On Thursday, at the Fiesta Bowling Center in Incheon, Korea, 87 youth bowlers competed in the qualification round of the 2024 World Youth Championships in the Girls' Singles event.
Sixteen players advanced to the match-play round after six qualification games.
South Korea's Boah Kim came out as the standout performer, leading the pack with an impressive total of 1298 pinfall (216.3 avg.). Close on her heels was Kiri Watanabe from Japan with 1275 total (212.5 avg.). Adania Mohd Redzwan from Malaysia and Arianne Tay from Singapore tied for the third spot, both scoring 1269 (211.5 avg.). Singaporean Colleen Pee rounded up the top 5 with 1253 pins (208.8 avg.).
Six European bowlers advanced to the match-play round of the Girls' Singles. Elin Bergqvist of Sweden was the best among them, scoring 1246 pins (207.7 avg.) to finish in sixth place. Tiiamari Laukkanen of Finland finished in seventh with 1242 total (207.0 avg.), Sweden's Nicole Layrisse ended in ninth with 1227 pins (204.5 avg.), while Fiona Lindemann of Germany rounded out the top ten with 1226 total (204.3 avg.). Freshly crowned European champion Nora Johansson took the 13th position with 1208 pins (201.3 avg.), and Stella Lökfors finished fifteenth with 1197 total (199.5 avg.).
In the Matchplay Rounds, the qualifiers will be divided into two groups of eight. They will engage in seven round-robin matches, where the stakes are high—each win earns 3 points, and a draw nets 1 point. The intense competition will culminate in the top two players from each group advancing to the semi-finals, based on their accumulated points.
Stay tuned for more updates as the competition progresses with Boy's qualification. Third squad will be played later today. Currently Nasser Alkandari of Kuwait lead the competition with 1447 pinfall. Paul Purps of Germany took second spot with 1432, while his compatriot Max Lorenz holds the third with 1421 total.
Full standings can be found here.
