Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Siti answers her critics in style



Malaysia’s Siti Safiyah had the last laugh, when she finished second moving into the second rounds this afternoon at the Melaka International Bowling Centre.


She leapfrogged from her overnight ninth spot to be only 34 pins behind England’s Zara Giles, who had lead from the first to the third and final block for a total of 24 games.



Siti, had started her first block on Monday finishing eighth and despite the creditable finish among a field of 66 countries, critics took her to task for a dismal performance.


Siti, after her second spot finishing today proved that she was humble when she never mentioned about the harsh reports, but just spoke of her game and how she managed to complete her 24 games with a bang.


“I had done reasonably well in first two days, but as I said there was room for improvement. Besides, it was early days and I was still adjusting my line and trying out equipment. Under the circumstances, I must say I stayed on course,” said the ever-smiling Siti.


“Today I had a great start with a 232, but had some problems in the second when I could only manage 176. Again, I was still trying to settle on which ball to use.


“But for the third game, I had a chat with coach Holloway (Cheah) and decided on the equipment and everything began to just about to fall into place and I shot 197. After that it was smooth sailing and the high score in the next game did the trick,” said Siti who fired a 279 in her fourth game where she had two strikes, a 10 pin spare and striked home.


She followed up with lines of 258, 279, 203 and 269 nine for a grand total of 5,241 for an average of 218.


Siti will tonight bowl in the second round where the top 24 will bowl another eight games for the top eight cut-off tomorrow where they will bowl another eight games. Tomorrow morning the top eight will bowl another eight games, for a total of 40 games in total before the top four make the cut.


In the top 24 today, most of the top bowlers made the cut, while there were surprises too. It was also a great day for Latvia, India and Moldova. Diana Zavjalova, Prathima Hegde and Uliana Grosu respectively recorded the highest ever finishes for their countries, none of which had ever made the top 24 before.


Uliana, who is just 18, was on tenterhooks as she waited with her mother for the results to come through and was overcome with emotion when she saw her name go up in 24th
place, making the cut.


“It is only the 5th time my country has been represented at the Bowling World Cup. Last year in Mexico I came 46th and I am just so happy with my result here,” she said.


It was also a high scoring last block this morning where Siti Safiyah led the pack with her total of 1,893 for eight games. Others who shot won 1,800 were Helen Johnsson of Sweden on 1,820 and Tennelle Milligan of the USA on 1805. Six others had sets over 1700: Zara Giles (England) 1783, Caroline Lagrange (Canada) 1759, Patcharin Torgerson (Norway) 1753, Isabelle Sacco (France) 1746, Sayuri Yamada (Mexico) 1725 and Evgenia Tsarkova (Russia) 1704.


Among those who look like likely contenders for the include Zara, Siti, Canada’s Caroline Lagrange (3rd spot), Russia’s Evengenia Tsarkova (4th), USA’s Tennelle Milligan ((5th), Philippines’ Lisa de Rosario (6th), Sweden’s Helen Johnson (7th), Korea’s Baek Seung-ja (8th) and Australia’s Ann Maree Putney (9th).


However, surprises from bowlers below the 9th placing certainly cannot be ruled out.


Women's Second Block

Pos

Bowler/Country

B/F

Fed

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Score

Ave

Total

Cut

1

Zara Giles

1805

219

234

150

205

245

196

214

224

1687

218.25

3492

348

England

2

Evgenia Tsarkova

1751

212

186

208

228

246

213

210

217

1720

216.94

3471

327

Russia

3

Caroline Lagrange

1654

269

213

236

210

224

244

206

203

1805

216.19

3459

315

Canada

4

Baek Seung-ja

1682

221

208

190

218

212

253

236

232

1770

215.75

3452

308

Korea

5

Liza del Rosario

1649

246

215

233

269

223

238

156

202

1782

214.44

3431

287

Philippines

6

Ann-Maree Putney

1678

230

224

194

191

217

233

227

189

1705

211.44

3383

239

Australia

7

Diana Zavjalova

1683

199

233

203

203

204

200

189

246

1677

210.00

3360

216

Latvia

8

Laura Rhoney

1713

235

178

225

147

164

226

268

200

1643

209.75

3356

212

Scotland

9

Siti Safiyah Amirah

1663

195

222

169

204

207

210

235

243

1685

209.25

3348

204

Malaysia

10

Tina Hulsch

1661

205

215

226

202

212

175

204

223

1662

207.69

3323

179

Germany

11

Tennelle Milligan

1607

203

240

221

225

211

206

205

199

1710

207.31

3317

173

USA

12

Wendy Kok

1609

209

223

196

278

174

198

213

204

1695

206.50

3304

160

Netherlands

13

Patcharin Torgersen

1630

234

210

181

184

214

185

212

229

1649

204.94

3279

135

Norway

14

Helén Johnsson

1621

234

206

215

194

207

201

203

191

1651

204.50

3272

128

Sweden

15

Joey Yip

1724

183

199

216

174

144

201

235

191

1543

204.19

3267

123

Hong Kong

16

Isabelle (Saldjian) Sacco

1570

211

199

233

236

177

247

189

190

1682

203.25

3252

108

France

17

Reija Lunden

1606

225

205

165

216

237

192

192

212

1644

203.13

3250

106

Finland

18

Bernice Lim

1577

188

207

236

268

172

202

188

199

1660

202.31

3237

93

Singapore

19

Pia Burkal

1565

224

204

209

220

179

203

224

189

1652

201.06

3217

73

Denmark

20

Uliana Grosu

1595

171

189

223

180

186

244

209

202

1604

199.94

3199

55

Moldova

21

Sayuri Yamada

1555

170

194

170

211

257

234

181

216

1633

199.25

3188

44

Mexico

22

Prathima Hegde

1593

225

172

181

164

195

187

213

257

1594

199.19

3187

43

India

23

Beatrix Pesek

1462

220

246

199

203

211

177

236

226

1718

198.75

3180

36

Hungary

24

Katrien Goossens

1592

176

191

201

200

190

236

166

192

1552

196.50

3144

0

Belgium

Top 24 makes cut to next round


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