After five days of competition at Plaza Bowling Saint Maximin, some 70 kilometers South of Paris, the inaugural World Junior Bowling Championships moved to the center of the capital city of France to stage five consecutive gold medal matches on a special two-lane installation inside the Judo Institute Saturday afternoon, March 23.

Like the previous days, the athletes bowled on the 41-foor lane conditioning pattern and used World Bowling’s Current Frame Scoring system.

Having won already gold medals in Boys’ Singles and Boys’ and Girls’ All-Events, Korea won four out of five medals in the arena finals to dominate the medal tally winning 7 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal.

Korea’s Ji Geun (left), a 17-year-old lefthander, won all five gold medals in the boys’ division to set a record in the first edition of the World Junior Bowling Championships that can’t be broken.

In front of a large crowd and broadcasted live on the Olympic Channel (Relive the action
here), the final day of competition started with a surprise as Junior Team USA members Kamerin Peters and Mabel Cummins (right, l-r) upset the top-seeded Koreans, Hong Soree and Jeong Youngseon, 478-452, to secure the first gold medal for USA.

Korea had to settle for silver. Germany and England got bronze. USA joined Singapore as the only countries besides Korea to win a gold medal after Singapore’s Arianne Tay (left) started the Championships with victory in Girls’ Singles.

Ji Geun and Park Donghyuk both fired 267 games to defeat Solomon Salama and Anthony Neuer from the United States in the Boys’ Doubles final, 534-502. It was the fourth gold medal for Korea and the third for the boys. USA received silver and Finland and Germany got bronze.

Action then shifted to the Girls’ and Boys’ Masters. The gold medal match in the girls’ division was an all-Korean affair with Hong Soree and Jeong Youngseon squaring off in best-of-three game format. Hong lost the first game, 223-264, but rebounded with back-to-back wins (215-196 and 262-225) to wrap up the title, two-games-to-one.

That was Hong’s (right) second gold medal and the fifth for the team. Jeong received her second silver medal, while Norel Nuevo, Philippines, and Mabel Cummins, USA, shared bronze.

The two all-events leaders, Ji Geun and runner-up Pyry Puharinen of Finland, battled it out for Boys’ Masters title. Ji swept the two-handed right-hander, 2-0, behind games of 244-231 and 267-236.

It was gold medal no. 4 for Ji and the fourth medal for Puharinen in as many event. Laurynas Narusis of Lithuania and Manuel Ordaz of Mexico got bronze.

In his four matches on his way to gold medal no. 4, Ji toppled 2,307 pins over nine games, an average of 256.33. His only loss came against Solomon Salama (224-236) in the second game of the Round of 16.

The inaugural World Junior Bowling Championships concluded with the Mixed Team finale in best-of-three games in Baker system. Korea (2-0 vs. Finland) and Mexico (2-0 vs. Singapore) had swept their opponents in the semi-finals to advance to the gold medal match.

Korea’s Jeong Youngseon, Park Donghyuk, Ji Geun and Hong Soree (l-r) flew past Mexico’s Manuel Ordaz, Lliana Salinas, Keyla Covarrubias and Maximiliano Lopez in the opening game, 220-167, and sealed the victory with a 222-197 win in game two.

It was the seventh gold medal for Korea and the first silver medal for Mexico. Singapore’s Eugene Yeo, Quek Lu Yi, Arianne Tay and Xavier Teo and Finland’s Mila Nevalainen, Peppi Konsteri, Pyry Puharinen and Jesse Ahokas received bronze medals.

2019 World Junior Bowling Championships – Mixed Team Finals

Saturday, March 23 from 15:45 to 16:22 CET
(best-of-three games in Baker format)

Championship Round:
1. Korea (Park Donghyuk, Hong Soree, Jeong Youngseon, Ji Geun)
2. Mexico (Manuel Ordaz, Lliana Salinas, Keyla Covarrubias, Maximiliano Lopez)
3. Singapore (Eugene Yeo, Quek Lu Yi, Arianne Tay, Xavier Teo) and
(tie) Finland (Mila Nevalainen, Peppi Konsteri, Pyry Puharinen, Jesse Ahokas)

Playoff Results
Semifinal Match 1: No. 1 Korea def. No. 4 Finland, 2-0 (204-201 and 245-223)
Semifinal Match 2: No. 3 Mexico def. No. 2 Singapore, 2-0 (220-212 and 199-180)
Gold Medal Match: Korea def. Mexico, 2-0 (220-167 and 222-197).

2019 World Junior Bowling Championships – Boys’ Masters Finals

Saturday, March 23 from 14:35 to 15:20 CET
(best-of-three games format)

Championship Round:
1. Ji Geun, Korea
2. Pyry Puharinen, Finland
3. Laurynas Narusis, Lithuania and
(tie) Manuel Ordaz, Mexico

Playoff Results
Semifinal Match 1: No. 1 Ji def. No. 13 Narusis, 2-0 (289-201 and 287-207)
Semifinal Match 2: No. 2 Puharinen def. No. 11 Ordaz, 2-0 (268-223 and 253-202)
Gold Medal Match: Ji def. Puharinen, 2-0 (244-231 and 267-236).

2019 World Junior Bowling Championships – Girls’ Masters Finals

Saturday, March 23 from 13:30 to 14:15 CET
(best-of-three games)

Championship Round:
1. Hong Soree, Korea
2. Jeong Youngseon, Korea
3. Norel Nuevo, Philippines, and
(tie) Mabel Cummins, USA

Playoff Results
Semifinal Match 1: No. 1 Hong def. No. 18 Nuevo, 2-1 (223-235, 244-210 and 222-201)
Semifinal Match 2: No. 9 Jeong Youngseon def. No. 17 Cummins, 2-1 (196-277, 255-246 and 225-213)
Gold Medal Match: Hong def. Jeong, 2-1 (223-264, 215-196 and 262-225).

2019 World Junior Bowling Championships – Boys’ Doubles Finals

Saturday, March 23 from 12:45 to 13:10 CET
(one game matches)

Championship Round:
1. Korea (Park Donghyuk/Ji Geun)
2. USA (Solomon Salama/Anthony Neuer)
3. Finland (Pyry Puharinen/Jesse Ahokas) and
(tie) Germany (Paul-Sullivan Purps/Patrick Weichert)

Playoff Results
Semifinal Match 1: No. 4 Korea (Park Donghyuk 220/Ji Geun 278) def.
No. 1 Finland (Pyry Puharinen 223/Jesse Ahokas 228), 498-451
Semifinal Match 2: No. 3 USA (Solomon Salama 264/Anthony Neuer 185) def.
No. 2 Germany (Paul-Sullivan Purps 190/Patrick Weichert 208), 449-398
Gold Medal Match: Korea (Park Donghyuk 267/Ji Geun 267) def.
USA (Solomon Salama 255/Anthony Neuer 247), 534-502.

2019 World Junior Bowling Championships – Girls’ Doubles Finals

Saturday, March 23 from 12:00 to 12:25 CET
(one game matches)

Championship Round:
1. USA (Kamerin Peters/Mabel Cummins)
2. Korea (Hong Soree/Jeong Youngseon)
3. Germany (Franziska Czech/Natalie Groll) and
(tie) England (Isabel Allen/Rhian Dobinson)

Playoff Results
Semifinal Match 1: No. 1 Korea (Hong Soree 265/Jeong Youngseon 264) def.
No. 4 England (Isabel Allen 167/Rhian Dobinson 192), 529-359
Semifinal Match 2: No. 3 USA (Kamerin Peters 203/Mabel Cummins 240) def.
No. 2 Germany (Franziska Czech 179/Natalie Groll 153), 443-332
Gold Medal Match: USA USA (Kamerin Peters 277/Mabel Cummins 201) def.
Korea (Hong Soree 255/Jeong Youngseon 197), 478-452.

2019 World Junior Bowling Championships – Boys’ All-Events (final)

Plaza Bowling Saint Maximin in Saint-Maximin, France (March 18-21, 2019)
(18 games – six each in Singles, Doubles and Team)

1. Ji Geun, Korea, 4387 (243.72)
2. Pyry Puharinen, Finland, 4331 (240.61)
3. Park Donghyuk, Korea, 4289 (238.28)

2019 World Junior Bowling Championships – Girls’ All-Events (final)

Plaza Bowling Saint Maximin in Saint-Maximin, France (March 18-21, 2019)
(18 games – six each in Singles, Doubles and Team)

1. Hong Soree, Korea, 4172 (231.78)
2. Mila Nevalainen, Finland, 4013 (222.94)
2. Peppi Konsteri, Finland 3987 (221.50)

2019 World Junior Bowling Championships – Boys’ Singles Finals

Plaza Bowling Saint Maximin in Saint-Maximin, France (March 18 & 19, 2019)
(one game matches)

Championship Round:
1. Ji Geun, Korea
2. Jesse Ahokas, Finland
3. Pyry Puharinen, Finland, and
(tie) Maximiliano Lopez, Mexico

Playoff Results
Semifinal Match 1: No. 4 Ahokas def. No. 1 Puharinen, 257-214
Semifinal Match 2: No. 2 Ji def. No. 3 Lopez, 300-221
Gold Medal Match: Ji def. Ahokas, 235-224.

2019 World Junior Bowling Championships – Girls’ Singles Finals

Plaza Bowling Saint Maximin in Saint-Maximin, France (March 18 & 19, 2019)
(one game matches)

Championship Round:
1. Arianne Tay, Singapore
2. Peppi Konsteri
3. Mila Nevalainen, Finland, and
(tie) Grace Gella, Philippines

Playoff Results
Semifinal Match 1: No. 1 Tay def. No. 4 Gella, 214-188
Semifinal Match 2: No. 3 Konsteri def. No. 2 Nevalainen, 243-235
Gold Medal Match: Tay def. Konsteri, 230-190.

105 of the world’s best young bowlers, age 18 and under, participated in the first edition of the World Junior Bowling Championships and competed on the 41-foot Montreal oil pattern for medals in five disciplines – singles, doubles, mixed team, all-events and masters – from March 18-23.

For the first time in the history of Bowling World Championships the Current Frame Scoring system was used at the World Junior Bowling Championships. The new system has been used in previous World Bowling Tour events, Asian Bowling Federation Tour Finals and the Asian Games.

In the Current Frame Scoring system, a strike counts for 30 pins, a spare counts for 10, plus the first-ball count and an open frame counts for actual pins knocked down. The 10th frame counts the same as all other frames. Maximum score is still 300.

The first three events each featured six games of preliminaries, with the top four in each division advancing to their respective semifinals. Gold, silver and bronze all-events medals were awarded in each division based on 18-game pinfall totals, and the top 24 girls and top 24 boys advanced to the Masters portion of the event.

All of the preliminaries and semifinals were held at 28-lane Plaza Bowling in Saint-Maximin, France, about 40 miles outside of the capital city of Paris, with the addition of the singles finals. All other gold medal matches were contested on a special two-lane installation inside the Judo Institute in the center of Paris, and seating was available for perhaps 1,000 people.

The World Junior Bowling Championships was livestreamed by World Bowling and there was full television broadcast of the championship matches, which aired on global commercial channels and the Olympic Channel in other areas. All medal ceremonies, including singles, were conducted at the Judo Institute between the matches.

For more information about the 2019 World Junior Championships, click here.