World Ranking Masters

The World Ranking Masters is Ten-pin bowling's international ranking system, as with professional Tennis. It is governed by the World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA).

This ten-pin equivalent is known as the 'World Ranking Masters' and is made up of three vast tours: the European, Americas and Asian bowling tours. The Masters' is worked out at the end of the three tours, the European, Americas (Not American although it does cover the US) and Asian tours.

Organisation

It is divided into the following geographical Zones/Tours:

*American Bowling Federation [http://www.wtba.ws/index.php?topic=organization&sub=1] [http://www.wtbaaz.bowlingcolombia.org/] which consists of North and South America and has the Americas Bowling Tour.
*Asian Bowling Federation [http://www.wtba.ws/index.php?topic=organization&sub=2] [http://www.abf-online.org/] which consists of Asia, Australia, Western Pacific and has the Asian Bowling Tour.
*European Tenpin Bowling Federation (ETBF) [http://www.wtba.ws/index.php?topic=organization&sub=3] which consists of Europe and South Africa and is host to the European Bowling Tour (EBT) (similar to that of the PBA's Tour)

When all three vast tours are complete the top 8 bowlers over the three tours are invited each year to the World Ranking Masters.

For example, with the EBT, the list can be found on the official ETBF website [http://www.etbf.dk/ebt/ranking/overview.htm] . It is also reported on in the leading Tenpin news site [http://www.bowlingdigital.de/bowling/node/10045/1] .

The World Ranking Masters is played on the "Dual Condition" format. Over the years the format has changed. The current qualifying format takes place over 3 days, with 8 games being played each day. The first day is played on a "long" lane pattern (oiled to around 44ft), the second on a "short" pattern (oiled to around 35ft). The final day is played on a "mixed" pattern (each lane is dressed alternately with the long and short patterns).

The top 8 Men and top 8 Women over the 24 games qualify for the single-elimination matchplay finals. The finalists are seeded according to their final position in qualifying. The finals are played using "best of 3" matchplay style on alternating lane patterns. The higher seeded player has the choice of which pattern to start on.

These patterns force the players to attack the 2 different lane conditions using different angles/equipment/hand positions and is the best way to determine the player with the most skills, versatility and knowledge.

2007 - Lake Wales, Florida

The 2007 World Ranking Masters event will be held in the Kegel Training centre, Lake Wales, Florida after the original Hosts, Qatar withdrew from hosting the event in February of 2007.

The five-day competition will start May 3rd and will conclude with the TV finals on May 7th.

"We have TV again. It will be a 90-minute show this time, maybe even two hours", Kegel founder John Davis proudly stated. "The county made the decision to back the show. It seems they were very happy with our performance and ratings last time."

It marks the third time after 2003 and 2005 that the prestigious event will come to the Kegel headquarters.

"This will be the 7th edition of this tournament and we are proud to be able to have the tournament at our Kegel Training and Tournament centre here in Lake Wales, Florida for the third time", said Del Warren, Tournament Manager and Vice President of Kegel Training and Tournament centre. "In fact, I think we will make the theme of this tournament 'A Celebration of the Sport of Bowling'.

The World Ranking Masters features the top eight men and top eight women from each of the three WTBA zones (American, European and Asian) plus one male and one female bowler to be picked by the host - a total of 25 men and 25 women.

Sara Vargas, Colombia, will be on hand to defend the women's title while Khalid Al Dubyan of Kuwait, the 2006 men's World Ranking Masters champion did not qualify through the Asian rankings.

As tournament hosts, Kegel and USBC jointly selected Team USA members Bill Hoffman of Columbus, Ohio, and Diandra Asbaty of Chicago, Illinois to represent the United States in the event. However, just before the start of the tournament Bill Hoffman had to unfortunately withdraw due to a foot injury. Hoffman was replaced at short notice by Team USA team-mate, David O'Sullivan of Orlando, Florida.

The Kegel/USBC World Ranking Masters will have a first prize of $10,000 US Dollars for both the men and the women and we will be paying down to 10th place.

"We will also be unveiling a few new ideas to help promote the sport of bowling with the goal of elevating our sport to the next level", Warren added.

"We want to express our gratitude to the World Tenpin Bowling Association for their confidence and willingness to give us the opportunity to host this prestigious event."

As earlier reported, the Qatar Bowling Federation (QBF) withdrew as host of the 2007 World Ranking Masters, which should originally take place in Doha, from April 30 through May 6. Three countries wanted to step in and have sent an application to the World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA), the USA, Finland and Indonesia. The WTBA decided in favour of the Kegel/USBC bid.

Participants - Women's Division

American Zone

*flagicon|Colombia Rocio Restrepo
*flagicon|Canada Caroline Lagrange
*flagicon|Colombia Paola Gomez
*flagicon|Colombia Sara Vargas
*flagicon|Venezuela Karen Marcano
*flagicon|Venezuela Alicia Marcano
*flagicon|Canada Lynne Gauthier
*flagicon|Dominican Republic Aumi Guerra

Asian Zone

*flagicon|Indonesia Putty Armein
*flagicon|Malaysia Shalin Zulkifli
*flagicon|Malaysia Esther Cheah
*flagicon|Malaysia Lai Kin Ngoh
*flagicon|Indonesia Tannya Roumimper
*flagicon|Malaysia Zandra Aziela
*flagicon|Malaysia Choy Poh Lai
*flagicon|Malaysia Wendy Chai

European Zone

*flagicon|Denmark Britt Brondsted
*flagicon|England Zara Glover
*flagicon|Sweden Nina Flack
*flagicon|France Isabelle Saldjian
*flagicon|Sweden Helen Johnsson
*flagicon|Sweden Anna Mattsson-Baard
*flagicon|Germany Patricia Schwarz
*flagicon|Austria Ivonne Gross

Host Country Pick

*flagicon|USA Diandra Asbaty

Participants - Men's Division

American Zone

*flagicon|Venezuela Arturo Hernandez
*flagicon|Puerto Rico Luis Rodriguez
*flagicon|Canada Mark Buffa
*flagicon|Colombia David Romero
*flagicon|Puerto Rico Francisco Colon
*flagicon|Dominican Republic Rolando Antonio Sebelen
*flagicon|Colombia Manuel Otalora
*flagicon|Colombia Jaime Monroy

Asian Zone

*flagicon|Singapore Remy Ong
*flagicon|Indonesia Ryan Lalisang
*flagicon|Hong Kong Wu Siu Hong
*flagicon|Malaysia Alex Liew
*flagicon|Malaysia Azidi Ameran
*flagicon|Philippines Biboy Rivera
*flagicon|Thailand Yannaphon Larpapharat
*flagicon|Malaysia Zulmazran Zulkifli

European Zone

*flagicon|England Paul Moor
*flagicon|Finland Osku Palermaa
*flagicon|Sweden Peter Ljung
*flagicon|England Stuart Williams
*flagicon|Sweden Martin Larsen
*flagicon|Austria Thomas Gross
*flagicon|Australia Jason Belmonte
*flagicon|Finland Kai Virtanen

Host Country Pick

*flagicon|USA David O'Sullivan(Late replacement for Bill Hoffman)

Results

Qualifying - Men (top 12 only)

Top 8 (highlighted) qualify for quarter finals.

Quarter Finals - Women

Final - Men

Previous Finals - Women

External links

* [http://www.kegel.net/tournaments/wrm_2007.htm Kegel/USBC World Ranking Masters 2007]
* [http://www.etbf.dk/history/wrm/championships/overview.htm World Ranking Masters: Medallists per Championship]
* [http://www.etbf.dk/history/wrm/events/overview.htm World Ranking Masters: Medallists per Event]
* [http://www.etbf.dk/history/wrm/medalstandings/overview.htm World Ranking Masters: Medal Standings]
* [http://www.etbf.dk/ebt/statistics/winnersmen.htm Male EBT Winners]
* [http://www.etbf.dk/ebt/statistics/winnerswomen.htm Female EBT Winners]
* [http://www.etbf.dk/ebt/ranking/overview.htm EBT Rankings]
* [http://www.bowlinglinks.de Bowlinglinks all over the World, sorted by categories]