Bowling leaders from around the world got a first-hand look at the new International Bowling Campus as the World Tenpin Bowling Association Presidium convened March 6 and 7. Representatives from nine countries were on hand for the meetings,
which were hosted by WTBA President and United States Bowling Congress
Chief Operating Officer Kevin Dornberger. Among the Presidium members in attendance were Jose Guandique of El
Salvador, Veronica Rajii of Chile, Vivien Fung of Hong Kong, Danny
Santos of The Philippines, Kim Thorsgaard Jensen of Denmark, Addie
Ophelders of The Netherlands, Bernard Pujol of France and WTBA
Secretary General Christer Jonsson of Sweden.
Gye Min-Young (l.), Korea, averaged 222.25 over 16 games and knocked down 3556 pins en route to finish the women's qualifying at the 46th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup atop the leaderboard. Gye holds a 114-pin lead over Aumi Guerra, Dominican Republic (r.), who was second with 3442. Wendy Chai, Malaysia, fell to third place with 3415. Prathima Hegde, India beat put Felicia Wong, Canada for 24th and last place to advance by two pins.
Aumi Guerra (l.), Dominican Republic, set the pace in the women's division at the 46th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup as Squad A has completed the 16-game preliminaries on Thursday morning. Guerra overtook the lead in Squad A with 3442 and an average of 215.13 for 16 games. Fiona Banks (r.), England, was second with 3409. However, Squad B leader Gye Min-Young, Korea needs 969 for her five-game block or average of 193.8 to overtake Guerra.
On Tuesday evening at 7.15pm CET, John Walker, CEO of QubicaAMF Worldwide made an announcement at the players' hotel "Lou Pigno" in regard to the construction problems at Bowling de Provence in Toulon, France, host center of the 46th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup. Walker said that the biggest concern of his company would be the safety of the players but he could confirm that the place would be safe and would note a lot of changes. Therefore, the World Cup will continue on Wednesday after one men's squad and both women's squads had been cancelled today.
Since the start of the bidding process in April, the WTBA has narrowed the race for the 2013 World Bowling Championships down to three cities: Abu Dhabi (UAE), Munich (Germany) and Henderson/Las Vegas (USA). The candidates will undergo inspection visits from the World Tenpin Bowling Association in November and the decision about the host city will be made at the WTBA Presidium Meeting in Lausanne on December 2, 2010.
On Thursday Aug. 11 the WTBA Presidium has decided to appoint Hong Kong as host of World Women Championship 2011. According to Vivien Lau, President of the Hong Kong Tenpin Bowling Congress, The event will be staged at the Hong Kong Bowling City bowling center. Also the FIQ and WTBA Congresses will be held in Hong Kong in conjunction with the 2011 WWC. The preliminary time period for the championship is September 2-12, 2011 and the Congresses the days before that time period.
The president of World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA, Kevin Dornberger (pictured right), United States, and the President of World Ninepin Bowling Association (WNBA), Ludwig Kocsis, Austria, have made discussions in several conversations and meetings about the future of the Federation Internationale des Quilleurs (FIQ) and/or Tenpin and Ninepin. The result of these conversations is a proposal which was sent to all WTBA and WNBA member federations. 
The USBC Open Championships Lanes at Cashman Center is a specially constructed bowling arena that includes 60 lanes, stadium spectator seating, multiple pro shops, large state-of-the art scoring screens built above the lanes and much more. The construction of the venue began in December 2008 and it took nearly 45 days to complete. Cashman Center hosted the USBC Masters and the USBC Open Championships. Before the temporary lanes will be removed, the 2009 Women's World Championships will be staged from July 24 through Aug. 3, 2009. 
The European Bowling Tour has recently announced it will have two tournaments in the 2009 schedule where players will compete on dual oil patterns. Following the lead of Ronald Dol and Luc Jensen, organizers of the EBT Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament which will use dual oil patterns for the third year in a row, the Brunswick Aalborg International will also be contested on dual oil patterns for the second straight year. Although dual oil patterns have been a mainstay of international championship competition for the last several years, most other high level singles events still use a single oil pattern, but times are changing.
Rafael "Paeng" Nepomuceno of the Philippines is the recipient of the 2009 World Bowling Writers Mort Luby Jr. Distinguished Service Award. Although Paeng's bowling career isn't over yet and he is still a force to be reckoned with in international tournaments worldwide, the USBC silver level coach is now dedicating most of his time to returning great services to the sport, including coaching conferences, exhibitions and as an ambassador for the United States Bowling Congress. Paeng is a 3-time WBW World Bowler of the Year (1998, '85 and '92) and was the first player elected to the WBW Hall of Fame in 1993. 
Australian tenpin sports star Ann-Maree Putney from Newcastle has been honored by the announcement that she is to be inducted into the international WBW Hall of Fame. Putney's career haul of eight gold, ten silver and nine bronze medals at world level is seen as a truly remarkable result and is of iconic proportions. Putney signed off with, "I thought winning at world level for Australia was the pinnacle of success, but this is just a whole new experience. I am humbled," she added.
Former Team USA member Bill Hoffman of Columbus, Ohio, has become just the second American male elected to the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame. Hoffman joins Les Zikes of Chicago, who was inducted in 1999, among an elite group of international players selected for the honor. A nine-time Team USA member from 1999-2008, Hoffman has won dozens of medals in international competition. Hoffman now serves as the International Development team leader for the United States Bowling Congress, helping to grow the sport of bowling around the world.
