With just one week to go to the start of the 41st QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 90 nations have confirmed their participation and among the players will be two former champions

Joining Mika Luoto, already declared as FinlandÂ’s entrant, will be Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar, champion in 1999 when the tournament was held in Las Vegas, USA. Ahmed also reached the quarter finals in 2002 in Riga, Latvia, when Mika won.

“We are very pleased to see Ahmed return again,” said Anne-Marie Board, 41st QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup Manager. “He has already taken part eight times and very few bowlers get the chance to compete that many times.

“We now know that we will also be welcoming 4 countries for the first time - the Azores, Libya, Serbia-Montenegro and Slovakia. It is particular pleasure to see so many nations joining us, including, for the first time, all those which joined the European Union last year. I am sure they will enjoy their World Cup experience and become an important part of the World Cup family.”

Bowling is a sport for all ages as well, and the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup demonstrates this. “Our oldest competitor this year will be Antonieta Costa from the Azores who is 70,” said Anne-Marie. By contrast our youngest are Natalia Martin of Poland and Ilkin Babayev of Azerbaijan who are both16. But there are lots of 17 and 18 year olds as well!”

Notes for Editors

Of the 159 players coming to the event, 60 are taking part for the second time or more.

A list of players is given below in alphabetical order by country (men first):
Afghanistan: Atiq Sikander
Argentina: Lucas Legnani, Ana Maria Benko
Australia: George Frilingos, Clair Johnston
Austria: Leopold Grundschober, Evelyn Tutschka
Azerbaijan: Ilkin Babayev, Nadezhda Logetskaya
Azores: Chico Pontes, Antonieta Costa
Bahrain: Hussain Ghuloom, Nadia Ageel Al-Awadhi
Belarus: Heorhi Pryhozhy, Ina Kunts
Belgium: Gery Verbruggen, Sandrine Peelman
Brazil: Bira Teodoro
Bulgaria: Zabi Sikander, Polina Shishmanova
Canada: Michael Schmidt, Veronica Lalande-Lapointe
Costa Rica: Marco Odio
Croatia: Krunoslav Struml, Ljiljana Rakamaric
Cyprus: Costas Kyriakou, Myria Kastori
Czech Republic: Antonin Nosek, Dana Hanusova
Denmark: Mikael Braendeskov Anderson, Trine Daugbjerg Simonsen
Dominican Republic: Victor Richards Jr, Aura Guerra
Egypt: Samy-Anna Saba
El Salvador: Julio Acosta Jr, Aida Granillo
England: Steve Thornton, Fiona Banks
Estonia: Raul Beekman, Piia Lutt
Ethiopia: Mekuria Habteyes, Rita De Franco
Finland: Mika Luoto, Piritta Kantola
France: Thierry Sacco, Isabelle Saldjian
French Guiana: Maurice Talane
Germany: Kai Guenther, Patricia Schwarz
Gibraltar: Graham Coles, Julie Jackson
Greece: Leonidas Maragos, Natassa Rovothaki
Guam: Reynaldo Zialcita
Guatemala – players to be announced
Guernsey: Derek Tomlin, Joanne Johnson
Hungary: Tamas Szabo, Beatrix Pesek
Iceland: Arnar Saebergsson, Gudny Gunnarsdottir
India: Shashi Kumar, Sumithi Nallabantu
Iraq: Shant Panos Tomassian
Ireland: Alan Bride, Laura Meade
Isle of Man: David Hill, Diane Moore
Israel: Or Aviram, Yifat Tal
Italy: Massimo Pirozzi, Anna Cionna
Japan: Koichi Takahashi, Suzuna Miyagi
Jersey: Lee Jarvis, Stephanie Le Lion
Jordan: Raid Al Manasrah
Kazakhstan: Makhmut Lazaridi, Veronika Solozhenkina
Kuwait: Khalid Al Dubyyan
Latvia: Aleksandrs Zavjalovs, Irina Tomoshenkova
Libya: Reda Omar Al Fazani
Lithuania: Dainius Zaltauskas, Daiva Perminiene
Macao: Peng Sheng Cheng, Filomena Choi
Malaysia: Alex Liew, Wendy Chai
Malta: Kenneth Arpa, Lorraine Casha
Martinique: Ludovic Agier
Mauritius: John Koon
Mexico: Daniel Falconi, Iliana Lomeli
Moldova: Eduard Capatina, Elena Capatina
Morocco: Patrick Mehdi Leroy, Daniele Amsellem
Nepal: Kharma Ghale
Netherlands: Erik Kok, Marieke de Jong
New Caledonia: Marin Tranier
New Zealand: Jason Waters, Belinda Tan
Northern Ireland: William Nimick, Lynda Black-Watson
Norway: Petter Hansen, Ann Louise Haugen
Philippines: Tyrone Ongpauco, Ellen Ramos
Poland: Marek Przezpolewski, Natalia Martin
Portugal: Nuno Martinho, Manuela Soares
Puerto Rico: Edmanuel Ramirez, Yoselin Leon
Qatar: Ahmed Shaheen
Reunion: Thia Song Fat, Marie-Pierre Tartaroli
Romania: Alex Telejman, Odette Piticariu
Russia: Nikita Koshelev, Olga Tabachcova
Saudi Arabia: Badr Al Sheikh
Scotland: Mark Biondi, Jacqui McColl
Serbia-Montenegro: Dejan Radulovich, Gordana Radulovich
Singapore: Dominic Lim Zhong, Cherie Shi Hua Tan
Slovakia: Ladislav Frunyo, Monika Bozsoky
Slovenia: Marjan Pecaver, Barbara Brezic
South Africa: Guy Caminsky, Lisa Paluzzi
Spain: Samuel Castillo, Sandra Torrents
Sweden: Anders Ohman, Helen Johnsson
Switzerland: Jean-Marc Godel, Bigi Manico
Syria: Bashar Kalaji
Tunisia: Arif Mohammed-Hedi
Turkey: Onur Demirkiran
UAE: Nayef Eqab Alabdool, Rahma Mubarak al Sharqi
Ukraine: Sergii Gontar, Olga Tarasova
USA: Ryan Page, Lynda Barnes
Uzbekistan: Sergey Sapov, Elena Sergeeva
Venezuela: Arturo Hernandez, Nardy del Biondo
Wales: Steve Dalton, Sue Thomas

The 41st edition of the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup will be 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. For more information on the merger on QubicaAMF worldwide can be found in www.qubicaamf.com.