AFGHANISTAN TO SEND BOWLER TO 2004 AMF WORLD CUP

LONDON, ENGLAND, September 17, 2004 – Afghanistan will send a bowler to the 2004 AMF Bowling World Cup in Singapore.

Tournament manager Anne-Marie Board confirms that Afghani bowler Atiq Sikander is entered in the men’s division of the 40th AMF World Cup. Afghanistan is the third “newcomer” nation requesting entry thus far; the other two are Nigeria and Slovakia.

Afghanistan brings to 98 the number of countries planning to enter this year. Thirty-four countries have already chosen their national representatives; each nation is entitled to send one male and one female bowler. The women’s division will include defending champion Kerrie Ryan-Ciach of Canada, 2002 champion Shannon Pluhowsky of the USA, 1992 winner Martina Beckel of Germany, last year’s third-place finisher Marie Ramirez of Costa Rica, and Asian Federation star Ann-Maree Putney of Australia.

Jack Guay of Canada, the first bowler ever to post a perfect score in the World Cup (1993), headlines the men’s division. Other challengers include 2004 South Pacific Classic champion Jason Belmonte of Australia, Israeli star Yahav Rabin, English rankings leader Paul Moor, new European Individual Cup champion Domenico Righi of San Marino, and last year’s World Cup runner-up, Marcel van den Bosch of the Netherlands.

Defending champion C.J. Suarez of the Philippines must win his national World Cup qualifier to advance to the Singapore pinfest.

SuperBowl Management Pte Ltd, which is building host center SuperBowl SAFRA Mount Faber, reports that construction on the 34-lane center is progressing. The facility is expected to open in early November, a month before the December 5-12 AMF World Cup comes to town.

The 40th annual AMF Bowling World Cup is the world’s largest annual international sports championship in terms of number of participating nations. Bowlers from 77 countries competed in the 2003 AMF Bowling World Cup in Honduras. The record of 88 nations was set in 2000 in Lisbon, Portugal.

2004 AMF BOWLING WORLD CUP, DEC. 5-12, SINGAPORE – CONFIRMED PLAYERS

* indicates previous World Cup participant

Please note: Venezuela’s representatives were prematurely announced in an earlier release. No bowlers have yet been named to represent Venezuela in the 2004 AMF Bowling World Cup. We apologize for the error.