Aumi Guerra (pictured left), Dominican Republic, set the pace in the women's division at the 46th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Toulon, France as Squad A has completed the 16-game preliminaries on Thursday morning.

Guerra rolled games of 199, 222, 214, 218, 197 and closed out the six-game series with a huge 256 game for 1306 pinfall total and an average of 217.66 to overtake the lead in Squad A with 3442 and an average of 215.13 for 16 games.


Guerra overtook Daphne Tan (above right), Singapore, and Apple Posadas (left), Philippines, who led the squad after 10 games and were in third and fourth place in the overall qualifying standings.

Fiona Banks (right), England, also surpassed the Asian bowlers finishing second in Squad A with 3409 (213.06). Posadas slipped to third place with 3400 and Tan fell to fourth with 3360.

Close behind the two Asians was Helén Johnsson, Sweden, in fifth place with 3355. Sixth place belonged to Natsumi Koizumi, Japan with 3311 followed by Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, United States (3310) and Patcharin Torgersen, Norway (3287).

Rounding out the top 10 in Squad A were Carolin Witvrouwen (left), Belgium in ninth place with 3214 and Hannah Cullen (right), Ireland in tenth with 3176. The next two players, Diana Zavjalova, Latvia (11th, 3164) and Holly Fleming, Scotland (12th, 3153) should be save to make the first cut.

13th place Aseret Zetter, Mexico (3100, 193.75 average) and 14th place Julieanne Mollet, New Zealand (3082, 192.63) are close to the estimated cutoff number for the top 24 of 193.

Marilyn Planchard (below left), representing the host country France (15th, 3022) and Edith Quintanilla (below right), El Salvador (16th, 3001) need some help by their rivals in Squad B to survive the first cut.

Rounding out the top 24 after Squad A were Uliana Grosu, Moldova (16th, 2993); Nicole Sanders, Netherlands (18th, 2971); Christine Gablek, Austria (19th, 2946); Fabiana Baraldi, Italy (20th, 2946); June Dill, Bermuda (21st, 2934); Yelena Shtern, Kazakhstan (22nd, 2932); and Sophie Herbin, Monaco (23rd, 2928).

With Squad B spearheaded by Round Two leaders Gye Min-Young, Korea and Wendy Chai, Malaysia still to bowl the third block, Felicia Bianu, Romania holds the 24th and last spot to advance with 2917 or an average of 182.31. Gye needs 969 for her five-game block or average of 193.8 to overtake Guerra, while Chai must post 1076 215.2).

Record 167 players (91 men and record 76 women) from 92 countries bowl for the coveted World Cup titles. Men and women bowl in separate divisions each split into two squads.

The total number of participants broke the previous record of 166 set in the 40th BWC in Singapore in 2004. The number of females bowlers broke the previous record of 73 set in Singapore, Caracas (2006) and St. Peters burgh (2007) .

To view the complete list of participating countries and players click here .

All photos will be published on Bowlingdigital's Facebook account.
Photo Album 1
Photo Album 2
Photo Album 3

After a delay on Tuesday due to structural problems with the roof of the bowling center, the preliminaries consist of 3 blocks, two of 5 games and one of 6 games, with the top 24 men and the top 24 women after 16 games advancing to the intermediate round. The top 24 players bowl another 8 games with the pinfall total from the preliminaries being carried forward.

The top 8 men and the top 8 women after 28 games will bowl a further 7 games round robin match play plus 1 game position round total 8 games) with 30 pins bonus per win and 15 for a tie. The top 3 men and the top 3 women after 36 games including bonus pins will determine the champions in a stepladder final in best-of-three games format on Saturday Oct. 23.

Bowlingdigital.com will cover the event live from Bowling de Provence with stories and results after each round, high quality photos and high definition videos commencing Sunday Oct. 17 with the Opening Ceremonies all the way through to the stepladder on Saturday Oct. 3.

Bowlingdigital will also simulcast all broadcast coverage provided by BOWL.com.