17th March, Moscow: Hosts of the WTBA World Ranking Masters championship for 2004, Sergey Lisitsyn and Svetlana Karpukhina have announced details of what promises to be a truly historic event to be staged in Russia in June. The cream of bowling’s elite athletes from the sport’s three Zones have qualified to participate in tenpin bowling’s pinnacle amateur event, to decide the top-ranked male and female bowlers of the world.

Previously staged in the United Arab Emirates, Denmark and the United States, it will be the first time the WTBA World Ranking Masters championship has been held in Russia. "We want to express our gratitude to the World Tenpin Bowling Association for their confidence and their willingness to give us the possibility to host this prestigious and high-class event," said Sergey Lisitsyn, Vice-President of the Federation of Sports Bowling of Russia and Tournament Manager of the WRM 2004.

The opportunity for participants to combine a visit to Russia’s magnificent capital, Moscow, and participate in the WTBA World Ranking Masters tournament for rankings honours and substantial prize money, guarantees the popular success of the 2004 WRM Tenpin Bowling championship.

Supporters and spectators around the globe will keenly follow the action at the newly-constructed Planet Bowling Centre via many website updates after each qualifying squad, and after each round in the single eliminations.

Official practice will begin at 09.00 on Wednesday June 23, followed by the Opening Ceremony and welcome reception at 13.30. The first rounds of qualifying will then commence at 15:00 that day.

Over the course of three days, a total of 24 games of qualifying will be bowled in four squads of six games (two short oil and two long oil), with three players per pair in these qualifying squads.

On Friday and Saturday June 25-26, the top eight men and women will bowl quarter finals, semi finals and a final, all best-of-three games. In the final top eight matches, the highest ranked bowler will choose which condition to start on (short or long pattern), with play alternating between short and long oil in the final matches.

The top eight men and women bowlers qualifying from the Asian Bowling Federation are:- Women: Liza Del Rozario, Philippines; Liza Clutario , Philippines; Shalin Zulkifli, Malaysia; Wendy Chai, Malaysia; Choy Poh Lai, Malaysia; Jennifer Tan Bee Leng, Singapore; Cecilia Yap, Philippines and Lee eun Ock, Korea. Men: Wu Siu Hong, Hong Kong; Michael Little, Australia; Ahmed Shaheen Al-Merikhi, Qatar; Jason Belmonte, Australia; Duana Camacho, Guam; Mohd. Khalifa al-Qubaisi, UAE; Azid Ameran, Malaysia and Remy Ong, Singapore.

The two top-qualifying male bowlers - Wu Siu Hong from Hong Kong and Australia’s Michael Little - have demonstrated outstanding form in recent events, with Wu Siu Hong bowling perfect games in both the Euro-Med Storm International Masters Challenge and the Kuwait

International Open, while Little notched a decisive win and the eleventh 300 game of his career in a recent regional tournament in Australia.

Further information regarding the World Ranking Masters championship can be obtained from Sergey Lisitsyn, email lisitsyn@garnet.ru or Svetlana Karpukhina, Executive Director of the Federation of Sports Bowling of Russia and Tournament Coordinator of the WRM 2004, email svetlana@bowling.ru and fsbr@bowling.ru. Fax contact numbers are: +7 095 956-14-48 and +7 095 956-14-49.

Released by Ms Lynne Clay, ABF Media Director, lynne.clay@tenpin.org.au.