It went to the very last shot of the very last game to decide who made it to the top 24 in the men's section of the 43rd Bowling World Cup in St Petersburg, Russia.

Nikolajs Ovcinnikovs of Latvia needed a big game and at least strike, strike, 9 in the 10th frame to make it - and he did. A 257 game put him in by just one shot in 23rd place with Paulo Lopes of Portugal in 24th.

At the other end of the leader board, Jason Belmonte had another good day at the office, shooting 1400 to extend his lead, though not by much as the USA's Bill Hoffman hit 1390. Jason is now on a pinfall of 5606 with Bill on 5489. Andres Gomez of Colombia is lying in 3rd on 5461.

Jason's 1400 was not the high six-game set yesterday. 47-year-old businessman Nickolay Babuk of Moldova hit 1424, including a 278 game, beating his previous six-game best by 155 pins! But he had not bowled as well over the three previous sets and this was not enough to get him up into the top 24. 
 

High game in the last block of qualifying games went to Mark

McQueen of Scotland with a 289 which was enough to pull him up into one of the qualifying positions. He finished the evening in 22nd place.
 

The top 24 men now move onto a further eight games to determine the top eight for the third round.

Action shots of Nickolay Babuk and Mark McQueen [Credits: QubicaAMF and Hero Noda.]