TOURNAMENT DRAW & RESULTS
S    Match times at British Summer Time (BST)

	SEMIFINAL 1	Score	Sunday 7.00pm
	Tore Torgersen	216-164=380	Norway
	v
	Paul Moor	233-247=480	England

	SEMIFINAL 2	Score	Sunday 8.00pm
	Jason Belmonte	203-175=378	Australia
	v
	Jens Nickel	211-257=468	Germany

	FINAL	Score	Sunday 9.30pm
	JENS NICKEL	278-207=485	GERMANY
	v
	PAUL MOOR	212-177=389	ENGLAND

Round One:
In possibly the greatest match in the eight-year history of the Masters, Australia’s Jason Belmonte bowled the tournament’s first-ever 300 game, but was still forced right to the wire as 2001 champion Shalin Zulkifli came so close to her own maximum in the second game.
Belmonte rolled home his historic 12 strikes at the 2005 Pokermillion.com World Tenpin Masters in front of a near capacity crowd at the Adwick Leisure Centre in Doncaster to establish a huge 98 pin lead after the first game. That brought a lengthy standing ovation from the crowd and seemed to make the outcome of the match a foregone conclusion.
Zulkifli, however, had other ideas and started striking as her opponent wilted to record two spares and an open frame in his first three frames. After ten strikes from the Malaysian, the match was still balanced on a knife-edge before a stubborn t0-pin sealed Zulkifli’s fate and booked Belmonte’s quarterfinal spot.
The Masters is contested over three days at the Adwick Leisure Centre in Doncaster, South Yorkshire and features 16 of the world’s top bowlers fighting it out for a $66,000 prize fund.
Afterwards, Belmonte was thrilled at his achievement; “That’s my 20^th 300 game but I’ve had plenty more 298’s and 299’s than 300’s so you never know until that last strike goes down. I was very nervous at the end because I know anything can happen and luck can come into it.
"Shalin never gave up though. She’s the kind of bowler that when she needs strikes, she gets them and she was so aggressive in that second game.
“Tomorrow is another game though, and I know you can’t shoot 300 every time. I feel very confident and relaxed out there but I know these players aren’t any old hacks from around the world!”
In the first match of the session, Guy Caminsky of Durban came from behind to secure a quarter final berth as he overturned a 24 pin first game deficit to oust Denmark’s Britt Brondsted, the 2004 European Ladies' No.1.
Brondsted, the 23 year-old from Copenhagen, started the stronger, reeling off six strikes in a row to help her on her way to a 256 first game. Caminsky struggled in the early stages but picked up some strikes to stay in touch with Brondsted.The Dane though lost her way in the second game as Caminsky held firm to close out the match.
The final match of the session was a comparatively low scoring affair as Masters veteran Tomas Leandersson of Sweden edged out the Philippines Liza del Rosario by a 13-pin margin.
Germany’s Jens Nickel comfortably booked his spot in the last eight of the 2005 Pokermilion.com World Tenpin Masters as he comfortably got the better of Caroline Lagrange of Canada by a 58 pin margin.
Lagrange’s exit means that all six female competitors in the Masters have fallen at the first hurdle and it was Nickel’s power game that told in their encounter.
The Canadian bowler kept within range in the opening game, limiting Nickel’s lead to 11 pins but the German turned up the power in game two as Lagrange left too many open frames to put together a competitive score.
There was a shocking ending to the final first round match as England’s Phil Scammell eliminated former Masters champion Tim Mack in a match that went down to the last throw.
That throw came from Mack and needing just nine pins to win the match and eight to draw, he managed to knock down only seven to hand it on a plate to Scammell by a single point.
It was a low scoring encounter as both players struggled to get to grips with the lane conditions and at the half way stage Scammell lead 156 – 134, the lowest aggregate of the tournament to date.
Mack came back in the second game and looked set for a win before collapsing when a win seemed the easier option.

Quarterfinals:
In the final match of the evening, three times Masters champion Tore Torgersen made his way into the semifinal following a hard fought encounter with Finland’s Kai Virtanen.
Virtanen trailed throughout but there was never much to separate the two and in the end it was Torgersen’s vast experience of the conditions that saw him home.
Local hope Paul Moor of Hull, blasted his way into the semifinals of the 2005 Pokermillion.com World Tenpin Masters following a devastating performance that upended South African Guy Caminsky’s challenge.
Left-hander Moor, making his Masters debut, kept the strikes coming throughout and games of 248 and 247 were way too much for Caminsky, making his second Masters last eight appearance.
The winning margin was a very comfortable 100 pins as a big crowd at the Adwick Leisure Centre in Doncaster fully appreciated Moor’s efforts.
The 26-year-old 2004 European No.1 looks a real threat for the title as he seems to have got to grips with the left hand side of the lane but his biggest test will be defending champion Tore Torgersen in the semi-finals.
Moor analyzed his performance post-match; “I’m used to playing under that sort of pressure but the big difference is the set-up and the crowd. I’m trying to concentrate on my game and block the rest out.
“The next match is a tough against Tore Torgersen but I’ve got to approach as I’ve approached the others and play my own game and not let him affect me.”
Yesterday’s maximum man, Jason Belmonte, continued where he left off as games of 253 and 244 kept up his blistering average at the expense of Sweden’s Tomas Leandersson, who fell away in the second game.
The Australian’s unique two-handed delivery of the ball generates masses of spin and his heavy hooking game is paying dividends.
In the final quarterfinal, German heavyweight Jens Nickel came from behind to end Phil Scammell’s Masters hopes in a match that saw a 28 pin swing back in the second game.
Scammell’s first round match was a low-scoring, error-strewn win over Tim Mack but he started out well, recording a 222 game to take a 19 pin lead before fading badly in the second to allow Nickel the win.    

Semifinals:
Giant killer Paul Moor of Hull continued to build up his collection of big name scalps as he sent defending champion Tore Torgersen of Denmark crashing out at the semi-final stage.
Moor, who had earlier disposed of Singapore’s Remy Ong and Guy Caminsky of South Africa, looked focused from the start as he stuck to his game plan and concentrated on building up the strikes. The Yorkshireman weighed in with 233 from the first game which established a slim 17 point lead.
For Moor though, consistency has been his watchword and he continued in the same vein in game two. Torgersen, suffered equipment problems when his grip came lose in the second game.
Commented Torgersen, “It happened in the third frame of the second game when the thumb grip came out when I picked the ball up. I had to use another one after that and I didn’t really know what that would do. That’s to take nothing away from Moor, who bowled superbly throughout.” Torgersen’s misfortune translated to a lowly 164 second game whilst Moor kept up his heavy scoring rate to record a 247 and with it a 100 pin victory.
In the second semifinal, Bremen-based German international Jens Nickel pulled away in the second game to record a huge 90 pin victory over Australia’s Jason Belmonte, who was shaping up to the player of the tournament.
Nickel nosed in front in the first game but with everything to play for he found his form and scored strike after strike to widen the gap. Belmonte, by contrast, fell apart as a succession of splits and open frames were his downfall.
The 40-year-old bowling center manager closed out the game in style to book his final place and set up and Germany v England clash with Paul Moor.

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For further information, contact Keith Hale: keithhale@btconnect.com