The AMF Bowling World Cup came to Bogota at a time when there was an average of 187 street robberies a day. The law of averages pre-destined Bowling World Cup bowlers and visitors to be part of those statistics, and the law did not fail. At least a dozen bowlers were mugged or robbed. Tom Marshall, the British player, broke a boy's arm after the kid pinched his watch. "Let him go," said a cop. "He's already suffered enough."


Things were nearly as difficult on the lanes as they were on the streets. A lot of bowlers couldn't get used to Bogota's elevation-nearly 9,000 feet above sea level. A few, like Sweden's Inger Levhorn, actually fainted and were attended to by the ever-present medical technicians with their oxygen tanks. Levhorn eventually withdrew from the competition, but Lita de la Rosa, a tiny Filipina with a bad heart and a backup ball, persevered: she beat Ireland's Pauline Cafolla in the finale, 564-497.

The men's competition started with a double-take: after the first day, a New Caledonian named Lionel Garnier was setting the pace with just a 194 average. However, Garnier soon dropped back, and Thailand's Samran Banyen and France's Philippe Dubois, emerged as the eventual finalists. Though Dubois established a commanding lead after the first of three games, 218-184, he was destined to be a Bowling World Cup bridesmaid again. Banyen gave Thailand its first men's Bowling World Cup championship with a 653-582 drubbing of France's favorite bowler.

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