.

With 12 of 24 games in All-Events (combined scores in Singles, Doubles, Trios and Teams) in the books, lefty Kimmo Lehtonen of Finland leads the field of 272 players from 49 countries with 2780 total and an average of 231.67.

Korean lefty Choi Bokeum was mere seven pins behind to sit in second place with 2773 (231.08). World Champion in Singles, Dan MacLelland (right with Shaker Al Hassan, right. Photo courtesy of Gilles Vandevoorde photography) of Canada, the best right-handed player in the field, was further 19 pins behind in third place with 2754 (229.50).

The top 3 after 24 games will earn the medals while the top 24 will advance to the Championships-ending Masters competition on Sunday, December 14. Singles silver medalist, Shaker Al Hassan, United Arab Emirates, currently holds the 24th and last place to advance with 2627 and an average of 218.92.