Team USA's John Szczerbinski (pictured left) dominated the men's qualifying in the 46th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Toulon, France averaging 231.88 for the 16-game preliminaries as the field of 91 bowlers from 91 countries was cut to the top 24.

Szczerbinski, not a professional bowler but a collegiate standout, was seventh after an 1101 five-game block on Monday, then averaged 246.80 in the second five-game block (1234) to move to the top and maintained his lead with the second-highest 1375 six-game series on Thursday.

With 3710 pinfall total Szczerbinski held a 127-pin lead over Achim Grabowski (above right), Germany, who jumped from 13th to second place behind the highest six-game block of 1433 to finish qualifying with 3583 pinfall total.

Places 3-5 also belong to European bowlers. Mads Sandbækken (left), Norway slipped one place to third with 3571 and was followed by b>Matt Miller, England, who leaped from tenth to fourth place in the final round with 3546 total. b>Joonas Jähi, Finland leaped from 11th to fifth with 3506.

First block leader Biboy Rivera (right), Philippines, was sixth with 3494 with 2005 World Cup champion Michael Schmidt, Canada, in seventh with 3473. Rounding out the top 8, who will advance after the second cut, was William Ching, Venezuela, with 3445.

Szczerbinski, Rivera and Ching were the only players who were in the top 8 in each of the three rounds.

Just three pins off the pace for the top 8 was b>Park Jong-Woo representing defending men's champion Korea (Choi Yong-Kyu won the first BWC title for Korea in 2009 in Malaysia) in ninth place with 3442. Mohammad Al-Zaidan (left), Kuwait was tenth with 3424.

Lei Tak Man of Macau, China, used the third-highest 1374 series on Thursday to jump from 27th to 11th place with 3422. Costa Rica's Alejandro Reyna was 12th with 3421.

Places 13-15 were taken by European bowlers Stephen O'Connor (right), Ireland (3399), Dennis Eklund, Sweden (3393) and Or Aviram, Israel (3391).

Roberto Silva (left), Mexico was 16th with 3382 and was followed by Mykhaylo Kalika, Ukraine (17th, 3364), James Kelly, New Zealand (18th, 3363) and Francois Louw, South Africa and Mats Maggi, Belgium in 19th and 20th place, both with 3362.

Mohammad Al-Qubaisi, UAE, who won the World Cup 22 years ago in Guadalajara, Mexico, fell from third after the first block to 21st place with 3349. Nicolas Forestier (right) from the host country France made the cut in 22nd place with 3337 with Marcial Ovide, Catalonia in 23rd at 3323.

The cut went up from 206 to 207.56 during the last round. Mubarak Al-Muraikhi (left), Qatar hit the cutoff number for 24th place with 3321.

Kwan Harn-Chieh (right), Switzerland, who was second after the first day and fourth after the second day, fell all the way out of the finals to 25th place due to a 1087 series (181.17 avg.). With 3305 pinfall total Kwan missed the 24 by just 16 pins to land in 25th place with 3305).

Record 167 players (91 men and record 76 women) from 92 countries participated in the qualifying of the 46th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup. Men and women bowled 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 .

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After a delay on Tuesday due to structural problems with the roof of the bowling center, the preliminaries consisted 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 24 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 32 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.