6
- December 2015
SERVING THE BOWLING INDUSTRY SINCE 1967
World Cup Runneth Over
By Jim Goodwin, For The Bowling News Network
Cross another major event off of the Goodwin bowling bucket list.
CJ and I had the privilege of attending the 51
st
Annual QubicaAMF World Cup
Tournament in November. The event was held at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas.
This prestigious event has only been held in the United States twice before; in New
York City in 1981 and in Las Vegas, also at Sam’s Town, in 1999. This year, players
from 88 nations took part, and by all accounts, the event was another huge success.
Congratulations to Champions Clara Guerrero, who became only the third person to
successfully defend a World Cup title, and to Siu Hong Wu from Hong Kong, who
was coached by a very familiar face, Del Ballard Jr.
What is so amazing about this tournament is that bowlers from around the world
continue to come together in the spirit of friendly competition regardless of what is
happening elsewhere in the world of sports, politics, or international security.
On the eve of this particular event, Radical Islamic Terrorists connected to the ISIS
group carried out an attack in Paris. The aftermath consumed the 24 hour news
channels throughout the event; but the bowlers carried on. We were told that this
was not the first time that troubles in the world have provided a backdrop for the
competition.
It must have been a very tough week for the two French bowlers, Mike Bartaire
and Amandine Jacques. Their minds may have been on bowling, but their hearts
were breaking for their homeland. To their credit, they both did well, finishing 24
th
and 13
th
.
We did not have the opportunity to speak with them, but did get to talk with our
friend Bernard Mora. Bernard is a bowling journalist in France who has covered
more World Cup events than anyone. He thought this was his 42
nd
. The only other
writer who comes close is former Bowlers Journal owner Mort Luby Jr., who said he
thought this was his 37
th
or 38
th
.
Mora said the Paris attacks happened just five hours after he departed for the
USA. His was one of the last flights out of the country before all transportation was
shut down as authorities searched for the terrorists.
We have been to Las Vegas so many times that we can easily drive around the
city without getting lost. Our first trip was in 1979 shortly after Sam’s Town opened,
bringing a major bowling venue to the south end of Boulder Highway, just a few
miles south of the famous Showboat Hotel and Casino, the place that hosted bowl-
ing events from the early days of the PBA until it became the Castaways and closed
its doors for good in 2004. In the early years, Showboat hosted most of the profes-
sional events, and we attended several PBA and other events there, and made
many friends. In the 80’s and 90’s, Sam’s Town became a home base for the LPBT
and PWBA, and we enjoyed all of their events until the PWBA stopped in 2003.
We first got involved in megabuck style bowling at Sam’s Town when they part-
nered with LPBT to host the International Eliminator Tournament. The Mini Elimina-
tor became a spin off of that event, and was held there a few years before moving to
The Orleans.
Getting back to the World Cup, we were struck by several things. Being there for
the first time, we felt a little like fish out of water, but most of the officials were very
friendly, and we enjoyed seeing many dear friends who were also enjoying the
event; people like Bob Johnson, who now lives in Vegas, Our friends Herbert Bickel
from Germany and world class photo journalist Hero Noda from Japan, former AMF
executive and now top coach Dale Neimela, Wes Pye and Dave Symes from Storm,
Mike Kaufman, Bill Supper, who is doing well after heart surgery, and many more,
including the lovely Jeanette Robinson and her amazing husband Dick. We even
had a chance to stop at South Point before leaving to chat with our buddy Mike
Monyak.
No trip to Vegas is complete without time spent with Jeanette and Dick. They are
two treasures that we consider part of our family, and every moment we spend with
them is our privilege and honor, and this time was no exception. We also enjoyed
hearing Jeanette reminisce with Mort Luby and Paul Lane about her days as a
member of the AMF Pro Staff.
Lane is another very interesting man. He shared that he had managed the World
Cup for several years during his time working for AMF, and that he cherished being
able to return to see what a success the event has become. I especially enjoyed
swapping a few Dick Weber stories with Lane. I am one of the lucky people who
knew and loved Weber and got to spend a little time with him over the years, but
Lane spent years traveling the world with him and knew him as well as anyone.
Tournament Manager Anne Marie Board and her staff seemed very organized, but
it was difficult getting much info on any of the players. One saving grace was that
our great friend from Dallas, Cliff Adair, has been associated with AMF and the
event for many years, and he provided some insight; but we did not want to bug him
too much because he was very busy. We were also surprised that the event got little
if any attention from the local media.
QubicaAMF Chairman Pat Ciniello was kind enough to invite us to the closing ban-
quet, but we ended up sitting at a table with a group that spoke very little English, so
it was a bit awkward; but we did enjoy the food, the award presentations, and the
big announcement that next year’s World Cup will be held in Shanghai, China. The
dragon dance was an interesting way to present the announcement even if it did
spoil the mystery of it.
Altogether, our World Cup week was a very interesting experience. It is not likely
that we will be traveling to China next year or to any other far off future venues, but
it was time well spent, and we salute everyone who has made this event one of
bowling’s crown jewels.
By
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates -
During the first
three events at
the
Jung Dawun of Korea looked on as
her teammates appeared in each medal round, bowling
for gold medals in singles, doubles and trios.
She finally found her own place in the spotlight in the
last event of the week as she topped United States
Bowling Congress Hall of Famer Liz Johnson of Cheek-
towaga, New York, 256-183, to win the Masters gold
medal at Zayed Sports City's Khalifa International
Bowling Centre.
It was the second world championship for the right-
hander, who helped Korea to the team gold medal in
2013, and while she said there's nothing like sharing a
win with her teammates, it was a special honor to find
individual success against someone she looks up to.
Jung struck eight times in the final match, while John-
son struggled with carry on the same pair of lanes that
yielded two 300s for her this week.
"Liz is one of the best in the world and this week at
the World Championships, and I knew it was going to
be tough to beat her," Jung said. "To win was a dream
come true. It was a very competitive week and very
nice to have a last game like that."
Jung appeared to be very comfortable in front of the
local television and
ameras during the team
medal round Saturday night, striking on 20 of 23 oppor-
tunities to help Korea to the silver medal, but she
proved her versatility by conquering both lane condi-
tions in the Masters medal round Sunday.
This week at the World Women's Championships, 147
players from 30 countries bowled six games of singles,
doubles, trios and team on two different lane conditions
- the 43-foot Tokyo oil pattern and 36-foot Los Angeles
pattern.
The top 24 in the all-events standings advanced to
Sunday's Masters competition. After six additional
games, the field was cut to the top eight for round-robin
match play. Including 80 bonus pins for her four wins in
match play, Johnson was the top seed for the Masters
medal round by more than 200 pins.
In the semifinals, Johnson took on her teammate Dan-
ielle McEwan of Stony Point, New York, while Jung
faced off against her own teammate, singles gold
medalist Jeon Eunhee.
McEwan opened with four strikes, but a split in the
eighth frame turned her lead into a deficit she couldn't
recover from. Johnson struck four consecutive times
starting in the sixth frame and advanced to the final
with a 238-213 win. McEwan finished the week with
gold medals in doubles and team and a bronze medal
in Masters competition.
Jung managed just one double in her semifinal match,
but it proved to be enough as she snuck past Jeon, 208
-193. Jeon was clean in the match, but had to settle for
the bronze medal.
Korea bowled in every gold-medal match this week,
winning singles and trios, while collecting silver medals
in team and doubles and an all-events bronze medal
for Jeon.
Despite the ending to the tournament, the event over-
all was a success for Johnson, who won four medals -
gold in team, silver in all-events and Masters and
bronze in trios.
"I didn't want to finish with a 180, but it was a great
week, and we accomplished what we came here to do,
and that was win the team event," Johnson said.
"Masters was a fun day. I couldn't believe the ball reac-
tion I had. Then, after the way Danielle started, I was
fortunate to get to the final, but the carry just went
away. (Dawun) bowled great and earned it. Overall, it's
been a great trip
."
(Continued on page 7)
