Overall leader in Trios after the first block on short oil - Korea: L-R Baek Seungja, Kim Jinsun and Son Hyerin.

The second trios from Korea and Singapore moved into first and second place as all 46 teams have completed the first three-game block on short oil (36 ft. Los Angeles) in the Women's World Championships Trios preliminaries at Khalifa International Bowling Center in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Baek Seungja, Kim Jinsun and Son Hyerin rebounded from a slow start (621) with games of 735 and 723 for 2079 total, an average of 231, to take the pole position as the event has reached the halfway point. All teams will return this afternoon and evening for the second block on long oil (43 ft. Tokyo).

Hyerin led her team with 718, Jinsun was close behind with 699 and Seungja contributed 662.

Singapore's New Hui Fen, Cherie Tan and Shayna Ng (pictured above, l-r), who finished the Singles preliminaries in third thru fifth place, improved every game, posting scores of 641, 683 and 737 for a 2061 total (229 average) to move into second place. Tan had 709, Ng was next with 706 and Hui Fen contributed 646.

Squad 1 leaders Sweden with Ida Andersson, Rebecka Larsen and Victoria Johansson (left, l-r) and United States with Shannon Pluhowsky, Kelly Kulick and Liz Johnson (right, l-r) slipped to third and fourth place with 2042 and 2038.

The second trio from Sweden with Joline Persson Planefors, Jenny Wegner, and 2007 Trios World Champion Nina Flack (below, r-l) were the fifth and last team to crack the 2000-bar with 2003 (222.56).

Denmark with Sascha Wedel, Mai Ginge Jensen and Britt Brøndsted slipped to sixth place with 1995 (221.67) and was followed by the Philippines with Lara Posadas, Bea Hernandez and Dyan Coronacion in seventh place with 1991 and Singapore with Daphne Tan, Joey Yeo and Jazreel Tan in eight place with 1988.

Colombia with Anggie Ramirez, Rocio Restrepo and Clara Juliana Guerrero fell to ninth place with 1981. Rounding out the top 10 was England with Danni Hopcroft, Jo Allsebrook and Lisa John, who were fourth in Squad 2 with 1977.

Heading into the final three games on the long pattern, 15th place Korea with Jung Dawun, Jeon Eunhee and Hwang Yeonju (above right, l-r), who finished 1st, 2nd and 9th in the Singles preliminaries yesterday on long oil, are only 102 pins off the pace for the top 4, who will advance to Wednesday's medal round.

Rebecca Whiting (left) of Australia led all 147 bowlers from 30 countries in this round with 7891 and an average of 260.33, including games of 204, 278 and a near-perfect 299 game, which would have been the first in this Championships and the 12th in history.

Also flirting with perfection was Singapore's Shayna Ng (above right), who had the front nine in the last game before she left one pin standing and finished with 279. Ng would have become the first player with multiple 300 games in World Championships after accomplishing the feat in 2011 in Hong Kong.

Defending Doubles World Champion Stefanie Johnson (right), United States, started her last game with a spare and went off the sheet for 290.