The X World Games 2017 will get underway next week with the Opening Ceremonies on Thursday, July 20, and 64 of the best bowlers in the world will participate in the bowling competition as part of the 11-day, multi-sport World Games.

Bowlingdigital.com will provide onsite coverage of the bowling events from July 21 through July 24, including reports, results and photos of each event.

The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee. The World Games are considered by many sports officials as a stepping stone to the Olympics.

The 10th edition of the World Games will be held in Wroclaw, Poland, 20–30 July 2017. More than 3,000 athletes from 31 sports and 111 countries will take part in the biggest sport event ever staged in Poland.

The official sports at The World Games 2017 are: Air Sports, Archery, Beach Handball, Billiards, Boules Sport, Bowling, Canoeing, Dance Sport, Fistball, Floorball, Fly­ing Disc, Gymnastics, Ju-Jitsu, Karate, Korfball, Lacrosse, Life Saving, Muaythai, Orienteering, Powerlifting, Roller Sports, Sport Climbing, Squash, Sumo, Tug of War, Under­water Sports, and Water Ski & Wakeboard.

Added to this are the invitational sports for the 2017 Games: American Football, Kickboxing, Indoor Rowing and Speedway. To see the schedule for the different sports and disciplines, please click here.

Bowling has been part of all nine previous World Games:

• 1981 Santa Clara, California United States
• 1985 London, England
• 1989 Karlsruhe, Germany
• 1993 The Hague, Netherlands
• 1997 Lahti, Finland
• 2001 Akita, Japan
• 2005 Duisburg, Germany
• 2009 Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei
• 2013 Cali, Colombia

The bowling competition of the X World Games 2017 will be contested at 24-lane Sky Bowling in Wroclaw July 21-24.

Each of World Bowling’s three zones, America, Asia and Europe, had its own qualifying events to determine five spots per zone in each gender. The 16th spot went to the host country Poland.

Opposite to previous World Games in which teams featured one male and one female bowler per country competing in men’s and women singles and mixed doubles, teams in the X World Games 2017 consist of two players per gender competing in men’s and women’s singles and doubles.

13 countries, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, China, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Puerto Rico, Republic of Korea, Singapore, United States of America, Venezuela, are represented by a full team of two men and two women.

Hong Kong, Italy and Netherlands qualified for the men’s events only while Great Britain, People’s Republic of China and Ukraine participate only in the women’s events.

The format for singles (32 male and female bowlers compete in separate divisions) is a six-game block after which the field is cut to the top 16 based on total pinfall. The finals feature single-elimination best-of-three games elimination format with the losers of semi-finals playing off for the bronze medal and the winners proceeding to the gold medal match.

The format for double (16 male and female teams compete in separate divisions) is as follows: The top 8 federations in each division are seeded into four pools based on their overall performance at the most recent world championships. The remaining eight federations are placed into the pools based on a draw.

Each pool then has three matches where each team plays each other over two games. Points are allocated for a win or draw. The top two point scorers from each pool proceed to the finals where the matches are based on a predetermined draw, with the losers of semi-finals playing off for the bronze medal and the winners proceeding to the gold medal match.

European champion Daria Kovalova of Ukraine and World and European champion Osku Palermaa (pictured), who won the women’s and men’s singles titles at the IX World Games 2013 in Cali, Colombia, will be on hand to defend their titles.

Among the favorites in the men’s division are Palermaa’s (five PBA titles) fellow PBA champions Tommy Jones, United States (18 titles; PBA Player of the Year 2005-06); U.S Open Open champion Francois Lavoie, Canada (3), multiple PABCON champion Andres Gomez, Colombia (3), Jakob Butturff, United States (2) and Thomas Larsen, Denmark (2).

Other notable players are reigning World Champion in Masters, Kang Heewon, Korea; World Champion in Singles Dan MacLelland, Canada, who won silver in Mixed at the Cali World Games; seven-time European champion, Jesper Agerbo, Denmark; multiple Asian champions Michael Mak and Wu Siu Hong, Hong Kong; and Cristian Azcona, Puerto Rico, who won three gold medals at the recently-concluded Central American and Caribbean Championship.

The women’s field is spearheaded by Professional Women’s Bowling Association champions Rocio Restrepo, Colombia (3 PWBA titles); Danielle McEwan, United States (2); four-time World Champion and 2013 World Games runner-up Kelly Kulick, United States (2); two-time World Champion Clara Juliana Guerrero, Colombia (1) and Poland’s own Daria Pająk (1).

Among the notable names are World champion Kim Moonjeong, Korea; European Bowling Tour point leaders Britt Brøndsted, Denmark (2004-06), Birgit Pöppler (2012) and Laura Beuthner, Germany (2016), World Youth champion Mirai Ishimoto, Japan; and multiple PABCON champion and 2013 World Games bronze medalist Karen Marcano, Venezuela.

World Bowling provides governance to international bowling and is made up of 115 member federations within three geographical zones.

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Field set for bowling competition at X World Games 2017

X World Games 2017 – Tenpin Bowling Schedule of Events

Bowling competition at Sky Bowling in Wroclaw, Poland (July 21-24, 2017)

July 20, 2017
09:00 – 11:00 General All Team Officials: Team Officials and Technical Meeting in Sky Bowling
11:00 – 13:00 Doubles Women Training
11:00 – 13:00 Singles Women Training
14:00 – 16:00 Doubles Men Training
14:00 – 16:00 Singles Men Training
18:00 – 22:00 General All participants and officials: Opening Ceremony

July 21, 2017
09:00 – 12:30 Singles Women Qualification
13:30 – 14:30 Singles Women Round of 16
14:30 – 15:30 Singles Women Quarterfinal
16:00 – 17:00 Singles Women Semifinal
17:00 – 18:00 Singles Women 3rd Place
18:00 – 19:00 Singles Women Final
19:00 – 19:15 General All: Opening Ceremony in Sky Bowling

July 22, 2017
09:00 – 12:30 Singles Men Qualification
13:30 – 14:30 Singles Men Round of 16
14:30 – 15:30 Singles Men Quarterfinal
16:00 – 17:00 Singles Men Semifinal
17:00 – 18:00 Singles Men 3rd Place
18:00 – 19:00 Singles Men Final
19:00 – 19:30 Singles Men Medal ceremony

July 23, 2017
09:00 – 13:00 Doubles Women Preliminary
14:00 – 15:00 Doubles Women Quarterfinal
15:00 – 16:00 Doubles Women Semifinal
16:30 – 17:30 Doubles Women 3rd Place
17:30 – 18:30 Doubles Women Final
18:30 – 19:00 Doubles Women Medal ceremony

July 24, 2017
09:00 – 13:00 Doubles Men Preliminary
14:00 – 15:00 Doubles Men Quarterfinal
15:00 – 16:00 Doubles Men Semifinal
16:30 – 17:30 Doubles Men 3rd Place
17:30 – 18:30 Doubles Men Final
18:30 – 19:00 Doubles Men Medal ceremony