Men's World Championship - Medals and Records
09/11/06
The inaugural Men's World Championship is over. The event, which was held at the Asiad Bowling Center in Busan, Korea, from August 27 through September 9 draw 247 players from 44 countries.
38 countries have sent a full team (six players), while Bulgaria (4), Thailand (4), Gibraltar (2), Indonesia (2) and Slovakia (2) could only compete in all disciplines. Israel (5) competed in all disciplines but had only one trio and two doubles.
With the last day of arrival on Tuesday, August 29, and the departure day on Saturday, September 9, the event took at least 12 days. Most of the teams arrived earlier and lost another day during the journey to Korea.
The 8-day competition was held on two lane conditions - long and short oil - and the 247 players battled it out for six gold, six silver and seven bronze medals (the Masters semi-final losers both got bronze) in six disciplines - Doubles (six games on long oil), Trios (games 1-3 on short, 4-6 on long oil), Team (games 1-3 on long, 4-6 on short oil), Singles (six games on short oil), All Events (combines individual totals in Doubles, Trios, Team and Singles) and Masters (Single-Elimination, best-of-.five games).
Each of the three WTBA zones - America, Asia and Europe - won at least one gold medal in Korea but the Asian countries took the lion share with four. Swedes Martin Larsen and Robert Andersson started the championships with victory in Doubles to win the sole gold medal for Europe. The Sole American gold came when Team USA triumphed in the 5-player team event, the first gold medal in the discipline for the U.S. after a 35-year-drought.
Remy Ong from Singapore (Singles and All Events), Biboy Rivera, Philippines (Masters) and Choi Jong-In, Joung Seoung-Joo and Kim Tae-Won from the host country Korea (Trios) secured four gold medals for the Asian Bowling Federation (ABF).
The silver medals were equally divided among the zones (2 each), while Asia took another five bronze medals with just one each remaining for Europe and America.
33 players (approx. 13.4 per cent of all players) from ten countries - Singapore, United States, Korea, Sweden, Philippines, Malaysia, England, Germany, Australia, Finland - walked back home with a medal.
Rhino Page (left) from the United States was the only player who was on the podium four times winning one gold, two silver and one bronze medal. Jo Nam-Yi (right) from Korea got three medals (1 silver, 2 bronze) and five players claimed two medals including
Remy Ong from Singapore, who was the sole player to win two gold medals thanks to an outstanding performance in Singles. Ong broke one of three championship records on his way to the Singles title when he posted a 1524 six-game total on short oil, an average of 254,00.
The previous record set by 2003 Singles champion Mika Luoto, Finland : 1427 (237,83), was first broken by Jo Nam-Yi (1448), who lost the record to Rhino Page (1481) before Ong had the last word.
The records in Doubles and Trios remained unchanged. The high scores for one and six games in the 5-player team event changed hands. Malaysians Daniel Lim (242), Ben Heng (237), Azidi Ameran (259), Alex Liew (193) and Zulmazran Zulkifli (254) rolled an 1185-game to break the record for one game set by Team USA in 1999 by four pins.
The Americans Scott Pohl (1225), Ronnie Sparks (1266), David Haynes (1309), Rhino Page (1278) and Bill Hoffman (1440) took revenge and broke the record over six team games when they claimed gold with 6618 pinfall total or an average of 220,60. Team USA topped the previous record set by 1999 World Champion Sweden by 104 pins.
Due to the new format in the Masters finals a number of new high score were established. Jason Belmonte (left), Australia, 712 (237,33) and Choi Bok-Eum (right), Korea, 944 (236,00) set the records for three and four games.
Newly crowned Masters champ Biboy Rivera (left), Philippines, finished the championships with a bang when he fired a perfect 300-game in the fifth and deciding game to win the title. His 1185-series (225,00) against equally tough German Achim Grabowski (right, 1086) was the highest five-game series in the masters final.
Rivera's perfecto was the 13th perfecto by a man in the history of the World Championships and the third of this year's event. Antonis Evaggelidis, Greece, accomplished the feat first on long oil in the Trios event. Bill Hoffman, United States, was second on short oil in the team competition. It was the only 300-game on short oil as Rivera's came on long oil.
Medal Tally
MWC Records after Busan
2006 MWC
Asiad Bowling Center in Busan, Korea (Aug. 27 - Sept. 9, 2006)
The inaugural Men's World Championship is over. The event, which was held at the Asiad Bowling Center in Busan, Korea, from August 27 through September 9 draw 247 players from 44 countries. 38 countries have sent a full team (six players), while Bulgaria (4), Thailand (4), Gibraltar (2), Indonesia (2) and Slovakia (2) could only compete in all disciplines. Israel (5) competed in all disciplines but had only one trio and two doubles.
With the last day of arrival on Tuesday, August 29, and the departure day on Saturday, September 9, the event took at least 12 days. Most of the teams arrived earlier and lost another day during the journey to Korea.
The 8-day competition was held on two lane conditions - long and short oil - and the 247 players battled it out for six gold, six silver and seven bronze medals (the Masters semi-final losers both got bronze) in six disciplines - Doubles (six games on long oil), Trios (games 1-3 on short, 4-6 on long oil), Team (games 1-3 on long, 4-6 on short oil), Singles (six games on short oil), All Events (combines individual totals in Doubles, Trios, Team and Singles) and Masters (Single-Elimination, best-of-.five games).
Each of the three WTBA zones - America, Asia and Europe - won at least one gold medal in Korea but the Asian countries took the lion share with four. Swedes Martin Larsen and Robert Andersson started the championships with victory in Doubles to win the sole gold medal for Europe. The Sole American gold came when Team USA triumphed in the 5-player team event, the first gold medal in the discipline for the U.S. after a 35-year-drought.
Remy Ong from Singapore (Singles and All Events), Biboy Rivera, Philippines (Masters) and Choi Jong-In, Joung Seoung-Joo and Kim Tae-Won from the host country Korea (Trios) secured four gold medals for the Asian Bowling Federation (ABF).
The silver medals were equally divided among the zones (2 each), while Asia took another five bronze medals with just one each remaining for Europe and America.
33 players (approx. 13.4 per cent of all players) from ten countries - Singapore, United States, Korea, Sweden, Philippines, Malaysia, England, Germany, Australia, Finland - walked back home with a medal.
Rhino Page (left) from the United States was the only player who was on the podium four times winning one gold, two silver and one bronze medal. Jo Nam-Yi (right) from Korea got three medals (1 silver, 2 bronze) and five players claimed two medals including Remy Ong from Singapore, who was the sole player to win two gold medals thanks to an outstanding performance in Singles. Ong broke one of three championship records on his way to the Singles title when he posted a 1524 six-game total on short oil, an average of 254,00. The previous record set by 2003 Singles champion Mika Luoto, Finland : 1427 (237,83), was first broken by Jo Nam-Yi (1448), who lost the record to Rhino Page (1481) before Ong had the last word.
The records in Doubles and Trios remained unchanged. The high scores for one and six games in the 5-player team event changed hands. Malaysians Daniel Lim (242), Ben Heng (237), Azidi Ameran (259), Alex Liew (193) and Zulmazran Zulkifli (254) rolled an 1185-game to break the record for one game set by Team USA in 1999 by four pins. The Americans Scott Pohl (1225), Ronnie Sparks (1266), David Haynes (1309), Rhino Page (1278) and Bill Hoffman (1440) took revenge and broke the record over six team games when they claimed gold with 6618 pinfall total or an average of 220,60. Team USA topped the previous record set by 1999 World Champion Sweden by 104 pins. Due to the new format in the Masters finals a number of new high score were established. Jason Belmonte (left), Australia, 712 (237,33) and Choi Bok-Eum (right), Korea, 944 (236,00) set the records for three and four games. Newly crowned Masters champ Biboy Rivera (left), Philippines, finished the championships with a bang when he fired a perfect 300-game in the fifth and deciding game to win the title. His 1185-series (225,00) against equally tough German Achim Grabowski (right, 1086) was the highest five-game series in the masters final. Rivera's perfecto was the 13th perfecto by a man in the history of the World Championships and the third of this year's event. Antonis Evaggelidis, Greece, accomplished the feat first on long oil in the Trios event. Bill Hoffman, United States, was second on short oil in the team competition. It was the only 300-game on short oil as Rivera's came on long oil.
Medal Tally
MWC Records after Busan