LADIES - SQUAD 2 - 8 games short oil

Game 1:
A nice surprise for the French fans as Isabelle Saldjian, 13-time French national champion and twelve of those consecutively, has adapted to the short oil condition like a duck to water. But she is being chased by Alicia Marcano of Venezuela and Colombia's Sara Vargas, who actually is an employee here at the massive Kegel facility.
It's a close thing for the top four leaders of the overall standings but Canada's star Caroline Lagrange is refusing to budge from pole position.

Game 2:
Sweden now come into the spotlight as lithe blonde Helen Johnsson hit a nice 279 and ups the ante to 487 to lead this squad.
After a very slow start, Diandra Asbaty, the WBW 2006 Bowler of the Year, has now settled in to a good scoring slot and is slowly making her way up the table. With 14 games still to go it is a good bet that she will be in the top eight to qualify for the best-of-three game finale.
The girls seem to have settled in to the short oil (34 feet) pattern now, after a slow start for many, just Ivonne Gross of Austria struggling to get into the swing of things.

Game 3:
Johnsson is dominating the field in this squad. As one of the more senior players in this year's event, she is giving the youngsters a masterclass in coping with the short oil condition and she now progresses into the top eight.
Zara Glover of England is holding pace with Caroline Lagrange in the overall standings and is now coping well with the drier lanes.

Game 4:
It is so easy to say that the cream rises to the top, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating and it was forecast well that Diandra Asbaty would be soon in contention. She has made the amazing transition of rising from 25th place after the opening games of squad one and now lies within the top octet after 945 in the opening four games today.
Our youngest female player, 16-year-old (only just) Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia started off today with an embarrassing 129 but has made the amazing comeback with a 268 in game four, doing much better than last year's runner-up, fellow countrywoman Putty Armein, although Putty is two places ahead of her in the overall standings. The Indonesian pair had better be on their best behaviour as Jakarta Anjol Bowling proprietor Christina Koo is coming in tonight.

Game 5:
As I will soon be a fully non-paid-up member of the paupers' association, I keep stating that I will have to give up travelling to all these fantastic bowling tournaments. But when I work on events like this, I keep putting that moment off. Would you give up the chance of witnessing fabulous bowling as this, especially in the remarkable Kegel facility? I bet the answer is no.
So, five games down the pike today and Diandra still leads, 55 sticks ahead of Helen, but there's changes down below as Wendy Chai from Malaysia comes into the equation in this squad and is working her way to the cusp of the top eight.

Game 6:
The pressure is really beginning to tell now and the fight is on to get a good place for the final qualifying block tomorrow. Diandra continues her steady pace and Caroline has made up for a lowly 175 with a 258 this game and is over 100 pins clear of second-placed Zara Glover in the overall standings.
1273 over the six games has brought our youngster Roumimper up into contention for a top eight place and Wendy Chai seems determined to make it three Malaysians for round two.
It looks like just three in contention for the $1,000 squad prize, but things can change in the tenth frame of the final frame, as we have dramatically seen over the past two days.

Game 7:
Full steam ahead for Diandra Asbaty and that eagerly anticipated $1,000 cash squad prize sits there at the winning post as we come around the final bend and into the home straight. A good 258 in the seventh game kept her nose in front of Caroline but the pressure will be on over the last ten frames.
Diandra is now up to fourth in the overall standings and it will be a safe bet that she will not drop out of that octet for the rest of the qualifying rounds. She is one of few to bowl better on the short pattern than the long.

Game 8:
It's official - it's confirmed....... and the winner is Diandra Asbaty and she has been handsomely rewarded with the envelope containing $1,000. Although Caroline hit 267 in the final game, Diandra calmly capped that with a 268, so she has a nice 40 point buffer for the squad prize.
Now for the overall standings after two squads and going into the third with the fascinating dual lane condition.
Caroline has a very healthy lead right now over Zara Glover and Diandra and the way these three are bowling they should all be in the top eight.
So let's focus on the other five places. I would say that you could go down ten more places, maybe more, depending on how the girls perform on the unique condition. I'll stick my neck out and say that Shalin Zulkifli and Sara Vargas will do well in the final squad and get back into contention.
Sunday will be very, very interesting, as will the televised finals on Monday.
If ther were such a thing as a performance medal, it should be awarded to Diandra. When this tournament kicked off, the first game standings showed her in 25th place.
"I definitely think I matched up well today and made good bowling ball decsions," Diandra remarked. "I just felt good all day."
Photo: Kim Thorsgaard Jensen got the enviable task of presenting the money to Diandra.

SQUAD 2:

OVERALL STANDINGS:
 

Bowler Name Country Total Day 1 Total Day 2 Total Average Lagrange, Caroline Canada 1885 1861 3746 234.13 Glover, Zara England 1859 1695 3554 222.13 Asbaty, Diandra United States 1637 1901 3538 221.13 Guerra, Aumi Dominican Republic 1804 1676 3480 217.5 Armein, Putty Indonesia 1742 1701 3443 215.19 Johnsson, Helen Sweden 1633 1795 3428 214.25 Marcano, Alicia Venezuela 1662 1757 3419 213.69 Chai, Wendy Malaysia 1659 1750 3409 213.06 Roumimper, Tannya Indonesia 1691 1715 3406 212.88 Schwarz, Patricia Germany 1739 1657 3396 212.25 Gomez, Paola Colombia 1731 1663 3394 212.13 Lai, Choy Poh Malaysia 1823 1563 3386 211.63 Zulkifli, Shalin Malaysia 1715 1658 3373 210.81 Vargas, Sara Colombia 1623 1748 3371 210.69 Marcano, Karen Venezuela 1685 1669 3354 209.63 Aziela, Zandra Malaysia 1599 1741 3340 208.75 Mattsson-Baard, Anna Sweden 1694 1620 3314 207.13 Ngoh, Lai Kin Malaysia 1681 1615 3296 206 Saldjian, Isabelle France 1574 1711 3285 205.31 Cheah, Esther Malaysia 1636 1644 3280 205 Flack, Nina Sweden 1570 1690 3260 203.75 Brondsted, Britt Denmark 1638 1581 3219 201.19 Gauthier, Lynne Canada 1570 1632 3202 200.13 Restrepo, Rocio Colombia 1630 1559 3189 199.31 Gross, Ivonne Austria 1470 1607 3077 192.31

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