WTBA World Tenpin Bowling Championships

The WTBA World Championships is a global event that invites all countries, that are members of the WTBA to participate.

Event Details and History

The event is held every two years and is split into 2 separate tournaments, one for men and one for women. These events are held alternately every year in different countries. Until 2005, the two events were always played at the same time, however, due to the growth of the championships in recent years it was decided to split the event up into separate men's and women's championships.

Players compete for medals in 6 different categories. Every bowler plays 24 games with 6 games in each category. The top 3 in each of the following categories are awarded medals:

*Singles
*Doubles
*Trios
*Team Event

After the conclusion of these events, the all-events medals are presented to the top 3 bowlers who have accumulated the most pinfall over the 24 games. This category is regarding as the most prestigious medal in world bowling.

The final medals are decided in the Masters category. The Masters event comprises the top 16 bowlers from the all-events category. All bowlers play a Matchplay style format, best of 5 games with the winner advancing to the next round. The players are seeded 1-16 according to their final positions in the All-Events. The draw for each round is decided with the highest seed playing the lowest seed, the second highest seed playing the second lowest seed, and so on. Medals are awarded to the winner, runner-up and both losing semi-finalists.

Format

The format for the Championships has changed many time throughout its history. In the early years of the championships, men competed in 4 different categories, Doubles, 4 man team, 8 man team and masters. Up until 1963 women did not participate in the event. The first year that women did take part, they competed in 4 different categories, doubles, four person team (European Style), four person team (American Style) and masters. This is the only time the "European Style" has been used in the championships. In the following championships the European style four person team was replaced with the five person team event (American Style) and was used until 1979. Since 1979 both men and women have competed in the same categories that are used in the championships today. The masters event has only recently changed with the onset of the championships splitting into 2 different events. Up until 2005 the top 16 would bowl a 16 game Round Robin with the top 3 bowlers after the 16 games advancing throughto a stepladder final. Currently the masters is played using the matchplay style, best of 5 format. Many bowlers do not agree with the matchplay format and prefer the round robin format as this is a much better way of determining the overall masters champion.

Dual Pattern Format

Since 2005 the championships have adopted the "dual pattern format" lane conditions, more commonly known as the "short" and "long" lane patterns. The "short" pattern is oiled to approximately 35 feet from the foul line and the "long" oiled to approximately 45 feet from the foul line. Each bowler at the championships will bowl an equal amount of games on the 2 patterns. In the masters, each match is played on alternating lane patterns with the highest seed having the choice of which pattern to start on.

The concept of having 2 different lane patterns is to force the bowlers to be more versatile in the championships. The 2 different lane patterns forces the bowlers to attack each pattern from different angles, using different styles of play, such as ball speed, hand position and ball choice. It has been argued that in previous championships around the world, using 1 pattern for the whole event would suit certain bowlers over others, which was deemed as being unfair. It was agreed that having 2 different lane conditions would be a fairer way of determining the best bowlers at the championships. Many other championships around the world have also adopted this format, such as the Men's and Women's European Championhips, the Asian Games, the World Ranking Masters, The Commonwealth Championships and the Asian Championships.

Medal History

Women's Medals Table

Women

Previous & Future Championships

From 2005 The men's and women's Championships have been held as separate events on alternating years.

External links

* [http://www.etbf.dk Official European Tenpin Bowling Federation website]
* [http://www.abf-online.org/ Official Website of the Asian Bowling Federation]
* [http://wtba.ws/ World Tenpin Bowling Association Website]
* [http://www.amzone.org/ American Bowling Federation Website]
* [http://www.bowlingdigital.com Bowlingdigital.com, Tenpin news website]
* [http://www.talktenpin.co.uk/cms/index.php Talktenpin.co.uk, Tenpin news website]