Squad A leaders Mirai Ishimoto (pictured left) of Japan and Korea's Choi Woo Sub remained atop the leaderboard in Girls and Boys Singles as the opening event of the 13th CGSE World Youth Championships has reached the halfway mark.

Veronica Dias De Souza (right) of Macau was the only player of Squad B, girls and boys, to crack the top 4, who will survive the six-game preliminaries and advance to the playoffs.

De Souza rebounded from a disappointing start (154) with a big 256 game and added 229 to lead the 24-player squad with 639.

She closed out her series on the 35 feet Beijing oil pattern with three consecutive games in the 190s to leap into second place with 1226 and an average of 204.33.

Ishimoto leads the field of 48 players after two of four squads with 1252 and an average of 208.67. Still in the hunt for the four spots to bowl for the medals are third place Liz Kuhlkin (left), United States, 1216 (202.67) while Merlina San Nicolas (right) of Mexico is on the bubble in fourth place with 1213 (202.17).

England's Keira Reay (pictured left with teammate Verity Crawley, right) had a chance to strike out for fourth place but fell 1300 pins short to sit in fifth place with 1200 on the nose.

Sanna Pasanen (pictured right with teammate Jonna Johkinen, right) of Finland was third in Squad B with 1186, good for sixth place overall.

Sarah Lokker, United States, who was fourth after the first squad with 1177, slipped out of the top 4 to seventh place.

The top eight players of Squad A remained atop the 88-player leaderboard in the Boys Division with lefty Choi Woo Sub (left) in the driver's seat at 1413 and an average of 235.50. Choi had games of 237, 218, 225, 265, 224 and 244 and is the only player so far who has surpassed the 1400-mark.

Mexican Mario Herrera is second with 1388 (231.33) and is followed by Muhd Rafiq Ismail of Malaysia (1371, 228.50) and Maxim Okorokov of Russia, who rounds out the top 4 with 1367 and an average of 227.83.

Gaetan Mouveroux of France and Norway's Øyvin Kulseng (pictured right, l-r) battled it out for the lead in Squad B. As both players finished their six-game preliminaries with a 234 game, Mouveroux earned the bragging rights moving into ninth place with 1303 and an average of 217.17.

Kulseng, who led the squad after three games with 683 (194, 257, 232), toppled 1285 pins to sit in 14th place. Ramon Hilferink (left), Netherlands, who held the lead after five games with 1076 fell behind due to a 189 last game. He finished with 1265, good for 16th place at the moment.

Islam Eid (right) of Egypt, who was mere four pins behind Hilferink heading into the last game, had to settle for 18th place with 1254 after finishing with 182.

Singles Qualifying concludes on Saturday with Squads C and D at 9 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. Hong Kong time. The top four players advance to the semifinals in which the No. 1 meets the No. 4 and the No. 2 bowls the No. 3 starting at 6 p.m. Hong Kong time. The winners bowl for gold and silver while the losers share the bronze medal.


In cooperation with the Asian Bowling Federation (ABF) and the Hong Kong Tenpin Bowling Congress, Bowlingdigital.com will cover the Championships live from Hong Kong.

The United States Bowling Congress is working in cooperation with the host federation, the Hong Kong Tenpin Bowling Congress, to provide live streaming on BowlTV.


The WYC is made possible by title sponsor, The Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange Society World, and co-sponsors Chancellor Precious Metals, Fine Metal Asia Limited, Glory Sky and Safe Gold Bullion Limited as well as Watsons Water and Mr. Juicy, the Official Drink Sponsor of the event.