Among the players who have already qualified through their national elimination events are several with a Bowling World Cup pedigree. They will be converging on Ljubljana, Slovenia for the 41st QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, to be played in the Gladiator centre from 13th to 21st November.

And we now also know the players from the host country: Marjan Pecaver from the Tivoli Club shot 220 in the final game of the final to win through from a field of 58 men. Accompanying him will be Barbara Brezic from the home Gladiator club, who also waited till the last game of the final to win her place.

Anne-Marie Board, QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup Manager, said: “We are very pleased to welcome back Mika Luoto from Finland, who won the title in Riga, Latvia, in 2002. He is our only returning champion so far but many of the players who have won through to the event are top players and we expect an exciting tournament. Also, we do have five players who have won the coveted ‘Sportsman of the Tournament’ award, which is voted for by the players themselves.”

In addition to Mika, the talent will be there in no small measure. In the menÂ’s section, Petter Hansen from Norway will be trying to go one better than last year when he finished runner-up, while players like Steve Thornton (England), Kai Guenther (Germany), Alex Liew (Malaysia) and Daniel Falconi (Mexico) will join players already entered such as Anders Ohman of Sweden and Rhino Page of the USA as favourites to take the title. And 20 years after finishing second, in Seoul, Korea, Erik Kok of the Netherlands will be making a welcome return.

In the women’s section, Patricia Schwarz will be representing Germany and hoping to make it a family double as she is married to Mika. Anne-Marie commented: “Their 18-month old daughter Mia will be with them, hoping that both Mum and Dad can win the tournament. That really would be a first for the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup!”

Norway’s Ann Louise Haugen will also be trying to take the trophy back to her family – her brother, Kim, won the cup in 2001 in Pattay, Thailand. But they will have plenty of competition, not least from Fiona Banks of England, Piritta Kantola of Finland, Wendy Chai of Malaysia and the USA’s Lynda Barnes.

Three of the players can boast perfect games in the Bowling World Cup: Kai Guenther of Germany, and Lisa Paluzzi of South Africa, who both hit 300s in the 2002 Bowling World Cup in Riga, Latvia, and Petter Hansen of Norway whose perfect game came last year in Singapore.

“We are also looking forward to welcoming many players back again,” said Anne-Marie. “Shant Panos Tomassian from Iraq, who was such a star last year, will be competing again, as well as Maurice Talane from French Guiana who will be taking part for the fifth time and Derek Tomlin of Guernsey, making his sixth appearance. Patrick Leroy of Morocco will be with us for the ninth time, but pride of place will go again to Aida Granillo of El Salvador, who will be competing for an amazing 15th time! We are delighted that so many players come back time and time again!”

Notes for Editors

The five players who have won the sportsperson of the tournament are:
Atiq Sikander (Afghanistan – 2004)
Patrick Leroy (Morocco - 2003)
Guy Caminsky (South Africa – 2002)
Bashar Kalaji (Syria – 2001)
Beatrix Pesak (Hungary – 2003)

Players so far declared are (in alphabetical order by country are (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: Francisco Paolo Avila de Oliveira Pontes, Maria Antonieta Mendes do Couto Costa
Bahrain: Mohamed Janahi, Nadia Ageel Al-Awadhi
Belarus: Heorhi Pryhozhy, Ina Kunts
Belgium: Gery Verbruggen, Sandrine Peelman
Bulgaria: Zabi Sikander, Polina Shishmanova
Canada: Michael Schmidt, Veronica Lalande-Lapointe
Croatia: Krunoslav Struml, Ljiljana Rakamaric
Czech Republic: Vaclav Postranecky, Dana Ahnusova
Denmark: Mikael Braendeskov Anderson, Trine Davgbjerg 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 Beekmann, Piia Lutt
Finland: Mika Luoto, Piritta Kantola
France: Thierry Sacco, Isabelle Saldjian
French Guiana: Maurice Talane, Justine Arcas
Germany: Kai Guenther, Patricia Schwarz
Gibraltar: Graham Coles, Julie Jackson
Guam: Reynaldo Zialcita
Guernsey: Derek Tomlin, Joanne Johnson
Hungary: Tamas Szabo, Beatrix Pesek
Iceland: Arnar Saebergsson, Gudny Gunnarsdottir
India: Shashi Kumar, Sumathi 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: Mohammed Masri
Kazakhstan: Makhmut Lazaridi, Veronika Solozhenkina
Kuwait: Khalid Al Dubyyan
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
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
Poland: Marek Przezpolewski, Natalia Martin
Portugal: Nuno Martinho, Manuela Soares
Puerto Rico: Edmanuel Ramirez, Yoselin Leon
Reunion: Thia Song Fat, Marie-Pierre Tartaroli
Russia: Nikita Koshelev, Tatiana Smirnova
Scotland: Mark Bondi, 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
Sweden: Anders Ohman, Helen Johnsson
Switzerland: Jean-Marc Godel, Bigi Manico
Syria: Bashar Kalaji
Tunisia: Arif Mohammed-Hedi, Fatma Ben Abdallah
UAE: Nayef Eqab Abdulla Jaber Alabdool, Rahma Mubarak Suliman Salem al Sharqi
Ukraine: Sergii Gontar, Olga Tarasova
USA: Rhino 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.