21st August, Munich: Team USA travel home with a huge haul of medals from their outing in the 2010 World Men's Championships at the Dream Bowl Palace and cross the Atlantic with a total five gold, one silver and four bronze medals.

The championships closed with the Masters event, the top 16 competitors from the All Events of all four disciplines, and that saw the gold medal taken by Chris Barnes from the United States, defeating fellow countryman Patrick Allen in a best-of-five game final.

Three of the four semi-finalists were American, the outsider being Choi Bok-Eum from Korea. In the semi-finals, Patrick Allen of the United States advanced to the final by defeating fellow American Wes Malott, 3-0.

The other semi saw Chris Barnes survived a tough challenge from Choi Bok-Eum with the matches going the full distance, 3-2 where Barnes edged Choi, 248-232 in the decider.

The Americans won gold in Singles, Trios and Five-man Team disciplines, the Doubles being taken by Sweden. This is the best performance by an American team since they dominated competition back in 1963 in Mexico.

"This is something we have been working toward for six months now," Barnes said. "Instead of competing against each other like we do on the PBA Tour, it's nice to come together and really bond as a team. It all came together at a big moment and it feels great.

"I kept creeping left a little each shot and that eleventh one was pretty good," added Barnes, who shot 300 in the second game of singles qualifying to in the tournament's first event and almost got his second in the finals.

"It's hard to believe that ball downed 9 pin from where I was playing. It was a little inside target but not much. A perfect game would have given an ending that I'll remember for a long time."

Their victory in the Five-man team was their third consecutive gold medal, winning in Busan in 2006 and Bangkok, Thailand 2008. Two perfect games came from Chris Barnes and Finland's Pasi Uotila but no records were broken.

Sweden was the only other country to have won the gold medal from the Doubles. Korea was probably the most disappointing not winning a gold and had to be content with a silver and two bronze medals.

The women's championships will be hosted in Hong Kong in 2011 and there will be a break in 2012. The championship will return with the men and women being combined and the host will be announced by WTBA in Switzerland in December.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

20th August, Munich: United States clinched their third gold medal of the World Men's Championships 2010 after edging Finland in a thrilling five-player team finals in front of a packed house at Dream Bowl Palace on Friday evening.

Two gold medalist, Bill O'Neill led his team-mates, Patrick Allen, Wes Malott, Chris Barnes and Tommy Jones to defeat fourth-seed, Colombia, 1048-970 in the first semi-final and set course for their third gold of the championship.

The Americans, who topped the first block on Thursday, continued their fine form to end the second block with 6376, 19 pins ahead of Finland to advance into the team final shootout as top seed.

Finland's Petteri Salonen, Joonas Jahi, Mika Koivuniemi, Pasi Uotila and Osku Palermaa ended host nation, Germany's hopes of a final after winning the second semi, 996-941 to face the mighty Americans.

The Finns had a better start in the finals as opposed to United States after O'Neill and anchorman, Jones had an opened frame each. Fortunately, Malott had three strikes in a row and Allen had a double to cover their team-mates' nervy start.

Salonen and Koivuniemi each had their third frames opened as the Americans settled down to a strikefest. Towards halfway of the match, the two teams had very little to separate the contenders.

And in one of the best match ever contested in a world championship team finals, Malott struck homw from frame seven while Koivuniemi responded by striking from frame five to eleven.

It came down to the wire and the match being decided by both the anchormen having to double up in the final frame. Palermaa struck in the tenth but was frustrated to see pin 10 standing after a seemingly perfect pocket shot.

Jones doubled up in the tenth frame to seal the match and take victory, with 1073-1057 to give United States their third gold medal. Their second gold came just a hour ago when O'Neill topped the All Events standings after 24 games from three discipline.

"This is what we come here for - to win the team gold medal," Jones said. "Anything less than gold leaves a bitter taste. Winning the team title three times in a row is something we are really proud of."

"I didn't bowl well all week but for my team to believe in me enough to let me bowl last was a huge honor, and I'm glad I was able to come through for them," Jones said. "We got ahead early and Finland showed a lot of heart battling back. It was a back and forth match and both teams put on a great show."

Germany's Bodo Koniezcny, Marco Baade, Michael Holzappel, Pascal Winternheimer, Achim Grabowsky and Jens Nickel had earlier thrilled a packed house of German supporters to fire 950, 1127 and 1110 in their second block to make the finals in third with 6226.

Colombia, who topped Squad 2 from the morning's session, hung on to squeeze into the finals in fourth position but were eliminated by the champions in the semi-finals. Korea and Chinese Taipei tied fifth spot and missed the cut.

O'Neill and Barnes finished one-two in the All Events to win the gold and the silver medals with 5343 and 5258 respectively. Korea's Jang Dong-Chul took home the bronze medal with 5091.

Four Americans made the Masters finals with Jones missing the top 16 despite tieing with Petteri Salonen on a same score of 5009. The Finn edged Jones because of a better final game in the team events.

Six from the American zone, 3 from Europe (all Finns) and seven from Asian advanced into the best-of-five elimination round of 16 tomorrow. The winners will advance to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals for the fifth gold medal of the championships.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

20th August, Munich: Ending Squad 2 second block of the five-player team in pole may not get the Colombians a spot in the top four positions of the World Men's Championship 2010 final shootout as the teams in the second block are much stronger.

Jamie Enrique Monroy, Jorge Romero, Fabio Garcia, Manuel Otalora and Andres Gomez of Colombia started off where they left off in the first block with an opening game of 1037 to stretch their lead over Greece to 77 pins.

A better game in the second gave them a lot of breathing space 133 pins ahead of their rivals as Singapore's Ng Tiac Pin, Mark Wong, Basil Low (alternating for Justin Lim), Jason Yeong-Natan and Remy Ong recovered from a poor 936 fourth game with 1045.

Despite ending the squad and the block with 6119, the Colombians could have done better if not for their disappointing final game of 936 which could cost them spot in in the top 4 finals.

Singapore too needed a high game in the sixth to give themselves any real chance of progressing but managed 1004 as the Koreans stormed home with 1074 to snatch second spot away from the Singaporeans.

Korean finished second with 6091 with Singapore slipping down to third with 6054. This meant that overall leader, United States would need only 2805 from their second block to easily overtake Colombia.

Finland, who was second overall after the first block would most likely overtake Colombia when they would only require 2834 in their second block. The Norwegians, who were third, need 2932 to beat Colombia.

Three or even four teams who were in the top seven could advance into the shootout if they do well in their final block. No teams in this squad were able to post more than 1,100 so the long oil conditions are not easy and Colombia will be hoping for the best.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

19th August, Munich: World Games Singles champion Manuel Otalora led his team-mates, Jamie Enrique Monroy, Jorge Romero, Fabio Garcia and Andres Gomez to clinch pole in the second squad of the five-player team event at the World Men's Championships 2010.

Singapore's Ng Tiac Pin, Mark Wong, Justin Lim, Jason Yeong-Nathan and Remy Ong got off the mark with a sensational 1134 opening game of the second squad to take a 34 pin lead over Greece in second.

The Singapore quintet kept the lead into the second game albeit with a lower game of 1043 as Colombia's Jamie Enrique Monroy, Jorge Romero, Fabio Garcia, Manuel Otalora and Andres Gomez downed 1037 and 1077 to trail the Singaporeans by 63 pins.

While the leader suffered a poor 892 in their third and final game of the first block, the Colombians shot 983 to clinch pole position with 3097. Monroy shot 609, Romero 582, Garcia 641, Otalora 610 and Gomez 655.

Their 3097 was good enough to earn themselves fourth position overall behind the United States, Finland and Norway, who retained their top 3 places from Squad 1.

"All of us bowled our hearts out and we're really proud to be able to finish in the top four," said anchorman, Gomez. "We gave away quite a lot of pins today but we kept our cool."

"We didn't do too bad in our first three events but our efforts was just not good enough. But we didn't give up and our spirits ware still high. We can handle both the medium and long oil conditions and we fancy our chances to make the finals."

Greece ended stronger than Singapore to claimed second spot with 3088 to tie with Belgium from the first squad and only 9 pins from the Colombians. Singapore slipped to third in the squad eighth overall.

Favorites Korea, who were second to Singapore after the second game, dropped to fourth in the squad and ninth overall. The second squad will resume with their second block tomorrow morning while Squad 1 will take to the lanes in the afternoon. The top four will advance to the final shootout.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

19th August, Munich: It was a stroll in the park for the Team USA pro bowlers as they cruised to the lead of the World Men's Championships 2010 five-player team event in the opening squad of the first block on Thursday.

The quintet of Bill O'Neill, Patrick Allen, Chris Barnes, Wes Malott and Tommy Jones blazed the lanes with a sizzling 1142 opening game albeit short of the record set by the Koreans two years ago in Bangkok.

The Americans continued with another scintilating 1122 in their second game and building up a gap of 65 pins to their nearest rival, Finland. After three lack-luster performances by the Finns, Petteri Salonen, Joonas Jahi, Mika Koivuniemi, Pasti Uotila and Oska Palermaa finally come good.

United States ended the first block over the medium oil pattern with 3314 pinfalls, 29 pns ahead of Finland making up ground in their third game to take up second spot with 3285.

"I think we're in good shape because the long pattern plays to our strengths," Barnes said. "The goal is to get the top seed so you can have choice of lane pattern in the semifinals and final. I like our chances in the semifinals, especially if we can get there and choose the pattern."

"The last game today was a little disappointing," added Barnes. "I thought the third game we could make up some pins and pull away a little bit. At the end of the day, 1,050 is a good score, but we left some pins out there."

Norway's five-person team of Svein Roger Olsen, Martin Olsen, Bjorn E. Rudshagen, Mads Sandbaekken and Tore Torgersen finished third with 3187.

Asia's best team was Hong Kong's Michael Mak, Cyrus Cheung, Michael Tsang, Eric Tseng and Wu Siu Hong, who slipped down to seventh with 3038 after being in the front-running pack in the early stages.

Squad 2 will take to the lanes after the medal presentations of the Trios event this afternoon. Squad 2 wil bowl first tomorrow and Squad 1 in the afternoon.

The top four will again advance into the shootout finals which will take place after the medal presentation of the All Events winners.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

18th August, Munich: A second fourth seed Patrick Allen, Rhino Page and Wes Malott took victory in the Trios finals after they out-classed third-seed, Mexico 650-514 to win a second gold medal for USA at the World Men's Championships 2010.

The final match between fourth-seed of Allen, Page and Malott was a one-sided match at the start when Mexico had Jorge Rosado and Alejandro Cruz had three opened frames between them in the first three frames.

Allen and Page had three consecutive strikes each putting the Americans in the driver's seat. As Rosado and Cruz continued to to have two more open frames towards the halfway point, the match was simply a formality.

USA cruised to a convincing victory over Mexico, 650-514 with Allen shooting 235, Page 228 and Malott 187. Except for Ernesto Franco who brought home a decent 220, Rosado and Cruz could only manage 145 and 149 respectively.

"This was just a total team effort, and it feels very, very cool," Page said. "I'm just so happy for us to be here right now with the gold medal. Trios is one event I have never won a gold medal in and to do it with Wes and PA means a lot to me."

"To be selected to bowl in the roll-off was an honor," said Malott, who earned his first medal as a Team USA player. "To come through for Rhino and Allen means a lot. During the whole trios event they really were the ones who carried us as a team."

Mexico reached the finals by despatching Chinese Taipei's Cheng Hsing-Chao, Hung Kun-Yi and Wu Hao-Ming, 607-576 in the semi-finals. The champion had tied with Bill O'Neill, Chris Barnes and Tommy Jones, 590 in ther other all-American semi.

Both O'Neill and Malott had to go into a ninth and tenth frame roll-off to break the tie. Malott had a spare in the ninth and struck out for 50 pins while O'Neil had a spare and a split in the tenth for 27 pins to lose to the fourth-seed.

The champion was the second fourth-seed to go all the way to win the gold medal. Bill O'Neill won the gold medal from fourth-seed after he defeated top seed Dominic Barrett of England and then second seed, Choi Bok-Eum of Korea in the finals to win the Singles gold medal.

USA looked set to retain the overall title after having won two gold and two bronze medals. Sweden took the gold medal in the Doubles finals on Monday after he edged Malaysia.

Competition will resume with the five-player event with the first of two qualifying blocks on Thursday, August 19 and the second on Friday, August 20.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

18th August, Munich: Chinese Taipei's Cheng Hsing-Chao, Hung Kun-Yi and Wu Hao-Ming took the last squad with a mesmerizing performance to qualify for the World Men's Championships 2010 Trios final shootout in second position.

The Taiwanese trio, who has two spinners and a hook-ball bowler, relished the long oil pattern to set a blistering pace with 669 to move into the lead as overnight leader, Malaysia shot a poor 569 to slip down to fourth.

Korea's Choi Bok-Eum. Jang Dong-Chul and Cho Young-Seon made their bid with a much improved effort to take up second spot with USA's Patrick Allen, Rhino Page and Wes Malott in a close third.

Chinese Taipei had their lead reduced from 57 pins to 39 despite another good 638 game in the fifth as the American trio rolled 670 to move up one notch while Korea and Malaysia fell out of contention.

Cheng, Hung and Wu needed 609 or more to assure themselves a top 4 finish and duly responded with 684 in their final game. Their total of 3914 put them firmly into the finals in second spot.

"This is my first world championship and I didn't expect to come this far to be honest," said Hung Kun-Yi. "Cheng and Wu did all the work and I'm only a passenger."

"I was at the last championship in Bangkok and I went home disappointed," said Cheng Hsing-Chao. "Before I came here, I was determined to do well and Iuess my hard work paid off."

"It's not just me. It's a team effort," said the anchorman, Wu Hao-Ming, who is also debuting at this year's championships. "We're not strong in the medium pattern but we managed a good score. Our strength is in the long oil so we knew we had to take the chance."

USA hung on with 637 to finish second to the Taiwanese with 3828 and fourth overall. Squad 2 and overall leader, Bill O'Neill, Chris Barnes and Tommy Jones of USA advanced as top seed with 4081.

Ernesto Franco, Jorge Rosado and Alejandro Cruz earned Mexico's first-ever appearance in the finals in third behind the Taiwanese. Italy, who was second in in the first block, missed the cut after finishing fifth.

Chinese Taipei will face Mexico in the semi-finals while the two American trios will face each other in the other semi.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

18th August, Munich: There was no change in the standings of the Trios event of the World Men's Championships 2010 after the Squad 3 completed their second block as leader Philippines failed to make the top four.

Two countries were able to post consistent games in their second block over the long oil pattern but nowhere near what the earlier squad has achieved. Biboy Rivera, Raul Miranda and Chester King shot 644, 604 and 604 to end the block in the lead with 3711.

Anders Lousdal, Paul Hutchinson and Mik Stampe returned with 615, 605 and 629 in their second block to give themselves a total of 3690 to finish second to Philippines. Colombia claimed third spot with 3664.

But all the three countries ended up in fifth, sixth and seventh positions respectively when their scores were combined with the earlier Squad 2 in which USA's Bill O'Neill, Chris Barnes and Tommy Jones led.

The Americans, who had broken the Finland's 1999 3-game record of 2121 with a second block of 2196 to move into the front of the leaderboard with 4081. Mexcio occupied second spot with 3839 while Thailand clinched third spot with 3727.

Several teams may challenge for the top four spots notably, Squad 1 leader, Alex Liew, Muhamad Syafiq Ridhwan and Aaron Kong of Malaysia who has a 3-game total of 1964. Italy and the second American trio of Patrick Allen, Rhino Page and Wes Malott should all be in the running.

Squad 1 will complete the second block of the Trios event and the top four will advance into the final shootout for medals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

18th August, Munich: American trios of Tommy Jones, Bill O'Neill and Chris Barnes revelled in the second block of the World Men's Championships 2010 Trios event on Wednesday to become the new leader.

Drawn together with Mexicans, Bill O'Neill fired 247, Chris Barnes 234 and Tommy Jones 246 for massive game of 727 but was over-shadowed by Mexico's Ernesto Franco, Jorge Rosado ad Alejandro Cruz shooting 760.

Franco had ten consecutive strikes opener but shot a tight pocket ball in the eleventh frame to down 8 pins hence ending with 288 while Rosado posted 241 and Cruz 231. Despite losing to the Mexicans, the Americans took over the lead from overnight leader, Finland.

The American trio was simply on fire reeling in another scintilating 738 to stretch their lead over Mexico from 1 pin to 141 pins as their nearest opponent managed a poor 598 in the fifth game.

The leader was totally in control romping home with yet another superb 731 to end the block with 4081. Their second series of 2196 erased the record of 2121 set by the Finns in the 1999 championship. Their total of 4081 just missed the record of 4088 also set by the Finns in 1999.

"I think we were lucky to get out on the first squad today," said O'Neill. "It was a little bit easier than it was yesterday, so we took advantage of it."

"It was a pretty good block for me. I needed a good session to get back into the Masters," said Jones. "More improtantly, I had two good team-mates that kept me lined up so we had a lot of fun this morning."

"If you had told us yesterday after a marginal performance that we would be within a few pins of the overall world championship record today we wouldn't believe it," confessed Barnes.

"Now we're awfully happy. These guys really struck a lot today. Our new record might hold up for a little while. Hopefully we can make a run at it next time around."

"We came up just eight pins short of the six-game record by making some poor shots yesterday. We didn't take advantage of what we had on the shorter pattern. We had a great cross today and followed some really good teams."

Mexico finished second to USA with 3839 and any hopes of making the top four cut would really depends on how the two remaining squads would fare. Judging by the high scores by most teams in this squad, chances may be slim.

Thailand's Somjed Ksonpithak, Dechochai Tinjiratip and Yannaphon Larpapharat, who took third spot with 3727, downed 1838 lower than their first block of 1889 which could be their downfall in making the cut.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

17th August, Munich: No country was able to make any inroads to break into the top four of the Trios first block qualifying round of the World Men's Championships 2010 after the third and final squad.

UAE's Hussain Al-Suwaidi, Sayed Ibrahim Al-Hashimi and Naif Oqab Al-Abdla had looked promising when they took the lead with an opening game of 664, just a single pin ahead of the Danes in second.

Denmark's Anders Lousdal, Paul Hutchinson and Mike Stampe followed their first game of 643 with a superb second game of 672 putting them into the lead as the Emiratis slipped down the field and France taking over second spot with a massive 723.

France's Anthony Fabre, Alain Nicolas and Xavier Lotthe needed another big game of no less than 662 to topple the overall leader, Malaysia. But if the French could shoot 621 or more, they could move at least into the top 4.

Despite ending the first block in the lead, France only posted 582 to give themselves a total of 1884, 80 pins off the top seed and 38 pins off fourth-placed Chinese Taipei and had to settle for ninth overall.

Philippines' Chester King, Biboy Rivera and Raul Miranda was Asia's best trios after storming home to snatch second to the French with 1859 while Finland's Mika Koivuniemi, Juhai Tonteri and Osku Palermaa took third in the squad with 1851.

No changes took place as a result after the third squad with Malaysia's Alex Liew, Muhamad Syafiq Ridhwan and Aaron Kong in pole. Italy, USA and Chinese Taipei retained their second to fourth positions too.

The second block of three games over the long oil pattern will be staged on Wednesday, August 18 and the combined scores after three squads will decide the top four qualifying for the shootout finals.

PPhotos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

17th August, Munich: Finland's Joonas Jahi, Petteri Salonen and Pasi Uotila failed to break into the current top four positions of the Trios qualifying round at the World Men's Championships 2010 despite topping the second squad.

Puerto Rico's Gabriel Sanchez, Israel Hernandez and Luis Rodriguez opened accounts of the second Trios squad with a superb 665 to take a slender lead of 3 pins over the Finns and a further 3 pina ahead of Thailand.

Somjed Kusonpithak, Dechochai Tinjiratip and Yannaphon Larpaharat rolled another good game of 660 after their first game of 659 to take over the running as USA's Bill O'Neill, Chris Barnes and Tommy Jones made their bid to trail the Thais by 16 pins.

The Thais however, fell victims to the changed lane conditions to managed only 570 while Joonas Jahi, Petteri Salonen and Pasi Uotila stormed homw with 628 to pip Thailand by a single pin to claim pole position.

But the Finn's 1890 total was not good enough to make the top 4 when both the squads were combined and ended in sixth position overall. The Americans were equally unimpressive finishing third with 1885 and eighth overall.

While the first Malaysia trio of Alex Liew, Muhamad Syafiq Ridhwan and Aaron Kong remained in front, their team-mates suffered a disasterous 69th position. Italy's Massimo Pirozzi, Mauro Rampi and Marco Reviglio also maintained second position.

The first American trio of Patrick Allen, Rhino Page and Wes Malott and Chinese Taipei's Cheng Hsing-Chao, Hung Kun-Yi and Wu Hao-Ming retained third and fourth positions with the third squad scheduled later and ending today's first block.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

17th August, Munich: Doubles silver medalist, Alex Liew led his team-mates, Muhamad Syafiq Ridhwan and Aaron Kong set a 3-game benchmark of 1964 in the first block of the Trios event of the World Men's Championships 2010 over the long oil pattern.

Italy's Massimo Pirozzi, Mauro Rampi and Marco Reviglio stunned the strong field with a sizzling 716 in the opening game for a surprise lead over Korea's Cho Young-Seon, Jang Dong-Chul and Choi Bok-Eum in second.

As expected, the mighty Koreans showed what they were made of with a superb second game total of 670 to move ahead as the Italians shot a poor 581 while Malaysia's Alex Liew led Muhamad Syafiq Ridhwan and Aaron Kong moved up to second to trail by 26 pins.

With the Italians recovering in their third game with 659 and looked set to top the squad, the trio all struck out in the tenth game to snatch the lead over Italy by 8 pins.

Liew shot 657, Muhamad Syafiq 660 and Kong 647 to give the Malaysian trio a total of 1964 as the first block benchmark. Italy finished second with 1956 while USA's Patrick Allen, Rhino Page and Wes Malott finished third with 1930.

"The medium pattern is OK for us," said leftie Alex Liew. "We feel confident after yesterday's good results. We bowled well in the singles on this pattern and we we need to continue to bowl well again with tomorrow."

"I didn't have to change my bowling balls today," added Muhamad Syafiq Ridhwan. "I just bowled as before."

Anchorman Aaron Kong said: "The first two games were OK but I had to make small adjustments during the last game. The lanes changed a little. I thought the Americans would do better, but they are still close to us, so we'll see tomorrow."

"We were terrible in the Singles and Doubles but we found out what we need to do for today," said Italian coach, Amedeo Spada. "We scrubbed the bowling balls and it workd well."

Squad 2 will contest their first block of three games with the final Squad 3 later this evening. Competition will resume on Wednesday, August 18 with the second block of 3 games over the medium oil pattern.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

16th August, Munich: Top seed, Martin Paulsson and Mathais Arup took a narrow victory over No. 2 seed, Malaysia in the Doubles final match to give Sweden their first gold medal of the World Men's Championships 2010 on Monday evening.

The Malaysian pair had the match in total control after Alex Liew had a double and Muhamad Nur Aiman three strikes in a row as Martin Paulsson responded with three strikes of his own while Mathais Arup had an split in the first frame.

Although Nur Aiman had a split thereafter, Arup too had another opened frame to continue to trail going into the halfway mark of the match.

As tension began to mount on both the gold medal contenders, none of the players were able to string together more strikes to counter each other. Nur Aiman recovered with another double and the Swedes too responded with a double themselves.

Just as it appeared that the Malaysians were on their way to winning their first gold medal since 1979, Paulsson doubled up in the tenth and Mathais needing also to shot a double from frame ninth for any chance of a fight back.

Then disaster struck Nur Aiman when he rolled the big 4-7-6-10 split to give their opponent a slim chance to taking the match. Mathais responded positively to the delight of his Swedish supporters with a double to snatch the victory and the gold medal 398-379.

Paulsson shot 211 and Mathais downed 177 to edge Liew (187) and Nur Aiman (192) by just 19 pins to give Sweden their first gold medal since Robert Andersson and Martin Larsen winning the same event in the 2006 championship in Busan, Korea.

The champion had outclassed the American PBA pros of Patrick Allen and Rhino Page, 449-373 in the first semi-final while the Malaysian also had an easy victory over third seed, Bodo Konieczny and Jens Nickel of Germany, 429-325 in the other semi. The American and Germans took home a bronze medal each as losing semi-finalist.

"It was a fantastic finish," said Paulsson. "I knew I had to get a double and when I did it was unbelieveable. I think we were trailing by about 16 pins going into the ninth frame but there's always a chance in bowling and I took it."

"I'm so pleased," added Arup. "This is my first World Championship and it is wonderful to have a gold medal, especially after my bad start in the Singles. I thought what am I doing here. And to come back and win a gold medal with Martin is some story."

The competition will shift to the first block of 3 games Trios event over three squads on medium oil pattern tomorrow. The second block will resume on Wednesday, August 18. The top four trios will again advance into the shootout finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

16th August, Munich: There were no takers in the final squad of the Doubles event at the World Men's Championships 2010 although Norway and Greece, who shared the lead, came close to toppling fourth-placed Americans but missing by 38 pins.

The third pair of Wes Mallot and Tommy Jones led the first game and shared the lead with Slovakia after the second game ahead of Denmark's Thomas Larsen amd Jesper Agerbo, 11 pins away in third.

Greece surprised the field when they took over the lead after the third game. But the lead changed hands twice with Norway's Mads Sandbaekken and Tore Torgersen leading after the fourth game and Sweden's Robert Andersson and Martin Larsen taking the fifith.

Any of the five front running pairs had a chance to toppling either the third and fourth seeds if they can shoot massive games in their last game. But none came close to it.

Eventually, Norway posted a stronger final game to share the pole positio with Greece on a total of 2475 and 38 pins off the cut. The Swedes took third spot with 2465, a further 10 pins away.

So it was again status quo for the top four pairs before the final squad. Martin Paulsson and Mathais Arup of Sweden advance as top seed and will meet fourth-seed Patrick Allen and Rhino Page of USA.

The second seed Malaysians, Alex Liew and Muhamad Nur Aiman will face third seed, Bodo Konieczny and Jens Nickel of Germany in the other semi-finals to decide the gold medal contenders.

Live scoring and live video streaming is available at Live Scoring and Live Video Streaming.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

16th August, Munich: Host nation's Bodo Konieczny and Jens Nickel turned in a spirited German performance in the fourth squad of the World Men's Championships 2010 to snatch third spot in the overall standings from the Americans.

UAE's Sayed Ibrahim Al-Hashimi and Hussain Al-Suwaidi set a cracking pace in their opening two games to take the early lead ahead of Singapore's Jason Yeong-Nathan and Remy Ong in second.

The Emiratis then ran into all sorts of problems as the duo tumbled down the field with a poor third game while Germany's Bodo Konieczny and Jens Nickel surged into the front after the pair posted three consistent games of 437, 414 and 429.

Konieczny and Nickel got the large crowd of supporters on their feet and cheering loudly as the duo shot a superb 455 in the fourth game as the Russian pair turned a few heads with a good performance to trail the Germans.

Despite a lower fifth game score of 394, Germany was able to hang on to build up a decent gap as others dropped their pace. Hong Kong's Michael Mak and Wu Siu Hong made their bid at this stage to take over second spot, 70 pins adrift.

With a total of 2129 after five games, Konieczny and Nickel needed 373 to beat fourth-placed American pair of Bill O'Niell-Chris Barnes and 384 to beat the second American pair of Patrick Allen-Rhino Page.

The Germans were leaving on the edge as they went into the final game too cautiously and to the relief of everyone around the team, the pair ended with 385 and 2514 total to edge third-placed O'Neill-Barnes by 1 pin and taking up third overall.

"The pressure in that last game was too much," commented Nickel. "Because the lanes dried up so fast and I had to bowl so deep inside the lane, it was really tough."

"The tough lane condition today made the strikes hard. We knew we had to score 385 in the last game but kept getting 9, 9, 9, so it doesn't get any better at the end," added Konieczny. "Normally I like medium and short conditions."

Hong Kong came in second behind the Germans with 2484 and Singapore took third spot with 2458 but were only good for tenth and 11th positions in the overall standings after four squads.

Sweden's Martin Paulsson and Mathais Arup sits firmly in pole with Malaysia's Muhamad Nur Aiman and Alex Liew in second. Konieczny and Nickel took third spot with Allen and Page in fourth while O'Neill and Barnes were dislodged off.

Several strong pairs go into the final squad notably the Colombians, the Danes, the English, the Norwegian, the third Swedish pair and the third American pair. The top four will make the final shootout later today to decide the winners.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

15th August, Munich: Singles gold and bronze medalists, Bill O'Neill and Chris Barnes of USA topped the third squad of the World Men's Championships 2010 Doubles event but only finished fourth overall.

Mexico's Ernesto Franco and Jorge Rosado set a carcking pace with 447 and 410 in their two opening games but a poor third game of 388 costed them the lead as the American Pair of Bill O'Neill and Chris Barnes surged into the lead at the halfway mark.

UAE's pair of Shaker Al-Hassan and Naif Oqab tied with the Americans after registering consistent scores of 438, 401 and 425 in their first three games. Despite shooting 402 in the fourth, the Emiratis dropped off as Korea's Cho Young-Seon and Jang Dong-Chul took over second with the Americans still in the lead.

A pair of difficult lanes costed the O'Neill and Barnes as the duo shot s disasterous 350 which saw them nose-dived the field giving the Koreans the lead.

Cho and Jang needed 540 or better to beat current leader, Sweden and the Americans needed 564 or more. Cho and Jang managed only 392 while the American recovered with 445 in their last game to end the block in pole with 2502.

The Koreans totaled 2473 for second and UAE 2452 for third spot. O'Neill and Barnes finished fourth overall behind their team-mates, Patrick Allen and Rhino Page in third.

Swedes, Martin Paulsson and Mathais Arup continued to lead with 2621 followed by Malaysians Muhd Nur Aiman and Alex Liew in second with 2568. Squad 4 and 5 will end the Doubles qualifying rounds with the top four advancing to the final shootout tomorrow.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

15th August, Munich: Malaysian pair of southpaws, Muhd Nur Aiman and Alex Liew shone in the second squad of the World Men's Championships 2010 Doubles event to trail the opening squad leader, Sweden by 53 pins.

Colombia's Jamie Enrique Monroy and Fabio Agusto Garcia surprised the field for an early lead from their superb opening game of 462, 16 pins ahead of the Scotish pair of Mark Kerr and Mark McQueen.

Romania took over the lead briefly from the second game but was soon overtaken by Malaysia's pair of Alex Liew and Muhd Nur Aiman midway through the 6-game event. Liew and Nur Aiman started off slowly with 368 but shot 449 and 427 to surge ahead of the field.

Two back-to-back 276 and 277 from Nur Aiman saw the Malaysian pair rolling 461 and 481 to build up a comfortable margin of 143 ahead of the Greeks in second. Their fifth game total was 2186 and needing 435 in their final game to overtake Squad 1 leader, Sweden.

But both the left-handers suffered another below-par final game of 382 to settle for second overall despite topping the squad with 2568. Nur Aiman became the first bowler to surpass the 1,400-mark with his 1419 series while Liew managed only 1149.

I didn't really change anything today," stated Nur Aiman. "I just played my usual game, tried to do my best. Our coach Holloway Cheah was good and advised me to change bowling balls at the right time."

"Although the lane condition is quite fair, this long oil pattern suited us as left-handers," said Liew. "Some lanes seem to be oilier than others, so I had to make a lot of adjustments, especially towards the end of the squad."

Canada's Jason Kovack and Michael Schmidt stormed home to snatch second spot in the squad with 2443 but failed to land them anywhere near the top 4 positions after two squads.

Martin Paulsson and Mathais Arup remained ahead of Malaysia with 2621 while Patrick Allen and Rhino Page of USA slipped down to third on 2513. Choi Yong-Kyu and Kim Tae-Young also dropped to fourth with 2502.

Squad 3 will take to the lanes later today to end the third day of the competition. Squad 4 and 5 will be held on Monday, August 16. The combined scores of the five squads will decide the top four pairs advancing into the final one-game shootouts.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

15th August, Munich: Sweden's Martin Paulsson and Mathais Arup took the opening squad as the World Men's Championships shifts to the Doubles event ahead of the strong American pair in second and Korean pair third.

The Belgian pair of Gerry Verbruggen and Steve Peetroons shot 458 to take a 10 pin lead over Denmark's Anders Lousdal and Frederik Ohrgaard in the opening game of the first squad with Venezuela in third.

Rafael Medina and Danny Fung turned a few heads when the Venezuelians shot to the front with 419 to lead Sweden's Martin Paulsson and Mathais Arup improving with 437 in their second game.

A scitilating 513 from the Swedes moved them into the lead at the halfway mark and building up a comfortable margin of 93 pins over Venezuela as the Belgians and Danes dropped out of contention.

Despite a poor game of 365 in the fourth, Sweden were able to hang on to their lead with a recovering 455 and 432 in the last two games to end the squad in pole with 2621. Paulsson shot 1322 6-game series while his partner, Arup posted 1299.

Patrick Allen and Rhino Page of USA, who had a slow start in the early stages, made up ground to take up second spot with 2513. Allen totaled a better series of 1367 to Page's 1146.

The strong Koreans, who also did not have a good start, managed to finish third with 2498. 2009 World Cup champion, Choi Yong-Kyu downed 1293 while Kim Tae-Young finished with just 1205.

The Danes settled for fourth with 2497 to tie with Malaysia's Muhd Syafiq Ridhwan and Aaron Kong while Belgium finished sixth position with 2457. Squad 2 will contest their Doubles in the afternoon and Squad 3 in the evening.

Competition will resume with Squad 4 and 5 and again the top 4 pairs after the scores are combined will advance into the single-game shootout for medals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

14th August, Munich: Debutant and No. 4 seed, Bill O'Neill defeated No. 2 seed, Choi Bok-Eum of Korea, 244-202 in the Singles finals to win USA's first gold medal at the World Men's Championships 2010.

After having squeezed into the final shootout in fourth during the qualifying rounds, Bill O'Neill edged top seed, Dominic Barrett of England, 187-170 in the semi-finals held at lanes 9 and 10.

The match was a tight one as both struggled to find the line. O'Neill had four splits but managed to convert two while Barrett had two splits and an open frame in the tenth going down to the American, 170-187.

In the other tight semi, second seed, Choi Bok-Eum used his spare ball to beat American PBA pro, Chris Barnes, 217-191 to advance into the finals to face another American, O'Neill.

In the finals, Choi started off with a double but O'Neill struck three times for a slender lead. The 24-year-old Korean encountered a split in the fourth frame as the American downed another five strikes giving his opponent little chance to mount any sort of comeback.

O'Neill ended the match with a comfortable 244-202 victory over Choi to give USA its first gold medal as the Korean youngster settled for the silver medal. Barnes and Barrett took home a bronze medal each as losing semi-finalists.

"It was great to be in the top four. I got really lucky in the first match of the semi-final against Barrett," said the 29-year-old Bill O'Neill. I didn't bowl a great game, it was tough on 9 and 10, but I survived and made a really good ball change in the championship match.

"I moved about ten boards right and tried to play much straighter and it worked out."

"I won two PBA titles last year and internationally I was second in this year's Aalborg International in Denmark. I won the US Open in March and got married in May, so it has been a pretty good year, and here I am with the gold medal in my first World Championships.

Mr Addie Ophelders, FIQ secretary general and ETBF President presented the medals to the bronze medalist while Ms Jessie Phua, FIQ President presented the silver and gold medals during the presentation that followed.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

14th August, Munich: The top 4 before the last squad of the Singles qualifying round in the World Men's Championships 2010 advanced into the final shootout as UAE's Sayed Ibrahim Al-Hashimi missed the cut by 4 pins despite topping Squad 5.

Hong Kong's Michael Mak set the pace with a superb opening game of 252 to lead Denmark's Thomas Larsen by 7 pins. But his lead only lasted for one game as current Asia Ranked No. 1, Hussain Al-Suwaidi surged into the front of the pack after the second game.

The Emirati held on to the lead past the midpoint but a costly 193 in the fifth alllowed his team-mate, Sayed Ibrahim Al-Hashimi to take over the running and building up a gap of 31 pins going into the last game.

All Sayed needed to do was to spare his two final frames after having amassed 1171 after five games but an aweful 7-10 split from a seemingly perfect 1-3 pocket shot forced him to double up in the tenth frame.

The Emirati ended the game with 191 for a total of 1368 and missing the cut by 4 four pins despite topping the squad. Another Dane, Jasper Agerbo stormed home to take second in the squad with 1349 while Hussain slipped down to third with 1318.

The top 4 finishers before this squad were relieved to see their scores standing firm and earning their places in the final shootout.

Top seed, Dominic Barrett of England will meet Bill O'Neill of USA in the semi-finals while No. 2 seed, Choi Bok-Eum of Korea will meet the other American, Chris Barnes in the other semi.

The winner of the semi will face off in the finals for the first gold medal of the championship and the losers will share the bronze medal. Live scoring and live video streaming is available at Live Scoring and Live Video Streaming.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

14th August, Munich: The fourth squad saw changes in the top four positions of the overall standings in the Singles event of the World Men's Championships 2010 as Dominic Barrett of England shot into the lead while American, Chris Barnes recorded the second 300.

USA's Bill O'Neill set the pace with a blistering opening game of 257 to take a 10 pin lead over Sweden's Martin Larsen as over one-third of the Squad 4 posted scores passing the 200-mark underlining that the scores will be high.

Australia's Paul Trotter fired 234 and 266 to take over the running as O'Neill slipped back to second after the second game. The other American, Chris Barnes then shot the championship's second 300 to stay in contention.

Trotter barely held on to the lead for the next two games with Korea's prolific southpaw, Choi Bok-Eum closing in quickly to trail the Aussie by 7 pins.

A sizzling 277 in the fifth game put the Korean the lead with comfortable margin of 68 pins and looked to end the block in the lead but a poor 182 in the final game allowed England's Dominic Barrett to strom home and snatch pole with 1395.

"I had to change my ball twice over the course of the 6 games and I'm glad I did as it gave me two massive games," said the 24-year-old current EBT leader, Dominic Barrett, who was the 2008-2009 World Bowler of the Year.

Choi settled for second with 1392 while Chris Barnes finished a good third with 1375 and pace-setter, O'Neill claimed fourth spot with 1372. The top 4 finishers in this squad knocked out the overnight top 4.

Overnight leader and scorer of the first 300, Pasi Uotila of Finland dropped to fifth, Ernesto Franco of Mexico, Fujii Nobuhito of Japan and Jang Dong-Chul of Korea, all lost their places as a result of the high scores achieved in Squad 4.

With the last squad to contest, competition will surely be intensed as those in Squad 5 scramble for a place in the knockout finals stage.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

13th August, Munich: Finland's Pasi Uotila shot the first perfect game of the Wolrd Men's Championships en-route to topping the third and final Singles squad of the day to become the new overall leader on Friday.

Sweden's Erik Andersin had a blistering start in the third and final Singles squad of the day with back-to-back 252 and 253 to open up a gap of 27 pins to Gennady Sidorov of Russia in second.

Finland's Pasi Uotila struck twelve times to become the first bowler in the championship to shoot a perfect game at the halfway mark to lead Mexico's Ernesto Franco, who shot a scintilating 278 by 8 pins.

The Finn's 203 in the fourth game allowed Franco to take over the running after the 33-year-old Mexican rolled 238 as Andersin recovered to regain second spot and Uotila slipping down to third.

Whilst Franco managed only 196 in the fifth, Uotila fought back with 224 to share the lead with Ireland's Alan Bride but the pair was only one pin ahead of Franco leaving the sixth and final game to decide.

The leading trio was only 210 pins behind Squad 2 and current leader, Fujii Nobuhito of Japan going into the deciding game. The Finn ended the strongest with 220 to top the squad and overtook the Japanese with 1357.

Franco could not double up in his tenth frame to settle for second with 1353 while Nubohito was relegated to third overall on his 1347.

"I had to change a ball after the second game and I'm glad I did," said the 33-year-old bronze medalist at the 2008 World Championship, Pasi Uotila after recording his 44th perfect game.

"I knew how much we needed to overtake the previous leader and I was lucky to end stronger than the Mexican. He bowled well and he had to double in his tenth frame to overtake me. I hope he makes the top 4 after the last two squads tomorrow.

Korea's Jang Dong-Chul occupied fourth spot with 1346 while Alan Bride ended with only 199 in his last game to take up fifth with 1336.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

13th August, Munich: Another championship debutant, Fujii Nobuhito gave the Japanese camp plenty to cheer about as he overtook the lead in the Singles event of the World Men's Championship by topping the second squad.

Fujii Nobuhito, who justified his inclusion in the team after winning a gold and a bronze medal at the 2009 East Asian Games, got off to a cracking start with 245 in his opening game.

But Hong Kong's Cyrus Cheung stole the limelight temporarily after knocking down nine strikes in a row only to miss the head pin in the tenth frame ending with a high game of 275 and allowing Cheung to take over the running after the second game.

Nobuhito, who slipped to third behind Cheung and Belgium's Jean-Marc Samain, bounched back to regain the lead midway through the 6-game Squad 2 and 9 pins ahead of the Hong Kong lad and the Belgian third.

The 22-year-old, who works at a bowling center in the suburb of Tokyo, followed it up with 255 and 200 and was 187 pins behind Squad 1 leader, Cho Young-Seon of Korea. The Japanese youngster did well with 210 in his final game for a total of 1347.

Korea's Jang Dong-Chul stormed home with 254, 222 and 258 in his second series to finish second to Nubohito by a single pin on 1346 while Samain settled for third with 1323. Jang and Cho settled for second and third positions.

Squad 3 will end today's Singles qualifying rounds with Squad 4 and 5 to be contested on Saturday, August 14. America had two more pairs slotted in the last two squads while the strong Korea has one pair left in Squad 4.

PPhotos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

13th August, Munich: Championship debutant, Cho Young-Seon set the benchmark of 1324 in the opening squad of World Men's Championship Singles event ahead of Gabriel Sanchez of Puerto Rico in second and Petteri Salonen of Finland third.

Thailand's Somjed Kusonpithak set a cracking pace in the opening game with 235, 5 pins ahead of southpaw, Alex Liew of Malaysia in second with slightly less than a dozen others above the 200-mark game.

A superb game of 256 from Korea's Cho Young-Seon saw the debutant surging into the lead as Alex Liew continued to trail in second, 7 pins adrift. At the halfway point, Cho was still holding to the lead with Canada's Guillaume Nadeau making a bid in second.

But Cho was totally in control reeling in 223, 204 and 224 to end the first squad in the lead with 1324. Puerto Rico's Gabriel Sanchez, who celebrated is 26th birthday just two days ago, stromed home with a strong 258 in his last game to snatch second spot with 1278.

"This is my first world championship and I'm so happy to have finish in the lead," said Cho Young-Seon. "Of course, I'm hoping my score can survive the next five squads so that I make the semi-finals.

Finn, Petteri Salonen, who was trailing the Korean at the fourth and fifth game, slipped to third with 1270 while early pace-setter, Somjed Kusonpithak settled for fourth with 1258. China's Du JianChao rounded up the top 5 with 1256.

A benchmark of 1324 may not seem a big scoreline but as expressed by many who have completed their first squad, the lanes was by no means easy and a chance to make the top four appears possible.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.

12th August, Munich: The official opening ceremony held at the Dream Bowl Palace in Unterföhring near Munich on Thursday evening marked the start of the World Men's Championships with a record turnout of 65 countries.

Kicking off the ceremony was DBU's Roland Muck's welcome speech when he introduced the guest of honour and mayor of Unterföhring, the honorable Mr Franz Schwarz, Ms Jessie Phua (president of FIQ), Mr Kevin Dornberger (president of WTBA), Mr Addie Ophelders (president of ETBF and secretary general of FIQ) and many other distinguished guests who were present for the opening.

Mr Muck also thanked the mayor of Unterföhring and Mr Werner Knobl, the proprietor of the 52-lane Dream Bowl Palace for their kind support in making this year's championship possible and the hard work put in by his organising committee.

Following his welcome address, the emcee introduced the participating teams which marched in starting with Australia and ending with the host nation, Germany.

The championship's mascot was also introduced before the Flames Cheerleaders group gave a scintilating dance performance to kick off the ceremony. Immediately after that, the mayor kicked off a series of speeches which included that of Ms Jessie Phua and Mr Kevin Dornberger.

Pascal Winternheimer of Team Germany took the bowlers' oath on behalf of all the pariticipants while referee Michael Menkens took the oath on behalf of all the officials.

Veteran German National bowler, Martina Beckel and a renowned singer, Camilla Brecka sang the German national anthem before Mr Kevin Dornberger officially declared the championship open ending the hour-long opening ceremony.

Earlier in the day, officials attended the team managers meeting chaired by Mr Kim Jensen, the tournament director appointed by WTBA joined by Harri Kalliokoski, WTBA technical delegate, Mr Florian Fister, Host tournament manager.

Teams confirmed their bowlers which came up to 356 bowlers from 65 countries, which does not include two from Pakistan who have pulled out late Thursday evening. The long and medium lane patterns were also officially released during the meeting.

Mr Kevin Dornberger (from PABCON), Christer Jonsson (from ETBF) and Mr Kyohei Akagi (from ABF) were appointed the Jury of Appeal. The lane assignments for all the four events will be drawn and witnessed by Mr Keith Hale (Europe), Ms Hazel McLeary (America) and Mr Terence Yaw (Asia).

Immediately after the meeting, official practice divided into four squads took place with each squad taking two hours going through the a pair of long oil patterns and a pair of medium oil patterns across 44 lanes, skipping 6 lanes each 10 minute shifts.

Championship will kick off with the Singles on Friday, August 13 divided into five squads. The top four at the end of the four squads will advance to the knockout semi-finals and finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Munich.