August 22nd, 2001: Steven Thornton and Kirsten Penny of Great Britain took the Mixed Doubles Gold medal of the quadrennial multi-sports event in Akita, Japan.

The English pair, who was seeded 1st after the 6-games roll-off, defeated 3rd-seed pair of Tanya Petty and Tobias Gaebler of Germany 834-763 to take the title. The Germans took home the silver while the Norwegian duo of Mette Hansen and Petter Hansen settled for the bronze.

"It is an honor for me to be able to win Gold medal at the World Games. Bowling lanes at Utenayu Bowl was a little bit difficult, but I was able to achieve good results by reading the lanes carefully. Local people were very friendly here, so I felt a sense of closeness to them", said Steven Robert Thornton.

"I am honored and truly happy to be a champion at the World Games. It is an honor also for England. Bringing back the medal to England will contribute in promoting and permeating bowling. So in that sense, us winning the game have a significant meaning. Yokote has delicious foods, lots of green and it's a wonderful place", said Kirsten Penny.

Petter Hansen lead the standings after the Mixed Doubles event with 1386 pinfalls in the Men's division followed by Jaime A. Gomez of Colombia on 1345 pinfalls while Tobais Gaebler of Germany was in third spot with 1336. Fourth was Steven Thornton of Great Britain with 1307 followed by Chester King of the Philippines with 1296.

In the Women's division, Piritta K. Kantola of Finland topped the standings table with 1287 pinfalls followed closely by Britain's Kirsten Penny just 10 pins away while Tanya Petty of Germany took third spot with 1216. One pin away in fourth was Ross Greiner of the Netherlands while Jennifer N. Willis of Canada topped out the top five with 1198 pinfalls.

The competition will continue with the Singles which will be divided into two blocks of six games each bowler tomorrow.

August 23rd, 2001: Sofia Rodriguez of Guatamela and Tobias Gaebler of Germany won the Women's and Men's Singles Gold medals respectively on the final day of the games in Akita, Japan.

Sofia Rodriguez defeated Singles Round-Robin 1st-seed Ross Greiner of the Netherlands 421-360 in the final matches of the step-ladder finals to snatch the victory.

"I am truly happy to win the gold medal at the World Games. I will keep practicing harder to be worthy of the gold medal because I am feeling the importance of it. I enjoyed wonderful hospitality and kindness shown by the people I met in Yokote. I am very fortunate to be able to participate in this World Games", exclaimed Sofia Matilde Rodriguez.

Rodriguez had earlier defeated 3rd-seed Piritta Kantola of Finland 180-169 in the first match. Kantola had to settle for the bronze while Ross Greiner took home the silver medal.

In the Men's division, it was a sweet win for the German as Tobias Gaebler, who finished third in the Round-Robin, defeated Tom B. Mahl of Finland 241-234 in the first match and then cruised home for the gold with 447-389 score against 1st-seed Kim Kyung-Min of Korea.

"I am very happy to win the gold medal in Singles because I have missed it in the Mixed Doubles. I want Bowling to become one of the Olympics' Official disciplines. I will keep making efforts, dreaming of my victory at the Olympics. People in Yokote have shown warm hospitality. Utenayu was a wonderful Bowling competition site with very kind staff members and officials", said Tobias Gaebler.