Jesper Agerbo of Denmark and defending women’s champion Kelly Kulick of the United States struck gold in the World Singles Championships which concluded yesterday with the knock-out finals at Qatar Bowling Center in Doha.
Along with the gold medal, Agerbo and Kulick received 8,000 and 6,000 dollar bonuses, respectively.
Agerbo, a seven-time European champion, flew past 19-year-old Rafiq Ismail of Malaysia, 256-205, to seal the victory.
PWBA spokesperson Kulick, who won the inaugural World Singles Championships in Cyprus in 2012, defeated 2016 PWBA Rookie of the Year New Hui Fen of Singapore, 214-195, to successfully defend her title.
In the semi-finals, Agerbo, who won three gold medals at the 2016 European Championships (singles, trios and all-events), eliminated No. 4 seed, Joonas Jahi of Finland, 234-168. Jahi won two gold medals at the 2016 European Championships (doubles and team) and finished second to Agerbo in all-events.
In the other match, Ismail sidelined three-time Asian champion Michael Mak (right) of Hong Kong, 235-224. Ismail received the silver medal while Mak and Jahi both got a bronze medal.
The women’s medal round featured three USA vs. Singapore matches. Fourth-seeded New, who won the season-ending Smithfield PWBA Tour Championship for her first career PWBA title and the first major, edged top-seeded world champion Shannon Pluhowsky, 238-237, to advance to the title match.
Second-seeded Kulick, who made sports history by winning the 2010 PBA Tournament of Champions to become the first woman to win a PBA Tour event, eliminated New’s teammate and No. 3 seed, Shayna Ng, 216-172, in the other semifinal match.
New earned the silver medal while Pluhowsky and Ng shared the bronze medal. (BowlingDigital.com)
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