Argentina's No.1 bowler Lucas Legnani (pictured) rolled his second consecutive 1800-plus series at the 9th World Ranking Masters in Naples, Italy, en route to overtake the lead in the men's qualifying after two out of three 8-game blocks with 3646 pinfall total and an overall average of 227.88. Legnani, who won his first title on the European Bowling Tour in Catalonia about two month ago, rolled two 278 games on the medium pattern (40 feet) in the fourth and sixth game of the block and chalked up 1843 pins, an average of 230.38 per game. He received a 1.000 U.S. Dollar bonus for leading the block.
Siti Safiyah Amirah (l.), Malaysia, defeated Tina Hulsch (r.), Germany, two-games-to-none in the women's championship match Saturday afternoon at Oltremare Bowling Arena in Naples, Italy, en route to win the 9th World Ranking Masters and the $10,000 first prize. Amirah won the first game with 215.199 and sealed the victory with a 175-166 low-scoring encounter in game #2. Hulsch received $5,000 for second place. Qualifying leader Wendy Kok and Ghislaine van der Tol, both Netherlands, finished in 3rd and 4th place, worth $3,000 apiece.
Wendy Kok (pictured left), Netherlands, was the most versatile player among the 23 women from 15 countries as she finished the qualifying of the 9th World Ranking Masters atop the leaderboard with 4935 pinfall total and an average of 206.62. The daughter of former Dutch standout Eric Kok led the top 8 players - five players from Europe, two from America and one from Asia representing five countries - into the single-elimination best-of-three games finals. As the qualifying leader, Kok received a 1.000 U.S. Dollar bonus.
