Bowling World Cup: Valdez through, Del Rosario crashes out

Paulo Valdez of the Philippines rolled 1281 pinfalls in six games to advance to the next round, but fellow national champion Liza del Rosario crashed out at the start of the 43rd Qubica AMF Bowling World Cup at the Kontinent Bowling Centre here.


Valdez capped his World Cup debut with a 277 in the final game to land 17th, but Del Rosario, a one-time runner-up in the world’s most prestigious and toughest individual kegfest, managed only 1119 and wound up in 38th spot.

Only the top 24 men and 24 women after the opening six-game block advanced to the next round.

Del Rosario’s woeful start was partly due to her failure to get her bowling balls, which were misdirected on her and Valdez’s flight from Manila. By the time the balls arrived, the Filipinos had already completed their first-day games.

Former Asian champion Valdez, who returned to bowling after a two-year layoff, started with a 185-game and followed this with 216, 182, 240 and 181 before winding up with that 277.

Del Rosario’s game crumbled after opening with a 208 as she rolled 170, 191, 167, 191, and 192 pins to round out her performance.

South Korea’s Lee Sun-hee and Australia’s Jason Belmonte showed the way with sizzling scores of 1386 and 1452, respectively.

Dominican Republic’s Aumi Guerra checked in second with 1376, followed by Malta’s Sue Ablea (1342) and Sweden’s Helen Johnsson (1336).

Bill Hoffman, the American who is one of the pre-event favorites, trailed Belmonte in second spot with 1433, followed by Venezuela’s Ildemaro Ruiz (1393), Portugal’s Paulo Lopes (1385), Russia’s Alexey Parshukov (1378), Colombia’s Andres Gomez (1365), United Arab Emirates’ Mohammed Khalifa Al-Qubaisi (1349), Singapore’s Remy Ong (1333), Israel’s Yahav Rabin (1316), and Scotland’s Mark McQueen (1315).