On Thursday, at the Fiesta Bowling Center in Incheon, Korea, the top 16 athletes competed in the match-play round of the 2024 World Youth Championships in the Girls' Singles event.
2024 World Youth Championships Girls' Match-Play Round Overview
In the match-play rounds, the qualifiers were divided into two groups of eight. They engaged in seven round-robin matches, where each win earned 3 points, and a draw netted 1 point. The top two players from each group advanced to the semi-finals, based on their accumulated points.
Group A: Intense Competition and Roll-Off Drama
In Group A, the battle for two semi-final spots was intense among Peru's Yumi Yuzuriha Seregaki, the USA's Annalise O'Bryant, and Sweden's Nora Johansson. All three athletes won 5 out of 7 round-robin matches, each scoring 15 points. This resulted in a roll-off to determine the two semi-finalists. Seregaki scored 247, while O'Bryant's crucial score of 216 secured her second place in the roll-off against Johansson (190), earning the final semi-final berth in Group A. Unfortunately for the newly crowned European champion, Johansson had to accept defeat and missed the cut.
Group B: Decisive Roll-Off and Advancements
In Group B, the final spot in the semi-finals was also decided by a roll-off between Singapore's Arianne Tay and Japan's Kiri Watanabe, who both finished with 12 points by winning 4 out of 7 matches. As both had identical records of 4-3, an extra game was necessary. Tay triumphed over Watanabe with a score of 268-192 in the roll-off, advancing to the semi-finals. She joined Group B's winner, Finland's Stella Lökfors, who scored 15 points.
Upcoming Semi-Finals and Boys' Singles Schedule
The Girls' Singles semi-finals will commence tomorrow at 6:30 AM CET, along with the Boys' Singles semi-finals. The Boys' match-play round will begin at 4 AM CET.
Full standings can be found here.
