Dom Barrett, Birgit Pöppler earn the No. 1 seeds for Sunday's Bowling World Open TV Finals

    07/11/15

    2015 World Bowling Tour #13

    2015WBOBirgitPoppler2.jpg2015WBODomBarrett.jpgQualifying leaders Dom Barrett (pictured left) of England and Birgit Pöppler (right) of Germany refused to fall in the three-game semi-final round Saturday evening at Round1 Minamisuma bowling center in Tokyo, Japan, en route to earn the No. 1 seed for the TV Finals of the Bowling World Open.

    The finals as well as some side events will be conducted on Sunday, July 12, in a special six-lane bowling arena installed in an exhibition hall at Makuhari-Messe, a convention center outside Tokyo.

    Barrett, who carried his five game total of 1273 from the qualifying forward added 256, 226 and 214 to widen his lead to 118 pins and to finish atop the 33-player leaderboard with 1969 total, an average of 246.13 for eight games.

    2015WBOOskuPalermaa.jpg2015WBOBillONeill3.jpgFinnish two-handed bowler, Osku Palermaa (left), put together 724, the second-highest series in the semi-finals (10th place Tomoyuki Sasaki, Japan, had 726), including games of 268, 201 and 257 to leap from ninth to second place with 1851 (231.38).

    Bill O'Neill (right), United States, who - like Barrett - had a 300 game in qualifying this morning, was in danger to miss the cut to the top 4 after starting with 195 and 183. O'Neill closed with 237 and 615 for three games to secure third place with 1849 (231.13).

    Barrett and Palermaa own four PBA titles, while O'Neill has six titles, all three including one "major" title. Due to a cooperation between World Bowling and the PBA, the World Bowling Open will award a PBA title if won by a PBA member.

    2015WBOIsaoYamamoto5.jpg2015WBOJoeyYeo.jpg Japan's Isao Yamamoto (left) excited the Japanese fans in the packed house as his 652 series and 1836 total (229.50) was enough to earn the fourth and last spot, just ahead of Asian Games champion Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia, who missed the finals by three pins in fifth place with 1833.

    Pöppler, who led the 33 women's qualifiers into the semifinals with 1180 and an average of 236, couldn't match her pace from the qualifying but was able to weather a strong charge by Singapore's Joey Yeo (right).

    Leading her opponent by just one pin heading into the third game (eighth overall), Pöppler finished with a fine 221 game for 654 to earn the top spot with 1834 and an average of 229.25.

    2015WBOKarenMarcano2.jpg2015WBOKellyKulick.jpgYeo jumped from 10th to second place with 1820 (227.50), after posting the field-best 721 series, including games of 267, 246 and 208. Pan American Bowling Confederation champion Karen Marcano (left) finished her three-game block with a huge 256 game to overtake Kelly Kulick (right), United States by one pin to grab third place with 1795 (224.38).

    Kulick, the only woman who has won PBA Tour event (2010 PBA Tournament of Champions), battled it out for the last spot with Syaidatul Afifah of Malaysia. Leading by ten pins heading into the last game Kulick and Afifah tied at 198, which handed the No. 4 seed to the American.

    In the opening match of the men's TV finals, No. 1 Barrett will bowl the crowds' favorite, No. 4 Yamamoto, while Palermaa meets O'Neill in the other match. On the women's side, Pöppler has the questionable pleasure to bowl Kulick, while Yeo and Marcano square off in the other match. The winners will bowl for the title and the 10 million Yen top prize (approx. $81,600).

    Photos courtesy of Max Bulanov and Hero Noda.

    2015WBOPoster.jpg 2015JBCLogo.jpg The inaugural Bowling World Open, the 13th event on the 2015 World Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "major" tournaments, will be held from July 9-12 in Tokyo, Japan. The richest event on the 2015 WBT schedule offers total prize fund of 48 million Japanese Yen, currently 394,750 U.S. Dollar as of today.

    Men and women will compete in separate divisions for the same amount of prize money (24 million Yen each) using the same format. The men's and women's champion will walk away with the 10 million Yen top prize (approx. $82,240).

    The Japanese and the international preliminaries got underway on Thursday, July 9, at Round1 Minamisuma and Shinagawa Prince Hotel bowling centers in Tokyo, Japan.

    There were 110 spots in each division available for the qualifying of the main event which were filled with 20 players from the Japanese preliminaries, 20 players from the international preliminaries and 70 invited players.

    All players, who were invited by the organizers, skipped the preliminaries and were automatically seeded into the main tournament.

    The World Bowling Open main event featured five games of qualifying with the top 33 advancing to the semifinals. All pinfall carries over into the three-game round after which the field will be trimmed to the top 4 men and the top 4 women who will proceed to the TV Finals in single-elimination match play format.

    The top seeded player after eight games will bowl the No. 4 seed and the second-seeded player takes on the No. 3 seed. The winners will bowl for the title.

    The Bowling World Open treats men and women equally with 10 million Yen top prize (approx. $81,600) each going to the men's and women's winner. The first runner-up receives 5 million Yen (approx. $40,800) and the losers of the opening matches will finish tied for third place, worth 1.5 million Yen apiece (approx. $12.240).

    MakuhariMesseTokyoJapan.jpg The international preliminaries will be held at Shinagawa Prince Hotel bowling center Thursday and Friday, July 9 & 10. The qualifying round of the main event and the semifinals will follow Saturday, July 11, at Round1 Minamisuma bowling center, which will also host the local preliminaries.

    The finals (to be broadcasted by TV Tokyo) will be conducted on Sunday, July 12, in a special six-lane bowling arena installed in an exhibition hall at Makuhari-Messe, a convention center outside Tokyo (pictured right).

    The Organizing Committee has chosen the 43-foot Tokyo oil pattern, one of the long patterns from the World Bowling bank of patterns. The Tokyo pattern will be used in all three tournament venues.

    In addition the OC has announced that bowlers can register maximum six bowling balls during the whole tournament and cannot change or add balls. Only registered balls are allowed.

    For the latest information, please click here or on the tournament logo on the right bar.

    WBTLogo_small.jpg The 2015 World Bowling Tour, which actually got underway in November 2014, currently consists of 20 tournaments in the Middle East (8), United States (7), Asia (3) and Europe (2) including eight "majors" and 12 regular tournaments.

    Players earn ranking points based on how they finish in each event. The current points system is based on a continuous two-year cycle, so some points earned in 2013 and all points from the 2014 and 2015 are added to determine the points list.

    The top three men and top three women in the WBT points list will be invited to compete in the 2015 World Bowling Tour Finals in the beginning of 2016.

    World Bowling provides governance to international bowling and is made up of 134 bowling international federations. For more information on the World Bowling Tour, click here.

     


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    2015 Bowling World Open - Men's Semifinal Results


    Top 4 advance to the TV Finals

     


    2015 Bowling World Open - Women's Semifinal Results


    Top 4 advance to the TV Finals

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