26th November, Hong Kong, China: Karen Kærgaard Nielsen of Denmark ended the Women's Singles qualifying leading both Squad 2 and overall standings of HKGX 2025 IBF World Championships ahead of Nora Johansson of Sweden in second and perfect gamer, New Hui Fen of Singapore in third.

The Dane had a sizzling start rolling 279 in her opening game with Iliana Lomeli Lemus of Mexico trailing in second with 238. Johansson, who started with 221, shot a big game of 290 to take over the running as Nielsen managed only 202 to slip to second.

Johansson continued her blistering pace with another good game of 220 with the Dane bouncing back with 244 to close the gap. Nielsen added 211 in the fourth game to regain the lead while the Swede only downed 195 to slip ten pins in second.

The leading duo match their fifth game with 278 and 279. Nielsen ended stronger with 223 to seal pole position with 1437. Johansson settled for second with 1424. Singapore's New Hui Fen, who became the second bowler to score a perfect game in the fourth, took up third in the squad with 1330.

Nielsen's fine effort of 1437 in the second squad also put her in pole position followed by Johansson in second and Squad 1 leader, Kim Bo Ah of Korea in third from the combined squads. Shannon Pluhowsky of USA finished fourth with her 1340.

Perfect gamer, Hui rounded out the top five same total as the American but was ranked fifth after a lower sixth game to Pluhowsky's sixth game of 274.

The cut in 32nd position in the overall standings went to Singapore's Shayna Ng with 1211, averaging 201.83. Missing the cut by two pins was Ng's team-mate, Bernice Lim with 1209. 2024 PWBA Bowler of the Year and 2025 IBF World Cup Team silver medalist, Sin Li Jane of Malaysia, also miss the cut by 11 pins.

The top 32 advanced to the Round 2 head-to-head Matchplay finals on November 27. They will be divided into four groups and will bowl seven matches, earning 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 point for loss. The winner of each group will proceed to the semi-finals.