Sunday, 15th October: With just barely a week to go until the start of the 36th annual AMF Bowling World Cup in Lisbon, Portugal, tournament manager Anne-Marie Board reports that 98 nations have entered this year's competition.

"This fairly guarantees that we will top the record 83 countries that came to Cairo, Egypt, in 1997," Board noted. "We are confident we'll break the 90-nation mark for the first time."

The large number of entrants requires that competition begin Sunday, October 15, following the opening ceremony at Bowling International de Lisboa rather than Monday morning, October 16, as originally planned. Lisbon Mayor Joao Soares has been invited to address the athletes and spectators during the ceremony.

The revised tournament schedule calls for the women to bowl Sunday afternoon and evening, with the men beginning their qualifying Monday morning. All bowlers will complete 24 games of qualifying before the field is cut to the top 24 women (Tuesday afternoon) and men (Wednesday afternoon), Those bowlers return for 16 more games Thursday, October 19. The field is then narrowed to the top eight men and women who advance to the arena phase of the tournament beginning Friday, October 20.

Prior to the start of the arena competition, rankings will be assigned to the top eight men and women based on standings after 40 games to determine pairings. (The man and woman who are tournament leaders at that time become the No. 1 seeds; the second-best scoring players become the No. 2 seeds, and so on through No. 8). Players will be pitted against each other in the arena in best-two-of-three-games, single-elimination competition, with the winner of each match advancing to the next round of play. The last two survivors in both the men and women's divisions battle Saturday, October 21, for the 2000 AMF Bowling World Cup crowns.

Arena competition takes place on two specially installed AMF lanes in the Sala Tejo room of the Atlantico Pavilion on the Parque das Nacoes grounds. The top eight men and women will be able to practice on the arena lanes Friday morning, prior to the 2 p.m. start of competition.

Some of the big names competing include defending men's AMF Bowling World Cup champion Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar and previous champions Mohammed Khalifa Al-Qubaisi of the UAE (1988), Martina Beckel of Germany (1992), Tore Torgersen of Norway (1994), and Su-Fen Tseng of Chinese Taipei (1997). AMF Bowling is the world's largest bowling company, owning and operating 527 bowling centers throughout the world. Of those centers, 408 are located in the United States and 119 are in nine other countries, including 15 joint ventures in China, Brazil and Argentina. The company is a leader in the manufacturing and marketing of bowling products, directly or indirectly supplying more than 10,000 bowling centers worldwide. It also manufactures and sells the PlayMaster, Highland and Renaissance brands of billiards tables.

LISBON, PORTUGAL, October 21, 2000 - Tomas Leandersson of Sweden and Mel Isaac of Wales are the 2000 AMF Bowling World Champions.

Leandersson, a 34-year-old bowling center owner from Degersfors and the No. 2 seed of the best-two-of-three-games single-elimination finals, defeated two former Bowling World Cup champions to win his first World Cup title. He dispatched Mohammed Al-Qubaisi of the UAE in their semifinal match Saturday, 2 games to 1, with scores of 242-223, 215-223 and 207-201.

Leandersson then ousted top-seeded Tore Torgersen of Norway in the championship match, 2 games to 0, by scores of 247-226 and 209-201. Leandersson's victory today avenges his runnerup finish in the only other Bowling World Cup he has competed in, the 1993 edition in South Africa.

Torgersen advanced to the championship round by defeating Belgium's Chris Van Damme 2 games to 1, with scores of 178-192, 257-225 and 228-185.

Isaac, a product of the United Kingdom's youth bowling program, stunned former teammate Kirsten Penny of England in the semifinal match round, 2 games to 0, with scores of 213-164 and 201-169. She then upset No. 2 seeded Clara Juliana Guerrero of Colombia, 2 games to 1, on scores of 150-203, 207-178 and 215-180. This is Isaac's first international world championship.

Guerrero defeated Canada's Diane Buchanan in their semifinal match, 2 games to 0, with scores of 244-177 and 197-156.

LISBON, PORTUGAL, October 20, 2000 - Top-seeded Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia was one of four women eliminated from the 2000 AMF Bowling World Cup in today’s quarterfinal round, while Tore Torgersen of Norway remains on pace to win his second World Cup title.

The 22-year-old Zulkifli lost to eighth-seeded Kirsten Penny of England in the best- two-of-three-games single-elimination format, 205-178 and 204-186, to fail in her fourth bid to win the title. Penny, a 23-year-old office administrator from Stevenege, faces Mel Isaac of Wales in Saturday’s second women’s semifinal match. Isaac defeated reigning FIQ/WTBA World Masters champion Ann-Maree Putney of Australia in two games, 208-158 and 224-192.

In the other two women’s matches, Diane Buchanan of Canada, who rolled a 300 game earlier in the week, defeated Heidi Larnia of Finland, 208-166 and 185-172, and Clara Juliana Guerrero of Colombia topped Isabelle Saldjian of France in three games, 183-193, 196-184 and 197-191. Buchanan and Guerrero square off against each other in Saturday’s first semifinal match.

In men’s action, top-seeded Tore Torgersen was taken to the three-game max by newcomer Domenico Righi of San Marino, 210-182, 215-221 and 235-171. He faces Chris Van Damme of Belgium, whose final game of 278 pushed him past South Africa’s Guy Caminsky for a 2-1 win.

The first men’s semifinal match pits Tomas Leandersson of Sweden, 1993 AMF Bowling World Cup runnerup, against 1988 champion Mohammed Al-Qubaisi of the UAE. Leandersson dispatched the only lefthander in the top eight, Finland’s Kimmo Lehtonen, in three games, 188-197, 218-204 and 226-189. Al-Qubaisi also needed three games to knock out Steve Thornton of England, 236-191, 189-216 and 209-164.

The semifinal round for the winners of Friday’s action begins Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Sala Tejo room in Lisbon’s Atlantic Pavilion, with the women’s championship match scheduled for 1 p.m. and the men’s at 5 p.m. Portugal’s minister of youth and sport, Armando Vara, is expected to be on hand for the trophy presentation.

LISBON, PORTUGAL, October 19, 2000 - Tore Torgersen of Norway and Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia are the top-seeded players as the 2000 AMF Bowling World Cup moves into the two-day, single-elimination phase that will decide the new men and women's champions.

Torgersen and Zulkifli earned their rankings by virtue of being the top scorers after 40 games of qualifying. Torgersen, the 1994 AMF Bowling World Cup champion, averaged 226.5 with total pinfall of 9058 in the men's 88-player division, while Zulkifli bypassed yesterday's leader Clara Juliana Guerrero to top the 67-player women's field. Zulkifli fired an eight-game set of 1715 to push her total to 8748 pins and a 218.7 average.

The field of play moves Friday from Bowling Internacional de Lisboa to two specially installed lanes in the Sala Tejo room of the Atlantic Pavilion, on the grounds of Nations Park. The top eight men and women scorers after 40 games will compete in single-elimination, best-two-of-three matches, with top seeds Torgersen and Zulkifli taking on the No. 8 seeds, Domenico Righi of San Marino and Kirsten Penny of England, respectively, in their first matches. Seeding is assigned by scoring finish at the conclusion of today's competition.

Players who win their matches in Friday's quarterfinal round move into the semifinal round Saturday, with the winners of the semifinal matches facing off for the AMF Bowling World Cup title Saturday afternoon.

The women take the lanes first at 2 p.m. on Friday, with No. 4 seeded Heidi Larnia of Finland facing No. 5 seed Diane Buchanan of Canada. Top-seeded Zulkfli faces No. 8 seed Penny at 5 p.m.

The men are spotlighted Friday night beginning at 7 p.m., when No. 4 seed Steve Thornton of England pairs off with the 1988 AMF World Cup champion and No. 5 seed, Mohammed Al-Qubaisi of the UAE. Torgersen's first showdown in the arena comes at 10 p.m., when he takes on No. 8 seed Righi.

The semifinal round for the winners of Friday's action begins Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Sala Tejo, with the women's championship match scheduled for 1 p.m. and the men's at 5 p.m. Portugal's minister of youth and sport, Armando Vara, is expected to be on hand for the trophy presentation.

LISBON, PORTUGAL, October 18, 2000 - Tore Torgersen of Norway continues to lead the men at the 2000 AMF Bowling World Cup at Bowling Internacional de Lisboa as the field is cut to the top 24 scorers.

Torgersen, 32, moved into first place Tuesday after rolling a perfect game in the afternoon block. He knocked down 1872 more pins Wednesday morning to cement his hold on the top spot with 5563 pins, 106 pins better than Steve Thornton of England, who has a 24-game total of 5457.

Guy Caminsky of South Africa sits in third place with a total of 5364 pins, and Tomas Leandersson, who also had a perfect game in Tuesday's action, is in fourth place with 5362 pins.

Joao Januario of Portugal rolled a 257 game in his block of eight games to set another record for a single-game high by a Portuguese bowler in World Cup competition. He finished tied for 59th with 4448 pins, and a 185.3 average.

The top 24 men return to Bowling Internacional de Lisboa at 8 a.m. Thursday morning to roll 16 additional games. The top 24 women, who completed their first round of competition Tuesday, begin their next round Thursday at 10:30 a.m. The top eight men and women at the conclusion of Thursday's competition move into the two-day single elimination phase of the competition on specially installed lanes at the Sala Tejo of the Pavhilao Atlantico Friday and Saturday. The new AMF Bowling World Cup champions will be crowned Saturday evening.

LISBON, PORTUGAL, October 17, 2000 - Clara Juliana Guerrero, an 18-year-old student from Medellin, Colombia, leads the women's field at the 2000 AMF Bowling World Cup after 24 games of qualifying, while 1994 World Cup champion Tore Torgersen of Norway is the men's leader after their first 16 games.

Guerrero rolled an eight-game set of 1897 pins Tuesday morning to put her 24-game total at 5332. She is 40 pins ahead of yesterday's leader, Ann-Maree Putney of Australia, and 75 pins in front of Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia. Guerrero's low game Tuesday morning was 208, and her high was 256.

Last November at the FIQ/WTBA World Championships, Guerrero set an all-time women's mark for a six-game block in the tournament, scorching the lanes with a 1407 pinfall and 234.5 average.

Torgersen, a 32-year-old self-employed businessman from Oslo, moved into first place on the strength of a perfect 300 game in the midst of an 1828 block, giving him a 16-game total of 3691 pins. Torgersen was one of two men to roll perfect games in Tuesday's action; Tomas Leandersson of Sweden, who finished second in the 1993 Bowling World Cup, followed a 299 game with a 300 just prior to Torgersen's connecting for a perfect game. Leandersson's tally for 16 games puts him in third place with 3642 pins.

Sandwiched between the two Europeans is Andres Gomez of Colombia, with 3683 pins. Defending champion Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar is sitting in fourth place with 3600 pins.

The women have finished their first 24 games of qualifying and will not compete Wednesday. The men complete their first 24 games Wednesday, at which time the top 24 will advance with the top 24 women to the next round on Thursday. Those bowlers will roll 16 more games and hope to become one of the top eight men and women scorers who move onto the two-day arena phase of the competition, which begins Friday afternoon in the Pavilhao Atlantico. The tournament concludes Saturday evening with the crowning of the new champions.

Portugal's women bowler, Rita Silva, finished in 54th position and will not advance to the next round of competition, which begins Thursday. Her counterpart, Joao Januario, is currently in 61st place with 2963 pins and is also unlikely to advance.

LISBON, PORTUGAL, October 16, 2000 - Koichi Takahashi, a 45-year-old office worker from Japan, holds a one-pin lead over Andres Gomez of Colombia among the men at the 2000 AMF Bowling World Cup, underway at Bowling Internacional de Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal, while Australia's Ann-Maree Putney leads the women's division.

Takahashi rolled an eight-game series of 1888 Monday for a 236.0 average, while Gomez's 1887 put him at 235.9. Takahashi finished third at the 1998 Bowling World Cup in his native Japan, and Gomez has bowled several times in the tournament and finished ninth last year in Las Vegas, USA.

In third place is the 1994 AMF Bowling World Cup champion, Tore Torgersen of Norway, with a total of 1863 pins for a 232.9 average. The defending champion, Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar, sits in fourth with 1830 pins (228.8 average), and the 1988 champion, Mohammed Al-Qubaisi of the UAE, rounds out the top five at 1827 pins (118.4 average).

The 67-woman field completed their first 16 games of competition Monday evening as Putney, the 1999 FIQ/WTBA World Masters champion, posted a total of 3494 pins for a 218.4 average. She began the evening's action with a 280 game, second high for the women thus far. Following Putney is Malaysia's Shalin Zulkifli at 3459 pins and 216.2 average, and Clara Juliana Guerrero of Colombia, with 3435 pins and a 214.7 average.

Putney is trying to become the third consecutive women's World Cup champion from Australia and the fourth in the last five years.

Portugal's Joao Januario is tied for 65th place with Gil Valle of Honduras in the men's competition, while Rita Silva moved up one spot to 59th place in the women's field.

The number of countries participating in the 2000 AMF Bowling World Cup has dropped by two, to 88, from the previously announced record number of 90. Bowlers from Iraq and Ecuador failed to report for their squads this morning. The 88 nations remains a new high for participating countries, surpassing the number of countries that came to Cairo, Egypt, in 1997.

The tournament concludes Saturday, October 21, with an arena finals at the Atlantic Pavilion on the Parque das Nacoes grounds, a short distance from host center Bowling Internacional de Lisboa.

LISBON, PORTUGAL, October 15, 2000 - Serafina Liuzzi, an unheralded 195 average bowler from Italy, is the surprising leader after one complete round of women's competition in the 2000 AMF Bowling World Cup, underway at Bowling Internacional de Lisboa.

The 28-year-old Liuzzi averaged 214.4 for eight games to gain a 15-pin margin over Scotland's Laura Rhoney, who totaled 1712 pins and averaged 214.0. Ann-Maree Putney of Australia, the reigning FIQ/World Tenpin Bowling Association Masters champion, is 12 pins behind Rhoney, averaging 212.5 with an eight-game total of 1700.

Singapore's Jesmine Ho is sitting in fourth place with 1696 pins and a 212.0 average. Clara Juliana Guerrero of Colombia rounds out the top five women with a score of 1690 and 211.3 average. Ninety men and 67 women bowlers from a record 90 nations are competing in the weeklong competition. The tournament concludes Saturday, October 21, with an arena finals at the Atlantic Pavilion on the Parque das Nacoes grounds, a short distance from host center Bowling Internacional de Lisboa. The men begin competition Monday morning at 8 a.m.