Field closes in on Korean
5th November, St. Petersburg: Sun Hee Lee of Korea remained in the lead on a total of 2636 at the halfway stage of the 24 qualifying games in the 43rd QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup but the field has closed in onto the overnight leader. A superb 6-game series of 1367 from 20-year-old student, Sharon Koh of Malaysia has moved herself up into tenth place from 31st in the first block. Sharon, who is making her first Bowling World Cup appearance, plenty of experience of international play having been a national youth team member for two years.
She won gold medals at both the Asian Games last year in Doha and a gold in the World Youth championships. The Malaysian also recently won the Women's Open Masters title at the Chinese Taipei Open.
Malta's Sue Abela finished second with 2592 from a 1250 series in this block, while Sasha Luciano of Puerto Rico, making another Bowling World Cup debutante, shot 1323 to move up into third position on a total of 2568. Tina Hulsch of Germany took up fourth with 2565 on a 1237 second block.
Swedish contender, Helen Johnsson and Rebeca Veloz of Mexico (tie), Lynda Barnes of USA, Ghislaine van der Tol of the Netherlands and Melody Young of Hong Kong finished in the top 10 with less than 40 pins separating them.
Singapore's World Cup debutant, Daphne Tan, who was eighth in the first block dropped to 12th on 2493 from a 1226 second block but crucially remained in the top 24 with another 12 games to play.
A new high game of the tournament for the women were shot by both Sandra Torrents of Spain and Sharon Koh of Malaysia with 268. Sandra has played in five previous Bowling World Cups, including 2005 in Ljubljana and last year in Caracas.
With qualifying at the halfway stage, the cut is currently a 195 average with Irena Strakova of the Czech Republic in 24th place.
Detailed scores: Women's 2ndBlk | Photo Album.Photos courtesy of Hero Noda and QubicaAMF.