RJ, Tabora shoot well in WC kegfest

WROCLAW, Poland – The Philippines’ RJ Bautista and Krizziah Tabora averaged above 200 in 10 games Tuesday to remain in good position to hurdle the qualifying rounds of the 48th Qubica AMF Bowling World Cup international championships at the SkyBowling Centre here.

Bautista, 2002 Asian Games gold medalist, collected 2154 games to rank 13th in the men’s division while Tabora, a Miriam College student, posted 2108 to check in 14th spot in the ladies’ bracket.

Only the top 24 bowlers from the men’s field of 82 and the women’s group of 69 will advance to the next round.

Sweden’s James Gruffman showed the way in the men’s division with 2290 while two-time World Cup queen Aumi Guerra of Dominican Republic paced the women’s squad with 2344.

American Marshall Kent was in second spot with 2261, followed by Norway’s Mads Sandbaekken (2260), Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kalika (2233), Colombia’s Andres Gomez (2228), Malaysia’s Abdul Malek Syafig Ridhwan (2211), UAE’s Hareb Al Mansoori (2187) and England’s Matt Chamberlain (2176).

 Australia’s Benjamin Coupland (2168), Oman’s Ghalib Albusaidi (2166), Switzerland’s Mathieu Berges (2163), Canada’s Michael Schmidt (2161) and Germany’s Pascal Winternheimer (2154).

England’s Kirsten Penny came in second in the women’s division with 2318, followed by Singapore’s Shayna Ng (2302), USA’s Danielle McEwan (2260), Germany’s Janine Gabel (2220), New Zealand’s Melonie Lister (2211), Finland’s Krista Pollanen (2193), Norway’s Heidi Thorstensen (2176), Sweden’s Rebecka Larsen (2169), Russia’s Alena Korobkova (2164), Netherlands’ Danielle van der Meer (2157), Venezuela’s Patricia de Faria (2129) and Mexico’s Lilia Robles (257).

The top 24 bowlers will play another eight games to determine the top eight, who will then roll eight more games.  Only the top three will be left to compete in the semifinal and final matches.  All matches will be played from scratch.

Legendary Paeng Nepomuceno holds the distinction of being the only four-time winner of the world’s toughest and most prestigious individual kegfest.