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 24^th
place, making the cut.

“It is only the 5^th time my country has been represented at the Bowling World Cup. Last year in Mexico I came 46^th 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 (3^rd spot), Russia’s Evengenia Tsarkova (4^th), USA’s Tennelle Milligan ((5^th), Philippines’ Lisa de Rosario (6^th), Sweden’s Helen Johnson (7^th), Korea’s Baek Seung-ja (8^th) and Australia’s Ann Maree Putney (9^th).

However, surprises from bowlers below the 9^th 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