20th Jul, Duisburg: Reigning AMF World Cup champion, Kai Virtanen and Mixed Doubles Bronze medalist, Kim Soo-Kyung won the World Games 2005 Men's and Women's titles which concluded this afternoon at Joe's SuperBowling at Rhein-Ruhr-Zentrum.

Virtanen, who was seeded third at the end of the 10-games Round-robin Matchplay finals, defeated top-seed, Gery Verbruggen of Belgium, 444-424 over two matches to claim his second major title. The champion edged Verbruggen, 233-226 in the first match and went on to take the second match and the title, 211-198.

Virtanen had earlier out-classed second-seed and American, Andrew Cain, 228-148 before setting up the finale with Verbruggen. The Belgian settled for the Silver medal while Cain took home the Bronze medal.

The runnerup amassed 2330 in the 10-game Round-robin finals after having won 6 matches with Cain in second with 2290 followed by the champion, Virtanen in third with 2228. Mixed Doubles Silver medalist, Zulmazran Zulkifli of Malaysia missed the cut for the stepladder finals finishing fourth with 2203.

Mixed Doubles Bronze medalist, Kim Soo-Kyung of Korean made amends to bag the Gold medal in the women's division when she defeated England's Zara Glover 416-415 over two matches in the stepladder finals. Despite loosing the first match 234-240 to Glover, the champion edged the English women by 1 pin on total pinfalls with the second match, 182-175.

Glover earned a crack at the title after she ousted second-seed, Caroline Lagrange of Canada, 227-167 in the first match. Kim led the earlier round-robin finals with 2225 from winning 6 of the 10 matches followed by Lagrange in second with 2160 and Glover third with 2146.

Hong Kong's Vanessa Fung missed the cut for the stepladder finals finishing fourth with 2095 while Mixed Doubles Silver medalist, Shalin Zulkifli finished last in the field of 10 finalists.

Photos courtesy of MTBC.

19th Jul, Duisburg: Doubles Bronze medalist, Kim Soo-Kyung and Kang Hee-Won of Korea dominated the Singles event of the World Games 2005 at the end of the 12-game at Rhein-Ruhr-Zentrum Bowling Center to lead the top 10 men and women into the Round-robin Matchplay finals.

Kim, the 2002 Malaysian Open champion, took the lead from game 5 onwards and never looked back to end the 12-game Singles on a score of 2632. With the scores added from the Mixed Doubles contested on Monday, the 28-year-old ammassed a total of 5074 for the lead.

East Asian Games Gold medalist, Ayano Katai of Japan finished second with 4970 ahead of Finn, Pritta Kantola in third spot with 4944. Mixed Doubles Silver medalist, Shalin Zulkifli, who was in the lead before the start of the Singles event, could only manage fourth with 4917.

The top 10 made the cut for Wednesday's 10-game Round-robin Matchplay finals at the end of which the top 3 will advance to the stepladder finals to determine the champion. Missing the cut were World Youth Masters Gold medalist, Jennifer Patrick of USA in 12th and Mixed Doubles Gold medalist, Isabelle Saldjian of France in 13th.

In the Men's division, Kang Hee-Won led all the way in the 12-game event with a total of 5418. World Youth Masters Gold medalist and ABF Tour Thailand leg champion, Yannaphon Larpapharat of Thailand in second with 5365.

Local favourite, Achim Grabowski, who narrowly missed the cut for the Mixed Doubles stepladder finals, made amends to take up third spot with 5273 while USA's Andrew Cain made a strong bid in the final stages to claim fourth place with 5246.

Belgium's Gery Verbruggen and Mixed Doubles Silver medalist, Zulmazran Zulkifli of Malaysia finished fifth and sixth positions with 5188 and 5128 respectively. 2004 AMF World Cup champion, Kai Virtanen of Finland, Rolando A Sebelen of Dominican Republic, Mixed Doubles Gold medalist, Francois Sacco of France and Greece's Dimitrios Karetsos made up the top 10.

Photos by Chris Batson, MTBC.

18th July, Duisburg: Malaysia's Shalin Zulkifli and Zulmazran Zulkifli looked set to repeat history at the World Games 2005 Tenpin Bowling Championship when the pair topped the Mixed Doubles at the end of the 12 game event.

In 1997, reigning National champion, Daniel Lim and ex-international, Sharon Low gave Malaysia the rare and historical win when they bagged the Mixed Doubles Gold medal in the Netherlands in 1997. Shalin and Zulmazran is poised to take the Gold after they completed the 12-game Mixed Doubles event last night.

The pair started on a poor footing in 19th, then recovered slightly to move up to fourth by the fourth game. A superb 500 series in the fifth got the leaders going and gradually moved up to second at the halfway-mark.

After a short lane dressing break, Shalin and Zulmazran fired all cylinders and took over the lead after the ninth game and by the 10th game, the pair had a 169 pins cushion. Despite a set back of 374 in the 11th game, a 425 in the final game was enough to top the event with 5194.

2002 Malaysian Open champion, Kim Soo-Kyung and her partner, Kang Hee-Won of Korea, who led the first block of 6 games, settled for second with 5164. Isabelle Saldjian and François Sacco of France posted the highest second block series of 2693 to snatch third place and earned a spot in the stepladder finals.

Local favourite, Michaela Göbel and Achim Grabowski of Germany were unlucky to miss out on the cut for the stepladder finishing fourth, 65 pins adrift on 4986. Malaysia is assured of at least a Silver medal for being top-seed. The first match between French and Korean pairs will kickoff at 6.00pm local time and the winner will meet the Malaysian pair.

Photos by Chris Batson, MTBC.