Another impressive display from Lynda Barnes of the United States saw her confirmed as number one seed for tomorrow's quarterfinals, ending her 32-game stint with an outstanding 1926 over Friday's eight games and totalling 7527 overall pinfall, just under 500 pins above Sweden's Helen Johnsson.

The focus was really on the fight for the lower qualifying places as the girls from Bahrain, Australia, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands all had chances of beating the cut. Eventually the qualifying pair were Ann Louise Haugen of Norway, the sister of World Cup champion Kim Haugen, winner in 2001 in Thailand,  and Australia's Clair Johnston.

Nadia Ageel from Bahrain has the honor of being the first Arab lady ever to make the finals of the World Cup. "This feels great," she commented. "It will make a lot of difference to women bowlers in Bahrain and also encourage a lot more to take up the sport." Nadia is coached by England's Mario Joseph.

Runner-up Helen Johnsson of Sweden said: "I was not so technically good today, but I feel OK." Just 1695 over the eight games, but it was enough to hold second place.

Australia's petite Clair Johnson got into the last eight by the skin of her teeth, shooting a 236 to oust Patricia Schwarz of Germany for her place for showtime. Her folks back home in Adeliade will be pleased, even though she said: "It was a bit of a struggle," smiling with pleasure.

Pic (L to R) Back: Nadia Ageel, Isabelle Saldjian, Ann Louise Haugen, Wendy Chai. Front: Helen Johnsson, Clair Johnston, Fiona Banks and Lynda Barnes.

LADIES TOP 24 - CUT TO EIGHT