The dust has settled on the 41st QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup held at the Gladiator Centre, in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

For the first time since the introduction of knock-out quarter-finals, both the top seeds won the title. Michael Schmidt from Canada led the event from the very first squad. He averaged 232.5 in his 32 games of qualifying and round two to earn that top slot. Lynda Barnes of the USA averaged even higher – 235.2.

They both carried all before them in the knock out stages. It was the first time since 1972 that a Canadian man has won the tournament, when Ray Mitchell was the champion, while the USA kept hold of the title won last year by Shannon Pluhowsky in Singapore. The USA has now won the title 14 times and Canada 7.

The Bent Petersen trophy for the top country went to Norway, narrowly ahead of Sweden. Ann Louise Haugen finished joint third while Petter Hansen, last yearÂ’s runner up, came joint 5th. The trophy for this award has been donated by Hiroshi Noda, QubicaAMFÂ’s official Bowling World Cup photographer.

“It was a wonderful tournament,” said Anne-Marie Board, QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup Manager. “It ran unbelievably smoothly and I’m sure everyone enjoyed themselves. We also saw some terrific bowling. I would like to thank our hosts, Kolosej, their employees and the army of volunteers, together with the city of Ljubljana, for welcoming us all and for putting on such a marvellous event.”

As usual, the players voted for their sportsman and sportswoman of the tournament. These awards went to Mark Bondi of Scotland and Suzuna Miyagi of Japan. The crystal mementos were presented by the new champions at the closing banquet.

86 countries took part. The average for all the men over the qualifying 24 games was 195.3 while the women hit 184.4.

The final results were:

Men
     1. Michael Schmidt, Canada
     2. Or Aviram, Israel
     3= Gery Verbruggen, Belgium
     3= Badr al Sheikh, Saudi Arabia
     5= Petter Hansen, Norway
     5= Lucas Legnani, Argentina
     5= Anders Ohman, Sweden
     5= Arturo Hernandez, Venezuela

High Game
     300 Steve Thornton, England
     300 Anders Ohman, Sweden
     300 Tamas Szabo, Hungary
     300 Badr al Sheikh, Saudi Arabia

Women
     1. Lynda Barnes, USA
     2. Fiona Banks, England
     3= Wendy Chai, Malaysia
     3= Ann Louise Haugen, Norway
     5= Helen Johnsson, Sweden
     5= Nadia Ageel (Al-Awadhi), Bahrain
     5= Isabelle Saldjian, France
     5= Clair Johnston, Australia

High Game
     299 Helen Johnsson, Sweden

Notes: To obtain any of the following photographs, please contact Anne-Marie Board.

• The champions with the trophies
• The ‘top countryÂ’ players with the trophy
• Steve Thornton (first 300 game)
• Helen Johnsson (high game for the women)
• Winners of the sportsman and sportswoman awards.

The 41st edition of the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup was held at the Gladiator Bowling Centre, a brand new centre which opened in May 2005. The centre is owned and operated by Kolosej, one of the biggest leisure and entertainment companies in Slovenia and QubicaAMFÂ’s key partner for this yearÂ’s event. More can be found on their web site: www.kolosej.si. For further information on the Gladiator leisure complex, please go to www.arenalive.si.

Additional information on the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, including archives and bulletins for this yearÂ’s tournament, can be found on www.amfbowlingworldcup.com.

QubicaAMF Bowling Worldwide is the founder, organiser and principal sponsor of the Bowling World Cup and is also one of the leading bowling products manufacturers and marketers in the world. With worldwide headquarters near Richmond, Virginia, USA and European headquarters in Bologna, Italy, the joint venture offers a complete line of high quality, innovative solutions for new and existing bowling and entertainment centres. The name of the event was changed to QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup following the merger of Qubica and AMF earlier this year. More information on the merger on QubicaAMF worldwide can be found in www.qubicaamf.com.