Gye Min-Young (pictured left), Korea, averaged 222.25 over 16 games and knocked down 3556 pins en route to finish the women's qualifying at the 46th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup atop the 76-player leaderboard.

Gye had games of 214, 224, 204, 236 and 204 in the final five-game block of Squad B on Thursday afternoon to hold a 114-pin lead over Squad A leader Aumi Guerra (right), Dominican Republic, who was second with 3442.

Day one leader Wendy Chai, Malaysia, fell to third place with 3415. Fiona Banks, England, was fourth with 3409 followed by Apple Posadas, Philippines and Daphne Tan, Singapore in fifth and sixth place with 3400 and 3360, respectively.

Close behind the two Asians was Helén Johnsson (left), Sweden, in seventh place with 3355. Eighth place belonged to Natsumi Koizumi, Japan with 3311 with Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, United States in ninth with 3310.

Rounding out the top 10 was Vanessa Timter (right), Germany with 3305.

Places 11-13 belonged to European bowlers Patcharin Torgersen, Norway (3287), Darya Kovalova, Ukraine (3235) and Carolin Witvrouwen, Belgium (3214).

2008 World Cup champion Ann-Maree Putney, Australia finished the preliminaries in 14th place with 3198 followed by Patricia de Faria (left), Venezuela in 15th with 3192 and Sarit Mizrahi, Israel in 16th with 3179.

Hannah Cullen, Ireland was 17th with 3176 with Diana Zavjalova, Latvia in 18th with 3164 and Beatrix Pesek, Hungary and Sue Abela (right), Malta in 19th and 20th place, both tied at 3158. All ties except for the cuts (24th, 8th and 3rd) are broken by the higher last game.

Holly Fleming, Scotland was 21st with 3153 followed by Nadeya Abdulrahman, Bahrain in 22nd place with 3119. Aseret Zetter, Mexico made the first cut in 23rd place with 3100.

Prathima Hegde, India beat out Felicia Wong, Canada for the 24th and last place to advance by two pins with 3091 or an average of 193.19. Julieanne Mollet, New Zealand, missed the cut by nine pins in 26th place with 3082 with Piritta Kantola (below left), Finland, another two pins behind in 27 place with 3080. Bigi Manico (below right), Switzerland, was 28th with 3048 or 43 pins off the pace for the top 24.

The top 24 players will return on Friday for the Intermediate Round, while the World Cup is over for the other 52 participants, who will be consoled with a sightseeing tour to St. Tropez.

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.
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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.