Del Rosario, Rivera breeze thru WC elims

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines’ Liza del Rosario and Biboy Rivera produced good rounds Thursday to virtually advance to the next level of the QubicaAMF Bowling Cup at the Sky Bowling Center in Wroclaw, Poland.

Del Rosario shot a five-game series of 1126 pinfalls while Rivera, former world FIQ champion who is making his third international finals in the prestigious individual kegfest, carded 1128, also in five games, to occupy second and third places, respectively, with only five games left to qualify for the top 24 spots.

Del Rosario, a former world trios titlist, actually dropped to second in the women’s division with a 15-game total of 3430 for a 228.67 average to trail leader Brittni Hamilton of the United States by 22 pins, while Rivera moved up from fourth to third with 3458 also in 15 games.

Germany’s Tobias Bording maintained the lead in the men’s division with 3677 followed by Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kalika (3475).

With their scores carried over, the remaining contenders from 70 countries will fight it out for the top eight spots, with the best three bowlers further advancing to the top three that will dispute the crown.

 The other bowlers who have good chances to qualify in the women’s division are Sweden’s Rebecka Latsen (3329), Australia’s Kaitlyn Commane (3315), Colombia’s Clara Juliana Guerrero (3307), Germany’s Martina Schutz (3302), Netherlands’ Jolanda Visser (3287), Mexico’s Sandra Gongora (3272), England’s Danni Hopcroft (3247), Ukraine’s Daris Kovalova (3247), Finland’s Piritta Maja (3244) and Malaysia’s Li Jane Sin (3244).

The other top men’s performers are Sweden’s Magnus Johnson Jr. (3438), England’s Steve Thornton (3434), American professional Chris Barnes (3433), Romania’s Romeo Gagenoiu (3420), Israel’s Oron Cohen (3401), India’s Dhruv Sarda (3380) and Finland’s Juhani Tonteri (3374).