Two former champions and one reigning champion are among the players already registered for the 2014 QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Wroclaw, Poland. Caroline Lagrange of Canada has an enviable World Cup record: played two, won two. She won last year in Krasnoyarsk and will be back to defend her title, looking to become the first woman to win three times. She will face stiff opposition from Aumi Guerra from the Dominican Republic, who herself is a double champion, having won in 2010 in Toulon, France, and again in 2011 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Aumi came second in 2012 when the World Cup was also in Wroclaw and third last year. She will be competing for the 10th time.
Canada is also sending a former champion to the men’s section. Michael Schmidt has also won the title twice, first in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2005 and then in Toulon in 2010. It will be his eighth appearance in the event and he has only been outside the top ten once. Eric Kok of the Netherlands will set a Bowling World Cup record when he competes this year. He has played in event in each of the last five decades, starting in 1979 in Bangkok where he finished just outside the top 16. From there it was on to Jakarta in 1980, then Seoul, South Korea in 1985 where he recorded his best result of 2nd. Since then, he has also competed in the 25th edition in 1989 (Dublin), 1995 (Sao Paulo), 2005 (Ljubljana) and now 2014 (Wroclaw) will be added to this list.
The USA will be sending their two Team USA trials winners: pro champion Chris Barnes, whose wife Lynda won the title in 2005, and Brittni Hamilton. Other notable contenders include Liza del Rosario for the Philippines, who has reached the round robin stage of the event every time she has played, with a best finish of 2nd in 2001; Piritta Maya (formerly Kantola) of Finland; Kestutis Gudauskas of Lithuania who bowled the first 300 game in last year’s event; and Steve Thornton of England who shot 300 in 2005.
This year is the 50th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup and several celebrations are being planned, including a spectacular final. Further information will be given in due course. The event will be held at the Sky Bowling Centre in Wroclaw, part of the Fitness Academy Group. The opening ceremony will be on Monday 3rd November with the finals on Sunday 9th. Further information is available on the QubicaAMF web site (www.qubicaamf.com) and through Facebook and Twitter. Live streaming and live scoring will again be provided, this year better than ever. The official Hashtag of the event is #50BWC.