23rd May, Busan: Korean amateur, Choi Wooseop of Daegu City clinched victory of Squad D at the end of first block qualifying rounds of the 2018 PBA-WBT Busan Cup International Bowling Tournament late Wednesday evening.

2017 World Bowling Tour finals champion, Anthony Simonsen of Austin, Texas got off the block with a sizzling 268 to share the lead with KPBA's Lee Doheon. Another KPBA pro, Jeong Taehwa and debutant, Huang Teng Wei of Chinese Taipei also shared second spot, just one away.

The 21-year-old owner of 3 PBA titles kept his lead after knocking down another superb second game of 247. A third KPBA pro, Park Sangpil shot a big game of 279 to leapfrog into second spot while Lee and Huang tied third spot.

Kim Seongjeong of Seoul City team snatched the lead briefly for one game after the fourth but the American regained the lead after fourth game. Kim trailed in second, 10 pins adrift. Choi Wooseop gradually crawled up with 259 to take up third.

Jeong Taehwa and Kim tied fourth position with 1172 with Simonsen in sixth position with 1166. Early pace-setter fizzled off to hold the cut at 11th position with 1124, averaging 224.8 with Park missing by 2 pins in 12th position.

With the four squads combined, Squad C winner, Yun Huiyeo of KPBA topping the standings with 1234. Squad A leader, Kim Seungmin of KPBA remained second with 1225 and Squad C winner, EJ Tackett of Huntington, Ind., third with 1222.

Squad D winner could only finish 14th. The cut at 44th position went to Lee Doheon with 1124. The players will resume with their second block of 5 games tomorrow. The top 11 from each squad will advance to the next round finals which will take place on May 26.

The top 44 qualifiers in the Women's Division and top 44 qualifiers in the General Division will contest their 6-games finals on May 25. The top 44 finishers oin the Open Division will contest their Final round on May 25. The top 4 finishers at the end of the final round will proceed to the Stepladder shootout finals to be telecast LIVE by SBS Sports from the Outdoor Arena @ Busan Metropolitan City complex on May 26.