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2025 IBF World Cup

Strong start in Singles opening rounds

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7th January, Hong Kong, China: Sweden's Victoria Johansson and Malaysia's Siti Safiyah Amirah started strongly in the Women's Singles qualifying rounds of the 2025 IBF World Cup underway at Top Bowl while Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong and USA's Matt Russo stood out in the Men's division.

Johansson won five and drew one of the seven matches contested during two last qualifying rounds of the Women's Singles to amass a total of 16 points and 1488 pinfalls to lead Group D. 2025 PWBA Bowler of the Year, Sin Li Jane of Malaysia finished second with 15 points and 1457 pinfalls.

China's Xu Lan did well to take up third with 13 points and 1361 pinfalls. Cherie Tan of Singapore, Jillian Martin of USA, Grace Gella of Philippines, Sofie Nielsen of Denmark and Christine Rota of New Zealand made up the top 8.

The Women's opening round saw Siti Safiyah Amirah of Malaysia topping Group A with 18 points after winning all but one and totaling 1520 pinfalls. USA's Lauren Russo, who led for the first six matches, tied with the Malaysian with 18 points and 1416 pinfalls.

Victoria Johansson of Sweden and Siti Safiyah Amirah of Malaysia

Australia's Samantha Clifton led Group B with 18 points and 1445 pinfalls, ahead of Malaysia's Gillian Lim, who tied with Denmark's Cecilie Dam, China's Yang Li Yan and USA's Bryanna Cote with 15 points each.

Host nation Hong Kong, China had a dream start with 2023 World Championships Trios gold medalist, Wu Siu Hong claiming top spot in the Men's opening Group A Pool 1 Singles qualifying with 15 points and 1279 pinfalls. USA's Kris Prather tied with Wu with 15 points but a lower 1190 pinfalls.

David Marquez of Puerto Rico led Group A Pool 2 also with a maximum of 18 points and 1219 pinfalls. Singapore's Jomond Chia, who was the pace-setter, finished second with 15 points.

Prather's team-mate, Matt Russo of USA topped Group C Pool 1 with 18 points after winning all his six matches with 1282 pinfalls ahead of China's Shi Guan Ming, UAE's Hussain Al Suwaidi and Macau's Chan Tak Seng sharing second spot with 12 points a piece.

The last round of the day was Group C Pool 2 which saw a surprise leader, Ramachandran Kishan of India winning all his six matches with the lowest 178.67 average and 1072 pinfalls. 2024 Asian Championships Masters gold medalist, Rafiq Ismail of Malaysia shared second spot with Mathias Ankerdal of Denmark with 15 points.

Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong, China and Matt Russo of USA

The two Men's pool in Group D will contest their first round of six matches tomorrow morning while the four women groups will complete their 13 match qualifying rounds. The Top 8 in each of the women's four groups will advance to the Top 32 elimination best-of-3 knockout match play.

The top 4 in each of the men's two pools in the four groups will advance to the Top 32 best-of-3 knockout match play. The winners in the Top 32 rounds will proceed to the Top 16 with the field further cut to Top 8, Semi-finals and Final.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Hong Kong, China.

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