24th August, Las Vegas: 2016 USBC Queens champion, Bernice Lim of Singapore got off to a great start topping the Singles opening squad of the 2019 World Bowling Women's Championships unerway at South Point Bowling Plaza.

2017 World Bowling Championships Trios bronze medallist, Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia started off superbly with a 248 opener to lead Marina Metksinova by a single pin. Lim was third with 245 while Denmark's Marina Stefanova, Malaysia's Syaidatul Affifah and Koreas's Jung Dawun all had good starts posting over 233 in their first game.

Lim added a splendid 247 in her second game to take over the running with Roumimper settling for second despite rolling a strong game of 236. But when the leader stumbled to a lowly 186, the Indonesian quickly grabbed the opportunity to go top after adding 234 in her third game.

Then the opposite happened, this time in for Roumimper as she managed only 191 in the fourth game allowing Lim tp regain the lead after bounced back with 232.

Lim closed out the opening squad preliminaries with 199 to win the squad with 1354. Panas again finished strongly with 225 to snatch second position with 1329. The Swede finished third with 1321 while Russia's Maria Koshel stormed home to clinch fourth position with 1314.

2018 Asian Games Masters gold medallist, Mirai Ishimoto of Japan and early pace-setter, Roumimper tied fifth spot with 1311. Reigning World Cup champion, Jenny Wegner of Sweden finished sevent with 1307.

The second squad will take to the lanes at 14.00 hrs local time for their preliminaries. The top 4 with the highest pinfalls from the combined two squads will advance to the semi-finals, scheduled to take place on August 27 commencing at 17.00 hrs.

The women will resume competition witht the Doubles preliminaries and similarly, the top 4 doubles pair with the highest total will advance to the semi-finals scheduled to take place on August 29.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Las Vegas, USA.