American storms into third overall
5th May, Lake Wales: The WBW Bowler of the Year, Diandra Asbaty stormed into third spot overall and bagged the the ladies' Squad 2 prize of the World Ranking Masters 2007 while Canadian Caroline Lagrange continued to top the division. A nice surprise for the French fans as Isabelle Saldjian set a fast pace at the start of the ladies' second squad being pursued by Alicia Marcano of Venezuela and Colombia's Sara Vargas but Canada's star, Caroline Lagrange refusing to budge from pole position.
At the end of the halfway-mark, local crowd favourite Diandra Asbaty of USA made an amazing transition rising from 25th place after the opening games of first squad into the top 8 bracket.
The youngest female player, Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia made an great comeback after an embarrassing 129 with 268 and was doing better than last year's runner-up and fellow countrywomen, Putty Armein but still behind her.
By game 5, Asbaty had picked up the lead with 55 pins ahead of Sweden's Helen Johnsson as Malaysia's Wendy Chai made her bid to finish in the top 8.
The American continued her steady pace to lead the field after the sixth game while Lagrange recovered from a lowly 175 in game 5 with a 258 and was 100 pins clear of second-placed Zara Glover in the overall standings.
A good 258 in the seventh game by Asbaty put her firmly in front of this squad and had steadily moved herself up to fourth overall. A superb 268 in her final game confirmed the squad prize of US$1,000 with 1885 despite Lagrange hitting a 267 for 1859.
The Canadian had built up a healty lead of 100 pins with 2744 over Glover on 3544 with Asbaty finishing third overall just 22 pins adrift the Englishwomen on 3522. The other five places being occupied by Aumi Guerra of Dominican Republic, Alicai Marcano, Helen Johnsson, Putty Armein and Tannya Roumimper from fourth to eighth.
"I definitely think I matched up well today and made good bowling ball decsions," Diandra remarked. "I just felt good all day."
Detailed scores: Women's Squad 2 | Women's Overall Standings | Photo Album.
Photos courtesy of Bowlers Journal International.