Team Singapore prepares for challenge

26th July, Las Vegas: Team Singapore prepared for the World Women's Championship 2009 as they took to the lanes at Cashman Center for their unofficial practice on Sunday.  The team comprising of Bernice Lim, Cherie Tan, Geraldine Ng, Jazreel Tan, Shayna Ng and led by reigning World Cup champion, Jasmine Yeong-Nathan had arrive Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States a week ago to get acclimatized with the extremely hot summer.

At the same time, the team had several practices at Strike Zone Bowling Center which is located at the official Sunset Station Hotel and Casino.

A total of a record 45 countries will be vying for six gold medals contested in the Singles, Doubles, Trios, Team, All Events and Masters. While most of the other teams had arrived a day or two ago, most of them had their ball registered and their unofficial practices today.

  

The Team Managers' Meeting was held in the afternoon where most managers confirmed their players. The tournament director, Gilbert Sjnelders, tournament manager, David Garber, technical delegate, Daniel Falconi conducted the meeting in the presence of WTBA President and USBC Executive Director, Kevin Dornberger.

The official practice will be held on Monday, July 27 at 12.00noon followed by the opening ceremony at 6.30pm and a welcome reception hosted by USBC.

A total of 231 players are registered which will see the players divided into three squads for the Singles and Doubles which will kick off on Tuesday over short oil condition. The top 3 will advance to the semifinals and finals which will be played on Thursday.

The Doubles event, also divided into three squads will be staged on Wednesday on medium oil with the top 3 pairs advancing into the semifinals and finals to be played after the Singles stepladder finals.

The Trios event will be divided into two squads commencing on Thursday with first block of three games on short oil and the second block on medium oil on Friday. The top 3 trios team will again advance into the semifinals and finals on the same day.

  

The two blocks of team of 5 will be contested on Saturday, first block on short oil pattern and the second block on medium oil pattern. The top 3 teams will advance to the semifinals and finals immediately following the second block.

The top 16 based on the All Events standings (after 24 games) will make the cut for the Masters Elimination Finals (best of 5 matches). The topseed will meet the 16th seed, the second against the 15th seed and so on until the quarterfinals semifinals and final title match.

The last World Championship in which both the women and men competed together was 2003 in Malaysia. Since then, the women's championship alternate with the men's in alternate year starting in Denmark in 2005.

Jazreel Tan of Singapore won the Masters silver medal at the previous 2007 meet in Monterry, Mexico. Prior to that, Lee Poh Leng and Jasmine Ho took the bronze medal in the Doubles event in 1995 at Reno, USA.

The team is led by High Performance Manager for SBF, Melvin Lim and is assisted by National Head coaches, Mervyn Foo and William Woo.

Detailed information: Tournament Schedule.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Las Vegas.