Singaporean well positioned in first block

3rd November, St. Petersburg: Singapore's representative to the 43rd QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, Remy Ong was well position after he finished a creditable eighth in the 6-game first block qualifying round at Kontinent Bowling Center.  Ong started the first block in squad A on Saturday with 226 and then picked up his pace to knock down 239 and 244 for a superb 709 series. The Singaporean continued his fast pace to post 220 and 219 but a lowly 185 in his final game dropped him into third behind Paulo Lopes of Portugal and Alexey Parshukov of Russia.

When Squad B took to the lanes this morning in St. Petersburg, it was the unorthodox two-handed Jason Belmonte of Australia, who set a blistering pace to claim pole position when the two squads combined.

The World Tenpin Masters champion amassed a scintillating 6-game total of 1452 to finish ahead of Bill Hoffman of the United States in second with 1433. The top 2 were the only bowlers to surpass the 1,400-mark in this 6-game first block.

Venezuela's Ildemaro Ruiz did well to take third spot with 1393, 8 pins ahead of Squad A surprised leader, Paulo Lopes fourth with 1385. Ruiz also became the first bowler to record a perfect game in this world cup in his fifth game. Russia's Alexey Parshukov rounded up the top 5 with 1378.

Strong contenders, Andres Gomez of Colombia kept in touch with the leaders to take up sixth position with 1365 followed by 1998 champion, Mohammad Khalifa Al-Qubaisi of UAE seventh with1349. 2002 runner-up Remy Ong of Singapore, who finished third in the earlier squad took eighth with 1333.

The men will continue with the second block of 6 games tomorrow while Singapore's debutant, Daphne Tan will take to the lanes shortly.

Detailed scores: Men's 1stBlk Qualifying.

Photos by Terence Yaw.