22nd July, Kaohsiung: Mixed Doubles silver medalist, Manuel Otalora of Colombia and Krista Pollanen of Finland were crowned World Games Kaohsiung 2009 Singles champions which concluded at Happy Bowling Center on Tuesday.

Manuel Otalora of Colombian, could not have asked for a better finish to his debut at the World Games when the second-seed outclassed topseed, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong in the title match over two games to emerged as world champion.

Otalora edged Wu 190-188 in the first game and demolished his opponent, 255-179 in the second game to win the Men's Singles Gold medal with 445-367. Otalora had lost the Mixed Doubles title on the opening day despite qualifying for the finals as topseed.

Topseed, Wu had ended the 9-games Round-Robin Matchplay finals earlier to tie with the Colombian but beat Otalora, 211-202 in the position round match to advance to the finals with 2259.

"It's a fantastic feeling to be a World Champion," exclaimed the 28-year-old Colombian debutant, Mauel Otalora. "Coming for this games is already quite an achievement for me and now I'm on top of the world.

"I felt very comfortable today not like during the Mixed Doubles final when I was a bit tight in my delivery. And when I saw that my opponent was struggling, it made me even more relaxed."

The champion, totaled 2240 had to narrowly beat third-seed, Adrian Ang, 184-181 to face Wu in the finals. PBA pro bowler, Chris Barnes, who was third going into the position round, lost to Ang 187-254 to miss the stepladder cut.

"I bowled bad and I only have myself to blame," said the 23-year-old two-time Asian Ranked No. 1, Wu Siu Hong. "My timing was all over the place. at one stage, I was too fast and then I was a little slow in my approach."

Meanwhile, third-seed, Krista Pollanen of Finland won the Women's Singles gold medal after she upstaged topseed and favourite, Zara Glover over two games, 407-378 in the finals. Pollanen had trailed Glover by 42 pins after losing the first match, 172-214.

But the Finn displayed sheer determination to cut the deficit with a convincing 235 over the Brit's 164 for a well-deserved victory. The champion had earlier ousted second-seed, Liza Del Rosario of the Philippines, 215-210 to meet Glover.

"I knew I was behind after I lost the first match, but I didn't give up," said the 36-year-old four-time Finish national champion, Krista. "And when Zara was struggling in the second match, I had to give all I got.

"This is my first World Games and I'm also happy to be the first women to win a gold for my country, Finland," added the Finn, who was part of the team who won the European Cup three times.

"She had a lot of bad shots in the first match so I sugested to her to move more to the left to get more power into her shot," said coach, Sami Konsteri. "She knew what she had to do after that."

"I totally lost it on the right lane in the second match," said Zara after taking home the silver medal for the second consecutive World Games Singles.

"I moved right, the ball hooked too much, I moved left, the ball just went straight. I thought I made a good shot in the ninth frame of the second match to strike out and have a chance of winning, but the ball just didn't hook.

"This is the second time that I've finished second and it must be pretty disappointed. In fact I beat Krista during the European Cup qualifiers and I was quite confident meeting her. Well, maybe third time lucky."

Colombia ended the tenpin bowling of the World Games as overall champion with 1 gold and 1 silver. Korea and Finland tied for second with 1 gold medal each. The next World Games in 2013 will be hosted by Colombia.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Kaohsiung.

21st July, Kaohsiung: First block leaders, Kong Byoung-Hee of Korea and Zara Glover of Great Britain maintained their lead at the end of the Men's and Women's second block Singles qualifying of the World Games Kaohsiung 2009.

Mixed Doubles gold medalist, Kong Byoung-Hee shot a lower 6-game series of 1228 in the second block but held the overall lead in the Men's Singles 12-game qualifying round to advance into the Round-Robin Matchplay finals.

The 28-year-old Korean had posted 1439 en-route to winning the Mixed Doubles with Gye Min-Young yesterday and topped the first block with 1319 for an 18-game total of 3986.

PBA pro bowler, Chris Barnes of USA, who was ninth after the first block, posted the highest 6-games series of 1404 in the second block to haul himself up to second spot with a total of 3904.

Highest first block scorer and bronze medalist in the Mixed Doubles, Adrian Ang of Malaysia finished third with 3874 despite a lower 1169 second block. The highest mover was Finland's Osku Palermaa, who shot from 17th position to squeeze into the finals in tenth position with 3708.

Meanwhile, first block leader, Zara Glover of Great Britain led from start to finish in the second block to advance into the next stage in pole position with a total of 3839. Finland's Krista Pollanen took second spot with 3769.

Local favourite, Wang Yu-Ling gave the home crowd plenty to cheer for when she finished third with 3765. Patricia Luoto of Germany, who became the first-ever bowler in the World Games series to shoot a perfect game, improved fro tenth to fourth with 3730.

Sofia Rodriguez of Guatamela, who posted the third highest 6-game series in the first block, managed to hang on and qualify for the next stage in tenth position with 3577.

Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Finland and Colombia are the five countries to have both their women and men in the top 10. The qualifiers will bowl 9 games round-robin matchplay with 10 pin bonus for a win and 5 for a draw added to their scores.

A tenth and position round match will end the finals with the top 3 from each division proceeding to the semifinals and finals to determine the champions.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Kaohsiung.

21st July, Kaohsiung: Zara Glover of Britain powered to the top of the Women's Singles standings of the World Games Kaohsiung 2009 after the first block while Mixed Doubles gold medalist, Kong Byoung-Hee maintained pole in the men's division.

Zara Glover, who was tenth in the Women's standings after yesterday's Mixed Doubles, posted the highest 6-games series with 1361 in the Singles first block to haul herself up to the top of the table with 2541.

The Brit was trailing Finn, Krista Pollanen by 49 pins after the second game, took over the running with 233, 245 and 249 in the first half and never looked back to end the block in pole.

Local hopeful, Wang Yu-Ling thrilled the local crowd with a superb 1264 to move up to second overall with 2486 while Guatamala's Sofia Rodriguez surprised the field by taking up third spot with 2472.

"I started to play further left today and I feel more comfortable," said Zara Glover after the first block of Singles. "The lanes seem to be a bit more drier which helped me alot.

"I used the Siege for the first three games but when I got to lane 11 and 12, I had three splits so I had to switch to Pearl and that was better. It's about finishing in the top 10 and not too much on topping the event. So I'll make sure to keep my focus and bowl consistently to stay in the top 10."

Meanwhile, Mixed Doubles gold medalist, Kong Byoung-Hee maintained overall pole position despite posting the third highest 6-game series of 1319 for a 12-game total of 2758.

Mixed Doubles bronze medalist, Adrian Ang of Malaysia shot the highest 6-game series of 1378 to move up to second with 2705.

Mixed Doubles silver medalist, Manuel Otalora of Colombia finished second with 2650 from a 1308 series in the first block while the third highest 6-games series went to Norway's Tore Torgersen, who shot 1313 but stayed in fifth overall.

The bowlers will resume their second block of 6 games in the afternoon. The top 10 men and top 10 women based on the 18-games pinfalls (6 from Mixed Doubles and 12 from Singles) will advance into the Round-Robin stage on Wednesday.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Kaohsiung.

20th July, Kaohsiung: The mighty Koreans, Gye Min Young and Kong Byoung Hee won their first gold medal in the opening Mixed Doubles event of the World Games Kaohsiung 2009 underway at Happy Bowling Center.

Korea's Gye Min Young posted a moderate 1149 and was greatly helped by her partner, Kong Byoung Hee, who shot the highest 6-game series of 1439 to amassed a team total of 2588 and finished behind topseed, Colombia.

Anggie Ramirez and Manuel Otalora traded the lead with Philippines and Korea but ended stronger to take top spot with a total of 2605. Ramirez shot 1263 while Otalora returned 1342.

Malaysia's Adrian Ang and Zatil Iman did well to take up the final stepladder spot with a third place finish on a total of 2576 while Mexico missed the cut with 2534 in fourth spot.

In the semifinals, Korea ousted Malaysia 421-391 to advance into the finals to face topseed, Colombia over a two-game total. But topseed narrowly lost the first match, 402-413 and was simply outclassed by the Koreans going down 308-427.

Korea won their first gold medal 840-710 in the finals while Colombia settled for the silver medal. Malaysia took home the bronze.

"I didn't bowl too well in the earlier six games and fortunately, Kong bowled good," said Gye Min Young, who won two gold medals in the 2008 Asian Championship in Hong Kong. "Fortunately, I did much better in the finals."

"I was a bit too relaxed when our opponent made a lot of mistakes in the second match," said Kong Byoung Hee. "Luckily, Min Young was superb in the crucial match and I'm very honoured to have partnered her."

"The lanes in the finals was completely different from the earlier six games and we just couldn't find a good line to bowl," said the 18-year-old debutant, Anggie Ramirez."

"I wasn't very comfortable and the lanes felt very different," said the 28-year-old Manuel Otalora. "My best performance in a world meet was finishing 7th in the Team event in the 2008 World Championship in Bangkok. So I'm still happy to take home a silver medal.

While Kong Byoung Hee topped the men's Top 10 standings, Finland's Krista Pollanen shot the highest six-game series of 1290 to lead the the women's division. The top 10 after 18 games (6 from mixed doubles and 12 from singles) will advance to the Singles Round-robin matchplay finals on Wednesday.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Kaohsiung.

190th July, Kaohsiung: The world stage of the eighth edition of the World Games Kaohsiung 2009 is set for battle as the teams tested the lanes at Happy Bowling Center during the official practise held Sunday afternoon.

A total of 23 nations minus Puerto Rico which pulled out a few days agao, will field one male and one female for the three-day competition comprising of Mixed Doubles and Singles. The Mixed Doubles will kick off the championship on Monday morning.

The teams will play 6 games and the top 3 teams at the end of the block will advance into the semifinals. Second-seed will play third-seed over one game for total pinfalls and the winning team will advance into the finals against the topseed.

Two-games total pinfall in the finals will determine the gold and silver medalist while the loser of the first match will take home the bronze.

Some of the world-class bowlers such as top European ranked, Osku Palermaa of Finland will Krista Pollanen in the doubles and will face strong challenges from Germany's Achim Grabowski and Patricia Luoto.

Great Britain's Darren Cundy is paired with Zara Glover while World Champion, Tore Togersen is paired with his spouse and former Thai national Patcharin. Former World Tenpin Masters champion, Guy Caminsky partners Gay Mack for South Africa.

Asia's challenge will come from two-time Asian Ranked No. 1, Wu Siu Hong and 2008 Asian Ranked No. 1 women, Chan Shuk Han of Hong Kong. Also featured is World Champion, Remy Ong and Jennifer Tan of Singapore.

Asian Champion, Chester King teamed up with multiple open title champion, Liza Del Rosario of the Philippines while Asia powerhouse Korea has World champion, Gye Min-Young and Kong Byoung-Hee will surely be strong favourites.

The strongest pair from the America will undoubtedly be multiple PBA titles and World champion, Chris Barnes who will be paired with Stefanie Nation representing USA.

The Singles for men and women, which will be contested on Tuesday, comprise of two 6-games block and the top 10 from a total of 18 games (6 in the mixed doubles and 12 in the singles) will make the cut for another 10-game Singles matchplay round-robin from scratch on Wednesday.

The top 3 at the end of the round-robin Singles will advance into the semifinals and finals. Again, the second-seed will play the third-seed in a one-game matchplay style and the winner will advance to meet the topseed for a two-game total pinfalls to determine the champion.

Meanwhile, the team managers' meeting was held earlier this morning where chaired by tournament manager and ABF Vice President, Danny

Santos. He is assisted by Singapore's William Woo, who is the technical official dressing the lanes.

Mr Chen Tong-Hui, President of the Chinese Taipei Bowling Association, is appointed the technical delegate with EBF President and FIQ secretary general, Adie Ophelders, PABCON President, Jose Guandique and ABF Exco member, Takaya Aizawa of Japan as Jury of Appeal.

The format of play, confirmation of players and lane draws were conducted during the meeting which lasted almost two hours.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Kaohsiung.