Merwin Tan, Marie Alexis Sy reach Bowling World Cup second round

LAS VEGAS – Philippine champions Merwin Tan and Marie Alexis Sy rolled big shots when they needed them most to hurdle the 24-player qualifying period yesterday in the 54th Bowling World Cup international finals at Sam’s Town Center here.

Tan rolled a high game of 268 and averaged 210.79 to collect 5059 pinfalls in 24 games to finish 13th and advance to the second round of men’s action in the prestigious world individual kegfest.

Sy fired a high game of 245 and averaged 196.75 to chalk up 4729 pinfalls, also in 24 games, and rank 19th in the women’s division.

American Kyle Troup and Malaysia’s Li Jane Sin paced the men’s and women’s divisions with 5674 and 5111 pinfalls, respectively. 

Finland’s Osku Palermaa posted 5560 to trail Troup with Canada’s Ryan Reid coming in third with 5479.

Indonesia’s Nadia Pramanik Nuramalina scored 5041 to check in second in the women’s group, followed by American Shannon O’Keefe with 5000.

With their scores carried over, the remaining contenders will play eight more games today to determine the top eight bowlers who will advance to the men’s and women’s quarterfinals.

Some of the other qualifiers:

Women – Karen Marcano, Venezuela (4972), Nadine Geissler, Germany (4952), Diana Zavjalova, Latvia (4946), Saphne Tan, Singapore (4852), Sanna Pasanen, Finland (4820), Tannya Lopez, Mexico (4818), Heidi Thorstensen, Norway (4811), Maria Rodriguez, Colombia (4809), Ghislaine Stigter-Van der Tol, Netherlands (4789), Tania Yusaf. Scotland (4784) and Stephanie Martins, Brazil (4770).

Men – Yannaphon Larpapharat, Thailand (5384), Andres Gomez, Colombia (5308), Sam Cooley, Australia (5307), Ryan Leonard Lalisang, Indonesia (5285), Sam Rose, England (5264), Marcelo Suartz, Brazil (5247), Arnar David Jonsson, Iceland (5218), Jonas Dammen, Norway (5131) and Dhruv Sarda, India (5075).