Korea, Singapore, Mexico and Finland advance to the Team semi-finals

21 March, 2019

Championships

4171

Ads

The field is set for the mixed team semi-finals at the World Junior Bowling Championships this afternoon at 17.30 CET. Leading the 22 four-player teams after the first three-game block on the 41-foot Montreal yesterday, Korea, Singapore, Mexico and Finland stayed in the top 4 in the second block on Thursday morning to advance to the medal round.

Live Streaming
Results

After leading the first block with record 2,860 total, Korea had a slow start into day two and fell behind Finland with a low game of 846. The Koreans rebounded nicely with 944 and 969 to tie Mexico posting the highest second-block of 2,759 to earn the no. 1 seed for the semifinals later this afternoon with 5,619 total and an average of 234.12 as a team.

Park Donghyuk led the team with 1,537 (256.17), which is a new Championship record like Park’s 799 three-game series from yesterday. He was followed by singles champion Ji Geun with 1,472, Hong Soree with 1,387 and Jeong Youngseon with 1,223.

The Koreans set the Championship records for one game (997), three games (2860) and six games (5,619).

Singapore was 142 pins back to maintain second place with 5477 (228.21). The Singaporeans slipped to third place after starting the second block with 875, but followed with games of 938 and 930 to regain second place.

Eugene Yeo led the team with 1,452, followed by Xavier Teo with 1,394, Quek Lu Yi with 1,329 and singles gold medalist, Arianne Tay with 1,302.

Sitting in fourth place after the first block (2,701) Mexico tie Korea for the highest second block (2,759) to leap one spot into third place with 5,460 and an average of 227.50. Singles bronze medalist Maximiliano Lopez led the team with 1,417 and was followed by Manuel Ordaz with 1,357, Lliana Salinas with 1,348 and Keyla Covarrubias with 1,338, including a 718 series today.

Finland, which made the finals in all events but in girls’ doubles, moved from third to second place after starting with a huge 989 game this morning. The Finns added 861 and 884 but slipped to fourth place with 5,454 and an average of 227.25.

Pyry Puharinen used a pair of 267 games today to lead the team with 1,416. Mila Nevalainen added 1,383,

Jesse Ahokas led the way with 731 and was followed by Mila Nevalainen with 697, with 670 and Peppi Konsteri, Jesse Ahokas had 1,368 and Peppi Konsteri contributed 1,287.

There was a bigger gap between fourth and fifth place. Junior Team USA finished fifth with 5,246 and an average of 218.58, 208 pins off the pace for the medal round. Finland and USA finished much later than most of the other teams due to technical issues on their lane pair.

The second block of the team event also decided the all-events medals in each division based on 18-game pinfall totals, and the top 24 girls and top 24 boys, who will advance to the masters finals.

Korea and Finland swept the medals in all-events. Hong averaged 231.78 over 18 games, six each in singles, doubles and team preliminaries, to win the gold medal in the girls’ division with 41,172 total. Silver and bronze went to Nevalainen with 4,013 (222.94) and Konsteri with 3,987 (221.50).

On the boys’ side, Ji captured his second gold medal in this Championships with 4,387 and an average of 243.72. Puharinen was just 56 pins back to earn the silver medal with 4,331 (240.61). Park’s outstanding performance in the team event secured him the bronze medal with 4,289 (238.28).

The all-events medalists and the next five athletes in the all-events standings earned a first-round bye for the masters finals, which start with the Rounds of 24 Thursday afternoon. The boys ranked 9th to 24th take to the lanes at 13:00 CET with the girls to follow at 15:30.

After the conclusion of the Rounds of 24, the team semi-finals will be contested from 17:30 to 18:15.

105 of the world’s best young bowlers, age 18 and under, take part in the first edition of the World Junior Bowling Championships and compete 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 will be 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 feature six games of preliminaries, with the top four in each division advancing to their respective semifinals. Gold, silver and bronze all-events medals will be awarded in each division based on 18-game pinfall totals, and the top 24 girls and top 24 boys will advance to the masters portion of the event.

All of the preliminaries and semifinals will be 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 will be contested on a special two-lane installation inside the Judo Institute in the center of Paris, and seating will be available for perhaps 1,000 people.

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

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

Herbert Bickel