WTBA World Tenpin Bowling Championships

The World Tenpin Bowling Championships is a global event that invites all countries that are members of the World Bowling 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 now comprises the top 24 bowlers from the all-events category. Top 24 bowlers bowl 6 games of qualifying with all-events pinfall carried over, with the top 8 after 30 games advancing to the next round. The next round of the masters is a round robin match play with 20 bonus pins for a win and 10 bonus pins for a tie. The top 4 with the highest pinfall total plus bonus pins advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the number one seed bowls the fourth seed and the second seed bowls the third seed. Semifinal matches are one game matches. The semifinal losers will share the bronze medal. The finals are a one-game match between the semifinal winners to determine the gold and silver medalists.

Format

The format for the Championships has changed many times 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 through to a stepladder final. From 2005 to 2011, the masters was played using the matchplay style, best of 5 format. Beginning in 2013, the top 24 men and women in All-Events advanced to the Masters event. All players will bowl six games with the All-Events total carried forward. The top 8 after 30 games advance to seven games of round robin match play, where 20 bonus points are awarded for a won match and 10 bonus points for a tied match. The top 4 advance to the semifinals, which is a one-game match, 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. The semifinal losers will earn a bronze medal. The semifinal winners advance to a one-game final match to determine gold and silver medals.

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 Championships, the Asian Games, the World Ranking Masters, The Commonwealth Championships and the Asian Championships.

Medal history

Women's medal table^[1]

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	25	25	23	73
2	South Korea	14	8	11	33
3	Sweden	6	12	8	26
4	Philippines	6	3	2	11
5	Australia	4	6	8	18
6	Finland	4	6	5	15
7	Germany	4	5	6	15
8	Japan	4	4	5	13
9	Malaysia	4	5	3	12
10	Mexico	4	4	4	12
11	Chinese Taipei	4	2	2	8
12	Denmark	3	1	9	13
13	England	3	1	4	8
14	Canada	3	4	0	7
15	Colombia	2	2	3	7
16	Singapore	1	7	6	14
17	China	1	1	0	2
18	Puerto Rico	1	0	2	3
19	Thailand	1	0	1	2
20	Venezuela	0	0	4	4
=21	Austria	0	0	1	1
=21	Belgium	0	0	1	1
=21	France	0	0	1	1
=21	Hong Kong	0	0	1	1
=21	Latvia	0	0	1	1
=21	South Africa	0	0	1	1

Men's medal table^[2]

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	28	22	20	70
2	Sweden	19	12	11	42
3	Finland	11	16	14	41
4	South Korea	8	7	15	30
5	England	5	2	4	11
6	Australia	5	1	6	12
7	Chinese Taipei	4	1	2	7
8	Mexico	3	7	7	17
9	Canada	3	3	2	8
10	Netherlands	3	2	5	10
11	Germany	2	5	8	15
12	Philippines	2	3	1	6
13	Belgium	2	3	0	5
14	Singapore	2	2	0	4
15	Venezuela	1	3	6	10
16	Norway	1	3	4	8
17	Malaysia	1	2	2	5
18	France	1	1	4	6
19	Colombia	1	1	2	4
20	Denmark	1	1	1	3
21	Puerto Rico	1	1	0	2
22	Qatar	1	0	1	2
23	Japan	0	6	2	8
24	United Arab Emirates	0	1	3	4
=25	Guam	0	0	1	1
=25	Italy	0	0	1	1
=25	Kuwait	0	0	1	1

Medal winners

Please see List of WTBA World Tenpin Bowling Championships medalists.

World Championship Records

Men

Category	Record	Player	Country	Event	Year/Venue
Individual Records
Individual Game	300	Rick Steelsmith	United States	Trios	1987, Helsinki, Finland
		Rolando Sebelen Sr.	Dominican Republic	Doubles	1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
		Steve Thornton	England	Doubles
		Andres Gomez	Colombia	Doubles
		Ahmed Shaheen	Qatar	Trios
		Amedeo Spada	Italy	Singles	2003, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
		Anders Öhman	Sweden	Doubles
		Darren Cundy	England	Team
		Kimmo Lehtonen	Finland	(Make-up) Team
		Martin Larsen	Sweden	Round Robin
		Antonis Evaggelidis	Greece	Trios	2006, Busan, South Korea
		Bill Hoffman	United States	Team
		Biboy Rivera	Philippines	Masters Final
		Pasi Uotila	Finland	Singles	2010, Munich, Germany
		Chris Barnes	United States	Singles
		Bodo Konieczny	Germany	Singles	2013, Henderson, United States
		Luis Eduardo Rovaina	Venezuela	Singles
		Bill O'Neill	United States	Singles
		Chris Barnes	United States	Doubles
		Park Jong-Woo	South Korea	Doubles
		Tore Torgersen	Norway	Trios
		Achim Grabowski	Germany	Team
		Hareb Al Mansoori	UAE	Team
		Ricardo Lecuona	Mexico	Team
Individual 3 Game Series	826	Kimmo Lehtonen	Finland	Singles	1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Individual 6 Game Series	1541	Jason Belmonte	Australia	Doubles	2006, Busan, South Korea
Individual 24 Game All-Events	5635	Tore Torgersen	Norway		1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Singles Records
Singles - 1 Game	300	Amedeo Spada	Italy		2003, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
		Pasi Uotila	Finland		2010, Munich, Germany
		Chris Barnes	United States
		Bodo Konieczny	Germany		2013, Henderson, United States
		Luis Eduardo Rovaina	Venezuela
		Bill O'Neill	United States
Singles - 3 Games	826	Kimmo Lehtonen	Finland		1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Singles - 6 Games	1524	Remy Ong	Singapore		2006, Busan, South Korea
Doubles Records
Doubles - 1 Game	599	Jaime Monroy Andres Gomez	Colombia		1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Doubles - 3 Games	1514	Tomas Leandersson Anders Öhman	Sweden		2003, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Doubles - 6 Games	2906	Tomas Leandersson Anders Öhman	Sweden		2003, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Trios Records
Trios - 1 Game	778	Antti-Pekka Lax Lasse Lintilä Ari Halme	Finland		1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Trios - 3 Games	2196	Bill O'Neill Chris Barnes Tommy Jones	United States		2010, Munich, Germany
Trios - 6 Games	4144	Mike Fagan Sean Rash Marshall Kent	United States		2014, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Team Records
Team - 1 Game	1309	Mario Quintero Luis Kassian Ricardo Lecuona Roberto Silva Alejandro Cruz	Mexico		2013, Henderson, United States
Team - 3 Games	3563	Park Jong-Woo Choi Bok-Eum Hong Hae-Sol Shin Seungh-Yeon Kim Kyung-Min	South Korea		2014, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Team - 6 Games	6917	Park Jong-Woo Kang Hee-Won Choi Bok-Eum Hong Hae-Sol Shin Seungh-Yeon Kim Kyung-Min	South Korea		2014, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Women

Category	Record	Player	Country	Event	Year/Venue
Individual Records
Individual Game	300	Cha Mi-Jung	South Korea	Trios	1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
		Kim Yeau-Jin	South Korea	Doubles	2007, Monterrey, Mexico
		Kirsten Penny	England	Team
		María Rodríguez	Colombia	Doubles	2009, Las Vegas, United States
		Kelly Kulick	United States	Singles	2011, Hong Kong, China
		Caroline Lagrange	Canada	Trios
		Shannon O'Keefe	United States	Trios
		Britt Brøndsted	Denmark	Team
		Shayna Ng	Singapore	Masters 1st Round
		Shannon Pluhowsky	United States	Masters Finals
		Kelly Kulick	United States	Doubles Semifinals	2013, Henderson, United States
		Joan Gonzalez	Venezuela	Doubles	2015, Abu Dhabi, UAE
		Karen Marcano	Venezuela	Team
		Liz Johnson	United States	Team Finals
				Masters Step 2
		Danielle McEwan	United States	Masters Step 2
Individual 3 Game Series	812	Jacqueline Sijore	Malaysia	Singles	2011, Hong Kong, China
Individual 6 Game Series	1601	Shayna Ng	Singapore	Singles	2011, Hong Kong, China
Individual 24 Game All-Events	5744	Mai Ginge Jensen	Denmark		2011, Hong Kong, China
Singles Records
Singles - 1 Game	300	Kelly Kulick	United States		2011, Hong Kong, China
Singles - 3 Games	812	Jacqueline Sijore	Malaysia		2011, Hong Kong, China
Singles - 6 Games	1601	Shayna Ng	Singapore		2011, Hong Kong, China
Doubles Records
Doubles - 1 Game	556	Carolyn Dorin-Ballard Kelly Kulick	United States		2011, Hong Kong, China
Doubles - 3 Games	1536	Carolyn Dorin-Ballard Kelly Kulick	United States		2011, Hong Kong, China
Doubles - 6 Games	2901	Carolyn Dorin-Ballard Kelly Kulick	United States		2011, Hong Kong, China
Trios Records
Trios - 1 Game	802	Stefanie Nation Shannon Pluhowsky Shannon O'Keefe	United States		2011, Hong Kong, China
Trios - 3 Games	2165	Esther Cheah Zandra Aziela Jacqueline Sijore	Malaysia		2011, Hong Kong, China
Trios - 6 Games	4232	Hwang Sun-Ok Jeon Eun-Hee Son Yun-Hee	South Korea		2011, Hong Kong, China
Team Records
Team - 1 Game	1262	Nadine Geisler Vanessa Timter Juliane Rieger Birgit Pöppler Patricia Luoto	Germany		2011, Hong Kong, China
Team - 3 Games	3491	Stefanie Nation Missy Parkin Shannon O'Keefe Kelly Kulick Liz Johnson	United States		2013, Henderson, United States
		Jeon Eun-Hee Son Hye-Rin Kim Jin-Sun Jung Da-Wun Baek Seung-Ja	South Korea		2015, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Team - 6 Games	6750	Nadine Geisler Vanessa Timter Juliane Rieger Janine Ribguth Birgit Pöppler Patricia Luoto	Germany		2011, Hong Kong, China

Previous & future championships

From 2005 the Men's and Women's Championships have been held as separate events on alternating years. 2013 saw a return of the combined World Championships, the first since 2003. The combined World Championships will be held every four years starting with the 2013 edition. World Bowling has announced that Kuwait City will host the combined World Championships in 2017, Hong Kong to host the Men's World Championships in 2018, and Las Vegas to host the Women's World Championships in 2019.

A new event, WTBA World Singles Championships for men and women, was held for the first time in Limassol, Cyprus from September 18–26, 2012 and will be held subsequently every four years. With this new event, WTBA will stage a world championship event every year.

Year	City	Country	Women	Men	Total
1954	Helsinki	Finland	-	58	58
1955	Essen	West Germany	-	64	64
1958	Helsingborg	Sweden	-	99	99
1960	Hamburg	West Germany	-	102	102
1963	Mexico City	Mexico	45	132	177
1967	Malmö	Sweden	84	161	225
1971	Milwaukee	United States	103	268	371
1975	London	England	152	271	423
1979	Manila	Philippines	146	175	321
1983	Caracas	Venezuela	175	206	381
1987	Helsinki	Finland	196	230	426
1991	Singapore	Singapore	196	280	476
1995	Reno	United States	253	358	611
1999	Abu Dhabi	United Arab Emirates	255	345	600
2003	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	234	348	582
2005	Aalborg	Denmark	216	-	216
2006	Busan	South Korea	-	247	247
2007	Monterrey	Mexico	227	-	227
2008	Bangkok	Thailand	-	333	333
2009	Las Vegas	United States	228	-	228
2010	Munich	Germany	-	356	356
2011	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	171	-	171
2013	Henderson	United States	212	216	428
2014	Abu Dhabi	United Arab Emirates	-	272	272
2015	Abu Dhabi	United Arab Emirates	147		147
2017	Kuwait City	Kuwait	-	-
2018	Hong Kong	Hong Kong		-
2019	Las Vegas	United States	-

Upcoming World Bowling Events

External links

• World Bowling Website
• Official Website of the Asian Bowling Federation
• Official European Tenpin Bowling Federation website
• Official Website Pan American Bowling Federation
• Bowlingdigital.com, Tenpin news website
• Talktenpin.co.uk, Tenpin news website