2009 Melaka, Malaysia

The final qualifying round of the 45th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Melaka, Malaysia, produced some very high scoring, with Siti Safiyah Amirah, the home favourite, leading the way with an amazing 1893.
Her set brought her right up from ninth to second place, 34 pins behind England’s Zara Giles, who has led after every round so far, with Canada’s Caroline Lagrange dropping to third.
Apart from Siti Safiyah, two other players shot over 1800: Helen Johnsson of Sweden on 1820 and  Tennelle Milligan of the USA on 1805. And another six had sets over 1700: Zara Giles (England) 1783, Caroline Lagrange (Canada) 1759, Patcharin Torgerson (Norway) 1753, Isabelle Sacco (France) 1746, Sayuri Yamada (Mexico) 1725 and Evgenia Tsarkova (Russia) 1704.
It was also a great day for Latvia, India and Moldova. Diana Zavjalova, Prathima Hegde and Uliana Grosu respectively recorded the highest ever finishes for their countries, none of which had ever made the top 24 before.
Uliana, who is just 18, was on tenterhooks as she waited with her mother for the results to come through and was overcome with emotion when she saw her name go up in 24th place, making the cut. “It is only the 5th time my country has been represented at the Bowling World Cup. Last year in Mexico I came 46th and I am just so happy with my result here,” she said.
High game for the women so far is 279, shared by Siti Safiyah and Sayuri. The overall average for all 66 competitors was 187.6 with 20 women averaging over 200.
The top 24 will play a further eight games tonight starting at 8pm local time. The next cut will then be made to the top eight who will go through to the quarter finals tomorrow morning.
The men’s final eight games is being played now and they too will cut to the top 24 for a further eight games this evening.