No-one will be participating in the 43 rd QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup on St Petersburg next month with a greater pedigree than Mohammed Khalifa al-Qubeisi of the UAE. Our champion in 1988, he will be making his 14 th appearance in the tournament – a record for the men’s side – and is still a force to be reckoned with, having narrowly missed the top eight last year. He joins Michael Schmidt of Canada and Peter Ljung of Sweden as returning champions.

At the other end of the spectrum we will welcome bowlers from Nigeria for the first time, as Jim Felix and Joy Obomanu will be representing the West African state.

They will take their place alongside players such as Ryan Lalisang from Indonesia , who was one of two men to hit a 300 game in Caracas last year and Yahav Rabin of Israel (5 th in 2001 and 3 rd in 2003). Other players of note will be the popular Guy Caminsky of South Africa and Daniel Falconi of Mexico who have each won our coveted ‘Sportsman of the Tournament’ award, in 2002 and 2000 respectively.

On the women’s side, the USA’s Lynda Barnes remains our only returning champion but she will face stiff competition from all, including Indonesia’s Putty Armein (5 th last year) and Aumi Guerra of the Dominican Republic (8 th last year).

In addition there will be three previous winners of our ‘Sportswoman of the Tournament’ award, with Sue Abela from Malta joining Beatrix Pesek of Hungary (2003) and Nasheesha King of Mauritius (2006).

This year there will be a special trophy for the very first 300 game to be bowled. ‘The 300 Game 43 rd QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup Trophy’ will be sponsored and presented by key local sponsor the East European Finance Corporation.  

Final arrangements have been made for TV coverage of the event. The finals will be broadcast live on Russian channel RTR and will feature on Eurosport in two one-hour slots, the ladies’ final being broadcast at 17.45 CET on November 10 th and the men’s at 15.30 CET on 11 th . Production will be in conjunction with Kingpin Promotions.

Anne-Marie Board, QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup Manager, said: “I am naturally really pleased that the event will be seen on live TV in Russia and then throughout Europe on Eurosport.

“We are also very grateful to the East European Finance Corporation for their generous sponsorship of the tournament and for providing a special trophy for the first perfect game.

“And I know St Petersburg and its bowlers are looking forward to welcoming everyone, particularly the two nations taking part for the first time – Nigeria and Pakistan - to their wonderful city.” 

Bowling World Cup at a glance and Media Accreditation Form.

The 43 rd QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup will take place in the 32-lane Kontinent Bowling Centre, St Petersburg , from November 3 rd to 11 th 2007.

Apart from the East European Finance Corporation, other local sponsors are Academservice, Pepsi, RTR-Sport and Sportbox.ru, Kontinent Shopping Mall and Big Game.  

The QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup is the world’s largest annual sports event in terms of number of nations competing. It was first held in Dublin, Ireland, in 1965.

Last year’s event was held in Caracas, Venezuela, where the winners were Osku Palermaa ( Finland ) for the men and Diandra Asbaty (USA) for the women.