COOLEY & WHITING ARRIVE FOR 55TH WORLD CUP

By Matt Stevens

November 14, 2019

The 55^th QubicaAMF World Cup is set to get underway at Palembang, Indonesia and will see Rebecca Whiting and defending champion Sam Cooley return to fly the flag for Australia.

Its been 39 years since the Bowling World Cup was last in Indonesia when Jakarta held the most prestigious amateur singles event in bowling in 1980.

Jakabaring Sport City will be the host of the illustrious event that will run from the 16^th -24^th November. The 40 lane centre was the host of the 2018 Asian Games and will welcome 137 bowlers from 79 countries, most with two country representatives (one male and one female) all vying to be crowned the World Cup champions.

Australia will enter this years World Cup with a pep in their step after Sam Cooley became the 8^th Australian to win the event in Las Vegas last year. Cooley will be striving for back to back titles, the first since Jeanette Baker accomplished the feat in 1982 and 1983.

2018 – Sam Cooley becomes the 8th Australian to win the World Cup

As per 2018 and 2016, joining Cooley again is Rebecca Whiting who is appearing in her fourth successive World Cup campaign. Whiting’s best result was in 2017 when she finished in sixth position.

Whiting and Cooley both qualified for the event by winning this year’s Australian Open and Vic150 events in April.

The format of the event will see participants bowl in potentially four stages.

Stage 1 – Qualifying Round

All bowlers in each division will roll 24 qualifying games over four days for a scratch total

pinfall to decide the top 24 qualifiers to go forward to Stage 2. Men and women will bowl

one squad each. Squad and lane assignments will be distributed once all participants

have arrived and are registered. Any alterations to the above will be shown in the Bowling

Schedule copies of which will be distributed to all bowlers.

Pinfall will be carried into stage 2.

Stage 2 – Top 24

The Top 24 qualifiers in each division will bowl a further 8 games, league style, for a 32

game total scratch pinfall, to decide the top 8 qualifiers to go forward to Stage 3.

Pinfall will be carried into stage 3.

Stage 3 – Top 8 Bowlers (Quarter Finals Round Robin)

The Top 8 bowlers in each division will bowl a further 8 games league style, round robin

with bonus points (30 pins for a win, 15 pins for a tie, 0 pins for a loss), for a 40 game total

pinfall including bonus points, to decide the top 4 qualifiers to go forward to Stage 4. Game

8 of the quarter finals round robin will be a position round.

At the end of Stage 3 Pinfall will NOT be carried forward into Stage 4

Stage 4 – Semi and Final Matches.

The semi and finals will be one game single elimination bracket. 1st placed player versus

4th placed player, and 2nd placed player versus 3rd placed player. The winners of each semi-final match will go forward to play the title match. Pinfall will not be carried forward

from game to game. All matches will be played from scratch. These matches will be played match play style play, ie: player on the left lane bowls 1 frame, player on the

right lane bowls 2 frames, each player will continue to bowl 2 frames. The highest seed player will have the choice of starting lane.

Not their first rodeo – Sam Cooley and Bec Whiting at previous QubicaAMF World Cups

A welcome reception will commence the event on Saturday the 16^th before participants will have official practice on the Sunday. Official competition will begin Monday the 18^th November with men and women bowling six games a day till the end of Thursday. Friday will see the field cut to the top 24 to bowl 8 games to provide a further cut of the top 8. Saturday will see the top 8 bowl an additional 8 games to provide the top 4 finalists.