2nd August, Lincoln, Nebraska: Natasha Roslan won Malaysia's first gold medal at the concluding 14th World Youth Championships with victory in the Girl's Masters final while Anthony Simonsen captured USA's sixth gold in the boy's division.

Eighth-seed, Natasha easily took the first best-of-three game, 190-158 and almost sealed the tie when she ended the second game with 236. But her opponent, Amabel Chua of Singapore struck out to win with 245 forcing the third deciding game.

The 19-year-old Malaysia kept her good momentum with four consecutive strikes as the 16-year-old Singaporean failed to spare her fifth frame. She also missed a single pin spare in the sixth frame as Natasha went on to seal the match, 227-187 to win the first gold medal for Malaysia.

The champion had breezed past 2014 Masters champion, Mirai Ishimoto of Japan, 2-0 (241-218, 249-221) in the first semi-final match to advance to the gold medal round.

Chua was lucky to beat two gold medallist and crowd favourite, Gazmine Mason of USA, 2-0 (196-187, 201-198) in the other semi.

"I'm so thrilled to have finally won a gold medal for my country," said the delighted Natasha. "We came close to winning the gold in the Singles, Doubles and Team events. We are very proud to have achieved our goal and we've won medals in every event."

Natasha had earlier eliminated Korea's Lee Young Seung, 2-1 in the Step 3 finals to earn her place in the semi-final as her team-mate and Singles silver medallist, Victoria Chin lost to Chua, 1-2 in the same round.

Meanwhile, Doubles and Team gold medallist, Anthnoy Simonsen won his first individual gold medal after he easily defeated All Events gold medallist and top seed, Pontus Andersson of Sweden, 2-0 (245-213, 236-180) to give USA its sixth gold medal of the championships.

Simonsen earned a crack at the title after a hard-fought battle against triple gold medallist, Wesley Low Jr., 2-1 in the all-American two-handed semi-final match. Andersson also had an easy victory over Tun Hakim of Malaysia, 2-0 in the other semi.

The Swede ousted a third American, Michael Tang, 2-1 in the Step 3 finals and Low defeated a second Malaysian, Rafiq Ismail, 2-0. Simonsen had to go to the third game when he beat sole Finn, Niko Oksanen, 2-1.

USA emerged as overall champion with six gold, thee silver and four bronze medals. They were also champion in the girl's division with a medal haul of 2-2-3 and the boy's division with a medal haul of 4-1-1.

Wesley Low Jr. was the star of the championships winning three gold, one silver and one bronze medal. Gazmine Mason picked up two gold, two silver and one bronze medal. Korea finished second overall with two gold and one silver medal while Malaysia finished third with one gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

129 boys and 79 girls from 37 countries participated in the 10-day championships at Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln, Nebraska. The next World Youth Championships in 2018 will again be host by United States in Detroit, Michigan.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Lincoln, Nebraska.

1st August, Lincoln, Nebraska: The field is wide open after the Masters finals of the Target 24th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships were completed with Shogo Wada of Japan leading Men's field by two pins and Baek Seung Ja of Korea in the Women's division by 13 pins.

Surviving two rounds of the finals was All Events gold medallist, Pontus Andersson of Sweden. The Swede skipped Step 1 as top seed during which he had to go into the third game to advance to the next step. Andersson narrowly lost the first game, 182-189 but bounced back with a 244-179 victory in the second.

Andersson went on to win the decider, 198-172 to become the only Swede to survive. All three Americans advanced. Michael Tang stood out with victory with a 2-0 victory 0 in Step 1 finals over Ryota Yakuwa of Japan.

Tang took out reigning Masters champion and PBA Bowler of the Year, Jesper Svensson of Sweden 3-0 in the second step to join his team-mates, triple gold medallist, Wesley Low Jr. and Anthony Simonsen, who both won their Step 2 matches.

Low ousted Finland's Santu Tahvanainen, 2-0 while Simonsen breezed past Dylin Hunter of Canada, 2-0. Two Malaysian standouts were Doubles silver medallists, Tun Hakim and Rafiq Ismail of Malaysia.

Tun Hakim dispatched Singles bronze medallist, Aseel Alroomi of Kuwait, 2-0 in the first step and Andre Michow of Germany, 2-0 in the second step to advance. Rafiq needed three games to win his first step over Netherlands' Youri Fens and another 3-0 win over Hector Simo of Dominican Republic in the second step finals.

Three Americans, two Malaysians and one each from Sweden, Japan and Finland made up the last eight Step 3 boys finalists to contest Step 3 finals.

Meanwhile, six out of the eight Step 3 finalists are from Asia. Two each from Korea and Malaysia and one each from Japan and Singapore survived the cut joined by two Americans, Gazmine Mason and her compatriot, Julia Bond.

Mason, who skipped the first step, laboured to a 3-0 victory over Varonica Cepeda of Colombia. She lost the first game 182-210, bounced back with a 226-184 win in the second game and then edged the Colombian, 182-172 to advance.

Bond sailed past Charlene Lim of Singapore in two straight games, 2-0 to join Mason. Two gold medallists, Lee Young Seung defeated Saskia Malz of Germany, 2-0 in Step 1 and Anna Andersson of Sweden, 2-0 in Step 2.

Her team-mate, Hong Su Hwa took three games to beat Jordan Richard of USA in Step 1 and another 3 games in Step 2 to eliminate two gold medallists and team-mate, Park Yu Na.

Third-seed, Victoria Chin of Malaysia defeated Paola Limon of Mexico, 2-0 to advance. Her team-mate and sixth-seed, Natasha Roslan needed a third game to advance by beating Kim Jin Ju of Korea in Step 2. Amabel Chua beat Seika Fujiwara of Japan, 2-0 in Step 1 and the remaining Swede, Filippa Persson, 3-0 in Step 2 to survive.

Reigning Masters' champion, Mirai Ishimoto of Japan made up the last eight girls finalists with a 2-0 victory over Mexico's Maribel Orozco in Step 1 and another 2-0 victory over the third Malaysian, Nur Syazwani Sahar in Step 2.

Step 3 finals will be contested tomorrow morning. Winners of the Step 3 finals will advance to the medal round semi-finals again over a best-of-three games matches, culminating to the finals to determine the champions.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Lincoln, Nebraska.

1st August, Lincoln, Nebraska: Korean girls team denied host USA a double victory in the Team of Four finals to win their second gold medal at the 14th World Youth Championships as USA picked up their fifth gold in the boy's division.

The Korean quartet of Lee Young Sueng, Park Yu Na, Kim Jin Ju and Hong Sung Hwa defeated USA, 204-193 and 246-179 in the best-of-three Baker's format title match to win the gold medal at the championships. The third-seed was equally impressive when they beat second-seed Malaysia in straight games, 256-209 and 235-155 in the all-Asian semi-final.

USA's Stephanie Schwartz, Julia Bond, Jordan Richard and Gazmine Jason ousted fourth-seed, Sweden in straight games, 224-214 and 228-196 in the other semi to set up the finale with the Koreans.

Korea also defeated USA in the Doubles finals two days ago to deny them a double victory and they did it in similar fashion. Malaysia's Nur Syazwani Sahar, Nor Lyana Kamal, Victoria Chin and Natasha Roslan and Sweden's Anna Andersson, Annie Thorell, Cajsa Wegner and Filipa Persson settled for a bronze medal each.

In the boy's division, the mighty Americans won their third consecutive gold medals in three finals they contested. But the American quartet anchored by two gold medallist, Wesley Low Jr. had to work extra hard into the third and deciding game in the final against Japan.

USA took the first game, 217-197 but the Japanese bounced back to edge the Americans, 223-217 to force a decider. But the Americans were simply unstoppable winning convincingly, 279-188 for the gold medal.

The champion also had to go into the third deciding game in the semi-final to beat the fourth-seed, Canada, 219-196 to advance to the final. The Canadians beat the Americans, 250-220 before losing the second game, 170-244 to settle for the bronze medal.

The Japanese also need the third game in the other semi to advance. They lost to Sweden, 179-222 but fought back with a 257-208 victory in the second game and a 224-179 in the third game.

USA has won five gold, three silver and two bronze medals after four events. Korea trailed in second with a medal haul of 2-1-0 while Sweden has one gold and five bronze medals.

The Step 1 Masters finals will be contested later today for qualifiers positioned 9 to 24 in the All Events standings. The winners will advance to Step 2 Masters finals against the top eight seeded qualifiers. The field will be cut to eight and will contest the quarter-finals tomorrow morning. The winners of the quarter finals will be matched up in the semi-finals and finals to determine the champions.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Lincoln, Nebraska.

31st July, Lincoln, Nebraska: Team USA girls earned pole position for the Team of Four semi-finals of the 14th World Youth Championships in record fashion breaking the six-game record by 119 pins with 5188.

Singles gold medallist, Gazmine Mason anchored Stephanie Schwartz, Julia Bond and Jordan Richard to finish their second block of three games with 5188 smashing the record of 5069 set by Germany at the 2008 championship in Orlando, Florida.

Mason led the way for United States with 1418, Jordan 1292, Bond 1261 and Schwartz 1217. Malaysia's Nur Syazwani Sahar, Nora Lyana Kamal, Victoria Chin and Natasha Roslan kept a good pace in the second half to finish second with 5089.

Doubles gold medallist, Lee Young Seung and Park Yu Nan of Korea led Kim Jin Ju and Hong Su Hwa to earn third position with 4935 while Sweden's Anna Andersson, Annie Thorell, Cajsa Wegner and Filippa Persson clinched fourth spot with 4924.

Canada, who was fourth overnight in the first block dropped to ninth position. Mexico missed the cut by 61 pins finishing in fifth position with 4863.

Mason picked up her second gold medal by topping the All Events with 4100. She also set a new record erasing the old mark of 3922 set by Kim Moon-Yeong of Korea in 2010 at Helsinki, Finland. Park Yu Na took the silver with 3959 while Victoria Chin and Filippa Persson received a bronze medal each with after tieing with 2872.

A one-ball roll-off was held to break the tie and to determine the seeding for the Masters finals between Chin and Persson. Chin won with a strike and Persson rolled 7 pins.

Persson, Andersson, Natasha, Bond and Nur Syazwani earned a bye to Step 2 Masters finals for finishing fourth to eighth in the All Events standings. Positions 9 to 24 qualified for the Step 1 Masters finals.

The cut at 24th position went to Veronica Cepeda of Colombia with 3552 while Cajsa Wegner of Sweden missed the cut by 30 pins in 25th position. USA will meet Sweden in the semi-final and Malaysia and Korea face off in the other all-Asian semi. The winner will advance to the title match.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Lincoln, Nebraska.

31st July, Lincoln, Nebraska: After drawing blanks in the first three events, Japanese men finally turned in a promising display by leading of the Men's 5-player Team first block at the Target 24th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships on Sunday.

Michael Tang, Kamron Doyle, Anthony Simonsen and Wesley Low Jr. continued where they left off in the first block yesterday with a splendid 904 at the opening fourth game of the Team second block. Sweden narrowed the gap from 170 to 141 when the latter took over second from Japan.

The American quartet, anchored by Singles and Doubles gold medallist, Low were simply unstoppable when they blizted the lanes with another superb 985 stretching their lead to a massive 234 pins after the fifth game.

Sweden's Jesper Svensson, Filip Wilhelmsson, Anton Ahlgren and Pontus Andersson were also blazing the lanes with 941 but had to settle for second.

Japan's Katsuhito Nakano, Yuta Saitoh, Ryota Yakuwa and Takuya Miyazawa kept within distant to the leading quartets in third. The three teams were so far away at this stage that the only position left for the semi-final was keenly fought between Norway and Canada.

USA ended with yet another big game of 908 to seal top spot with 5581. Their second three-game series of 2797 erased the 2784 record set by them in the first block yesterday and their six-game total of 5581 smashed the 5189 set by the Swedes in 2012.

The Swede ended the block better than the Americans but settled for second with 5411. Andersson almost rolled the championship's third 300 but ended with 289, which helped the Swede to win the All Events gold with an 18-game total of 4220.

Japan earned third spot with 5319 while Canada's Dylin Hunter, Jordan Klassen, Nathan Ruest-Lajoie and Mitch Hupe clinched fourth position with 5089. Norway missed the cut by 33 pins to finish fifth with 5056.

Low Jr. picked up the All Events silver medal with 4139 while Svensson earned the bronze medal with 4120. Miyazawa, Simonsen, Niko Oksanen of Finland, Hector Simo of Dominican Republic and Andrew Michow of Germany finished in the top eight and will skip the Step 1 Masters finals.

Positions 9 to 24 qualified for the Step 1 Masters finals. The cut in 24th position went to Singles bronze medallist, Aseel Alroomi of Kuwait with 3764. Ruest-Lajoie missed the cut by eight pins.

USA will face Canada and Sweden will meet Japan in the Team semi-final which will be contested in the Baker's format over best-of-three match. Winner of the semi-final will square off in the final for the gold medal.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Lincoln, Nebraska.

30th July, Lincoln, Nebraska: Team USA of Michael Tang, Kamron Doyle, Anthny Simonsen and Wesley Low Jr. smashed the two records en-route to taking a commanding lead in the first block of Team event at the 14th World Youth Championships.

The American quartet started off brilliantly with 1012 in their opening game to better the record of 992 set by Sweden in 2012 at the 12th World Youth Championships in Bangkok, leading Canada by 112 pins with Sweden in third, a further 23 pins away.

Despite an averaged game of 842 in the second, Team USA was able to remain in the lead albeit seeing their margin reduced to 37 pins when Sweden's Jesper Svensson, Filip Wilhelmsson, Anton Ahlgren and Pontus Andersson post a strong game of 949 to move into second.

But the leader bounced back with another superb game of 932 to end the first block with a commanding lead of 170 pins. The Americans also set a new three-game record of 2784, erasing the 2758 set by Sweden in 2012.

The Swedes settled for second spot with 2614 while Germany's Giancarlo Reyes, Tobias Beier, Andr Michow and Christoph Schuran finished third with 2505, a further 109 pins. Canada rounded out the top four with 2485.

Squad A leader, Japan trailed in second position with 2686 after the scores of the two squads were combined and Sweden took third position. Norway, who finished second to the Japanese quartet, completed the top four with 2584.

The top 18 teams are assigned to Squad B for the second block of three games and the bottom 12 teams will resume their second block of three games tomorrow morning. Squad B will take to the lanes in the afternoon. The Girls will complete their second block in the evening. The top four boys team and top four girls team will advance to the semi-final and final rounds.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Lincoln, Nebraska.

30th July, Lincoln, Nebraska: Japan's Katsuhito Nakano, Yuta Saitoh, Ryota Yakuwa and Takuya Miyazawa averaged 223.38 to lead the first squad of the Team of Four opening block of the 14th World Youth Championships at Sun Valley Lanes on Saturday.

The Japanese quartet got off the block with a superb 879 to lead Finland's Santu Tahvanainen, Tomas Kayhko, Teemu Putkisto and Niko Oksanen in second by 57 pins and Singapore's Alex Chong, Timothy Tham, Cheah Ray Han and Muhd Jaris Goh in third.

Japan added another decent game of 873 to stretch their lead to 102. Singapore moved up to second with a strong game of 843 as Norway took up third position ahead of the Finns in fourth.

The leader ended the first block of three games with a stunning 934 in the third game for a total of 2686. Norway also returned a bigger game than the Japanese with 947 to finish second with 2584.

The Finns bounced back with 894 to snatch third spot with 2525 as Singapore put in 838 to round out the top four in this squad. The stronger teams are drawn in the second squad which will follow after lane maintenence.

Team USA, Sweden, Korea and Germany are the likely teams that are strong contenders for the top four semi-final spots. The top 18 teams after the scores of both the squads are combined will be drawn in Squad B while the others in Squad A.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Lincoln, Nebraska.

30th July, Lincoln, Nebraska: Team USA of Stephanie Schwartz, Julia Bond, Jordan Richard and Gazmine Mason led the first block Team of Four event of the 14th World Youth Championships ahead of two Asian teams, Malaysia and Korea in second and third.

Canada's Brittney Turcotte, Maude Demers, Mykaela Mitchell and Miranda Panas got off the block with a sizzling 919 to lead Sweden by 14 pins and Malaysia a further 42 pins away in third. USA was lying in fourth position.

A disasterous 696 by the Canadians dropped them down the field as USA took over the running despite adding only 820 to their 859 opening game. Malaysia's Nur Syazwani Sahar, Nora Lyana Kamal, Victoria Chin and Natasha Roslan did little in their second game but moved into second, just one pin adrift.

Doubles gold medalist, Lee Young Seung and Park Yu Nan teamed up with Kim Jin Ju and Hong Sun Hwa rolled 837 to share third spot with Canada.

The American quartet scorched the lanes with a stunning 921 to end the first block with 2493. Malaysia posted an identical 815 to remained in second with 2493 but saw their gap to the Koreans increased to 107 pins while Korea finished third with 2468.

Canada took fourth spot with 2444. Fancied Sweden made no impact except for their opening game faded off to complete the top five of the 18 contesting teams. They will resume with their second block of three games tomorrow.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Lincoln, Nebraska.

29th July, Lincoln, Nebraska: Lee Young Seung and Park Yu Na delivered Korea's first gold medal at the 14th World Youth Championships with victory in the Girl's Doubles final while United States picked up their second gold in the boy's division.

Korea easily brushed aside their challenger and third-seed, Gazmine Mason and Julia Bond of USA in a convincing, 514-342 final. Lee and Park had a better start in the final match and quickly settled down to their usual ryhthm.

Park had an early double in her first two frames while Mason struck in the first frame and Bond had an opened frame in the second. Another opened frame in the second from Bond put the American pair pretty much on their back foot.

The Koreans picked up their pace when both had their first double strike in frames five and six as Bond and Mason failed to make any impact.

By the time both Koreans added another double strike in frame seventh and eighth, the match was well over and heavily in favour of Korea. Lee had another double before ending with several spares for 237 while Park continued her strikefest to finish with 277. Mason had two opened frames to post 184 and Bond struggled with 158.

The champion had another comfortable victory over fourth-seed, Keira Reay and Emily Allen of England, 409-311 in the first semi-final match while Mason and Bond ousted their compatriot and second-seed, Jordan Richard and Stephanie Schwartz, 404-335 in the other all-American semi.

Richard and Schwartz had earlier topped the second squad to become the only pair to make the semi-finals as second-seed. Mirai Ishimoto and Futabai Imai of Japan finished second to the English pair but missed the cut in sixth overall.

Korea topped Squad A to advance as top seed. Mason and Bond was seeded third while Reay and Allen clinched fourth-seed. Sweden's Caisa Wegner and Singles bronze medallist, Filippa Persson was pushed down to fifth overall by the second American pair.

Meanwhile, Asia almost celebrated a double victory but was denied by host nation, United States in the boy's division. Singles gold medalist, Wesley Low Jr. picked up his second gold medal with Anthony Simonsen when they easily defeated Malaysia, 418-338 in the final.

The American also had a comfortable victory over third-seed, Wascar Cavallo and Hector Simo of Dominican Republic, 482-372 in the second semi-final match.

Fourth-seed, Rafiq Ismail and Tun Hakim eliminated top seed, Pontus Andersson and Jesper Svensson of Sweden 458-394 in the other semi to face the Americans.

After two events, Mason leads the Girl's All Events with 2682 followed by Singles bronze medalist, Filippa Persson of Sweden in second with 2625 and Park in third with 2617. Hector Simo of Dominican Republic topped the boy's standings with 2819 ahead of Swede's Andersson in second with 2786 and Low Jr. third with 2747.

Competition will shift to the Team event with the girls contesting their first block preliminaries on July 30 in the morning in one squad. The boys will be divided into two squads and will bowl their first block after the girls.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Lincoln, Nebraska.

29th July, Lincoln, Nebraska: After missing from the opening event, Korea finally showed up when Lee Young Seung and Park Yu Na took a commanding lead in the Girl's Doubles opening squad of the 14th World Youth Championships on Friday.

Singles bronze medallist, Filippa Persson of Sweden anchored her partner, Caisa Wegner to an early lead with 441 in their opening game, 18 pins ahead of the first Colombian pair of Laura Garzon and Veronica Cepeda in second.

Korea, who was third in the opening game, fired a stunning 505 to leapfrog into the lead as the Colombians slipped down to third behind Singles gold and bronze medallists, Gazmine Mason and Julia Bond of USA taking over second spot.

Lee and Park broke the three-game record of 1358 set by Singapore in 2008 with 1392 when they rolled 465 in the third game to open up a huge gap of 171 pins from the chasing American pair.

The leader bowled out the squad with consistent games of 423, 431 and 448 topping the squad with 2694. Their convincing effort also set a new six-game record erasing the 2790 set by England in Orlando, USA in 2008.

USA settled for second with 2459, 235 pins away while England's Keira Reay and Emily Allen took third spot with 2449, just 10 pins from the Americans. Early pace-setter Sweden faded off to end up in fourth position with 2420.

With the Koreans so far ahead with their scores, the second squad will probably be vying for the minor placing to advance to the semi-finals. The second squad will be contested later this afternoon.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Lincoln, Nebraska.

28th July, Lincoln, Nebraska: 2015 Asian Youth multiple gold medallist, Rafiq Ismail and 2016 Thailand Open Youth champion, Tun Hakim of Malaysia snatched top spot in the third squad to make the Boy's Doubles semi-finals of the 14th World Youth Championships.

Venezuela's Rodolfo Monacelli and Massimiliano Fridegotto got off to a brilliant start with 524 in their opening game to lead Singapore's Cheh Ray Han and Muhd Jaris Goh by 90 pins. The duo increased their lead by five pins as second Singapore pair continued to trail the leader.

An average 403 put the Venezuelean on the back foot as the Singapore pair surged into the lead with a superb 467 in the third game. But their lead did not last long when Monacelli and Fridegotto regained it after the fourth game.

Singapore fought back with 448 in the fifth game to take over the running yet again while Venezuela slipped behind Mexico going into the sixth and final game.

Whilst Singapore and Mexico struggled in the final game, the second Malaysian pair, who had gradually moved up the field after posting 480 and 450 in the fourth and fifth games, knocked down 444 to snatch top spot of this squad with 2640.

Mexico finished second with 2636 ahead of Singapore in third with 2631. Venezuela slipped down to fourth with 2619. Malaysia made the semi-final round in fourth overall. Squad B leader, Pontus Andersson and four-time PBA Tour winner, Jesper Svensson of Sweden advanced as top seed. Anthony Simonsen and Singles gold medallist, Wesley Low Jr. of USA remained in second.

Squad A leader, Wascar Cavallo and Singles bronze medallist, Hector Simo of Dominican Republic held on to third overall with the Malaysian pair clinching the fourth and last spot. Sweden will take on Malaysia in the semi-finals while USA and Dominican Republic will square off in the other semi tomorrow. The girls will contest their Doubles preliminaries divided into two squads tomorrow morning.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Lincoln, Nebraska.

28th July, Lincoln, Nebraska: Pontus Andersson amd four-time PBA Tour winner, Jesper Svensson of Sweden took over the lead of the Boy's Doubles preliminaries at the 14th World Youth Championships ahead of arch rival USA in second.

2014 World Youth Doubles gold medallist, Andersson paired up with Svensson to roll a big game of 260 to give the Swede the lead with a 495 opening game. Australia's Adam Svensson and Blayne Fletcher rolled the second highest opening game of 459 to take up second.

As Australia suffered a setback in the second game, the Swedish pair maintained their lead after adding 433 in their second game. Singles gold medallist, Wesley Low Jr. and Anthony Simonsen moved into second spot, 45 pins adrift.

The battle of the two-handers intensified with the Swedes continuing to take control of the squad after the third game to lead the American pair by 66 pins.

Just when the gap was reduced by 10 pins after the fourth game, Andersson and Svensson blitzed the lanes with a sizzling 514 to extend the margin to 91 pins going into the final game.

The Swedes ended strongest with 492 to complete the squad with 2815. Although the Americans registered a superb game of 494 in the sixth game, the gap was just too huge to reduce having to settle for second spot with 2726.

Finland's Santtu Tahvanainen and Niko Oksanen stormed home to clinch third spot with 2605 but was unable to topple Squad A leader, Dominican Republic for third and had to settle for fourth overall.

Wascar Cavallo and Singles bronze medallist, Hector Simo earned third spot with 2655 while the Aussies, who took fourth position of this squad, missed out of the top four by 11 pins for fifth position.

The third and final squad of the day will commence at 6.00pm local time after lane maintenance. The combined scores of the three squads will determine the top four qualifiers for the semi-finals scheduled for tomorrow.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Lincoln, Nebraska.

28th July, Lincoln, Nebraska: Singles bronze medallist, Hector Somi partnering Wascar Cavallo, shot the highest six-game series of 1432 to anchor Dominican Republic to the top of the Boy's Doubles opening squad at the 14th World Youth Championships.

Hong Kong's Ivan Tse and the youngest competitor of the championship, 14-year-old Alex Yu took the early lead with 472 followed by Wascar Cavallo and Singles bronze medallist, Hecto Somi of the Dominican Republic in second, 35 pins adrift.

But the Hong Kong pair could repeat their feat in the second game allowing the Dominican pair to surge ahead into the lead. Mexico's Fabian Lopez and Banjamin Martinez kept good pace to move into second and 30 pins behind.

Cavallo and Somi remained in the lead with another good game of 421 while Germany's Tobais Beier and Giancarlo Reyes got the better of the Mexican to take over second spot, thanks to a big game of 277 by Reyes.

Dominican Republic continued their relentless pace ending the preliminaries with 456, 445 and 433 to comfortably take the squad with 2655. Cavallo shot 1223 and Simo 1432. Mexico finished in a distant second with 2517, 138 pins adrift.

Germany took third spot with 2490 while Japan's Ryota Yakuwa and Takuya Miyazawa rounded out the top four with 2490. Two more squads will be staged at 1.30 pm and 6.00 pm and the combined scores will determine the top four advancing to the semi-final scheduled to be held on July 29.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Lincoln, Nebraska.