2010 Toulon, France

Aumi Guerra became the first player from the Dominican Republic ever to win the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup when she triumphed over Min-Young Gye of Korea two games to one.  She qualified in 3rd place but beat the number two seed, Fiona Banks from England, 2-0, with games of 237 to 223 and 246 to 188.   Aumi moved on to play Min-Young, the top seed who had led for most of the tournament, and lost the first game 203 to 226. The second game was a nail biter:    left a big split in the 9th frame and it looked to be all over, but amazingly Min-Young split as well in the 10th frame.  Even so Aumi had to get a double to win, which she did and won by 202 to 196. This proved to be crucial and she romped home in the decider by 240 to 196.

The ebullient player said afterwards: “This is my favourite tournament in the world. There are so many countries and cultures and you get to know people from everywhere.  I just love it.   “Min-Young is incredible and I didn’t think it possible to beat her but I have learnt how to concentrate and just look to my next shot, and that helped in that second game. I owe a lot to our coach, Craig Woodhouse – we are a team and I take on board everything he tells me.”

It was Aumi’s sixth appearance in the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, and her best result before this was 5th in 2006 in Caracas, Venezuela.

Aumi is hoping that her success will help ensure that a training centre is built in the Dominican Republic.  At present there is just one centre in her home town of Santo Domingo.  “We have a lot of potential,” she said, “but we need somewhere to help bring on that potential.”

Craig talked of the time he first saw Aumi play: “She had a 150 average and she was awful! But she is totally dedicated, she works really hard and it has paid off. I am so proud of her.”