Tomas Vrabec of Slovakia averaged 238.25 over four games to take the early lead in the men’s qualifying of the 2016 World Singles Championships which got underway with the first of three blocks on Sunday at the Qatar Bowling Center.
Vrabec, who bowled in the second squad, started his set on the 40 foot Athens lane conditioning pattern with games of 204, 279 and 214. Knowing that he needed a 247 game to tie first squad leader Chris Via, United States, Vrabec closed with 256 to lead the 81-player field from 47 countries with 953 total and to ear the daily high series award of $300 offered by the Qatar Bowling Federation.
Via sits in second place with 944, including games of 242, 211, 233 and 258, an average of 236. Rafiq Ismail of Malaysia was just six pins behind Via in squad 1 to finish day one in third place with 938.
Jassim al-Muraikhi from Qatar used high games of 269 and 256 to take fourth place with 929. Another five players surpassed the 900-mark (a 225 average): 5. Jaime Gonzalez, Colombia (925); 6. Marek Talpa, Czech Republic (918); 7, John Janawicz, United States (915); 8. Aleksei Parshukov, Russia (912) and 9. Michael Mak, Hong Kong (906).
Rounding out the top 10 was Marcio Vieira of Brazil with 899. Romeo Gagenoiu had the highest game of the day with 290 but had to settle tied for 24th place with 854 after finishing with 149. With just four out of twelve qualifying games in the books, Ivan Dominic Malig, Philippines, holds the 32nd and last place to advance with 838 or an average of 209.50.
The championships drew 134 players from 50 countries, including 81 men from 47 countries and 53 women from 33 countries. After four days of qualifying featuring three four-game blocks, the top 32 players of each gender will advance.
Men and women will be split into four groups according to the following bracket: Group A (1, 8, 9, 16, 17, 24, 25, 32); Group B (2, 7, 10, 15, 18, 23, 26, 31); Group C (3, 6, 11, 14, 19, 22, 27, 30); and Group D (4, 5, 12, 13, 20, 21, 28, 29).
Each qualifying group shall bowl eight qualifying games. Each player in the qualifying group shall bowl against every other player in the group every game. Points shall be awarded on the following basis: The highest scoring player in each game shall be awarded 7 points, the second highest scoring shall be awarded 6 points, the third highest 5 points etc. down to the eighth highest, who will receive 0 points.
The top 2 from the point standing of each group will advance to play eight games in one group with a system as specified above. The top 4 advance to the semifinals (No. 1 vs No. 4 and No. 2 vs No. 3), with the higher ranked players having the choice of the starting lane. The losers of both one-game matches will receive bronze medals.
The semi-final winners will determine the champion in a final one-game match. The winner of this match will receive a gold medal and the loser a silver medal.
The men’s gold medallist will receive US$8,000, the silver medallist will earn US$6,000 and the bronze medallists will take home US$3,000 apiece. The women’s gold medallist will receive US$6,000, the silver medallist will get US$4,000 and the bronze medallists will earn US$3,000 each. The prizes will be paid by the Qatar Bowling Federation which also offer daily high series awards, $300 for men and $200 for women.
Tomas Vrabec
