Another shuffle around for the leaders in
the women's division now has 2007 Malta Open
and San Marino Open champion Ghislaine van
der Tol of the Netherlands (pictured) taking
over as frontrunner and booking her place
into the next round on Thursday morning.
Then Malaysia's Sharon Koh, the recent
Singapore Open champion, overtook Sue Abela
this morning. "Our Sue is not a morning
person," commented Malta's SuperBowl GM Neil
Dent when he saw the standings.
And to complete the top five, welcome petite
Piritta Kantola from Finland into fourth and
Women's World Championships silver and bronze medalist Ann-Maree
Putney from Australia into fifth.
Sun Hee Lee, who led the women's division for
the first two days of the Bowling World Cup, is
one of Korea's best woman bowlers. But she has
never been a member of the national team. Odd,
it would seem, in a country where members of the
national squad are rewarded with considerable
cash and acclaim.
"I'm only interested in singles tournaments,"
she said through an interpreter. "I have no
interest in team bowling."
"Besides, I'm 37, way too old to bowl with those
little girls."
 Sidney Tung, secretary general of the Malaysian
Tenpin Bowling Congress for 30 years, is the
chief cheerleader for Sharon (Suet Len) Koh
(pictured). The
spikey-haired lefthander was in fifth place
after three days of qualifying and is considered
a shoo-in to make the first cut.
"She really works hard," said Tung. "This may
be her first World Cup but she's been on the
national team for three years."
Malaysia won the women's gold medal at the last
women's World Championship in Mexico. Sharon
attends a college preparatory school in Kuala
Lumpur. She's shooting for an eventual degree in
business management.
Photo: Terence Yaw
WOMEN
QUALIFIERS:
The 74 nation women's field has now completed
all 24 qualifying games and the top 24 will
progress to Round 2 on Thursday morning.
Van der Tol retained her pole position as
nearest challenger Helen Johnsson from Lund,
Sweden fell 40 pins short of taking over pole
position after bowling in the second group and
took third place overall.
The advancing field will consist of 12
Europeans, and six each from the Asian and
American zones.
Local interest is maintained as Russia's
Eugenia Tsarkova beat the cut by 65 pins.
Hard luck for a fancied talented Putty Armein
from Indonesia who missed further participation
by just five pins.
Luby log:
Ghislaine van der
Tol of Utrecht, the Netherlands, led the women's
qualifying with a four-day, 24 game total of
5179. The 21-year-old lefthander had a high game
of 258 as she jumped from ninth place to take
the lead..
Miss van der Tol, who points to former World Cup
champion Shannon Pluhowsky of America as her
favorite bowler, will pace 24 survivors from an
original field of 73 women into Thursday's final
eight-game qualifying block. After 32 games, the
field will be cut to eight for the match play.
Sharon Koh of Malaysia was second with 5168 and
Helen Johnsson of Sweden was third with 5140.
Former champion Lynda Barnes of the United
States placed tenth, dropping two places from
her Tuesday night position.
A member of the Dutch national team, Miss Van
der Tol has been bowling for nine years. She won
her national championship to earn the right to
bowl in the World Cup.
Mort Luby
Women's Qualifying Rounds
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For further information, contact Keith Hale:
keithhale679@aol.com
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