Rivera on track for title

TOULON, France – Former World Masters champion Biboy Rivera of the Philippines remained in the hunt for the 46th Qubica AMF Bowling World Cup title Friday by finishing third with 7038 pins, including bonuses, after 32 games here.

England’s Matt Miller led the 96-country field with a gross score of 7173, while Canada’s Michael Schmidt checked in second with 7074.

Schmidt and Rivera meet in the first best-of-two knockout match Saturday, with the winner challenging Miller for the crown.

“I’m going to give it my best shot,” Rivera said after the eight-game round-robin match play. “It’s my dream to win the World Cup.”

Apple Posadas, the RP entry in women’s singles, bowed out after the eight-game match play competition, but she managed to come in fifth with 6771 pins, including bonuses.

Korea’s Gye Min-Young, England’s Fiona Banks and Dominican Republic’s Aumi Guerra clinched the top three slots to move into the stepladder finals.

Gye, two-time Asian champion who led the field since the second qualifying block, collected 7150 pins, including bonuses, to pull away from Banks (6865) and Guerra (6840).

American Carolyn Dorin-Ballard managed to finish only fourth at 6780, followed by Posadas, Singapore’s Daphne Tan (6756), Latvia’s Diana Zavjalova (6729) and Malaysia’s Wendy Chai (6499).

American John Szczerbinski also failed to make the top three in men’s singles, winding up only fifth at 6899, behind Finland’s Joonas Jahi (7008).

Korean Park Jong-Woo landed sixth at 6896, followed by Germany’s Achim Grabowski (6842) and Norway’s Mads Sandbaekken (6832).

The trophy for the top country in this year’s competition went to England, which put both their men’s and women’s entries in the stepladder finals.

Only the Philippines’ Paeng Nepomuceno has won the World Cup four times so far.