The Elite 8

The women were first up, all 24 aiming to make it through to the top eight and the round robin tomorrow.

The top four or five were pretty safe, so the interest was in who was going to be in and who would finish just outside in 9^th? After four games, it seemed like it was between just three players. Sharon Limansantoso of Indonesia was in 8^th, but 124 pins behind Jenny Wegner of Sweden. However, she was just 36 ahead of Lara Posadas of the Philippines and 53 up on Malaysian player Syaidatul Afifahm who was bowling really well.

And indeed, after the next game, Syaidatul was in and Sharon was out, by just one pin. Syaidatul simply extended her advantage and with one game to go it was pretty much all over.

Syaidatul shot the highest set with 1826 over the eight games, every single one of them a 200+, including the highest game of the day, 256.

So our top eight ladies are:

The men’s section was by no means as clear cut as the women’s. It was nip and tuck all the way for the eighth place. With one game to go, four players could be in or out.

Chris Sloan, the two-handed player from Ireland started the day in 22^nd place but bowled superbly all day. By the 24^th game he was in ninth and as it happened was playing on the same pair of lanes as Marshall Kent of the USA who was in eighth, just two pins in front. So it was really winner take all. Chris won, even pulling himself up into fifth place with a 237 game. It is believed to be the greatest move upwards in the history of the World Cup.

In eighth finished our early leader, Russia’s Yan Korshak just, and only just, ahead of Rafiq Ismail of Malaysia who missed out by just one pin.

Results for the top eight are:

Anze, finishing ninth is the best ever finish for Slovenia. And it will be the best ever finish for China, no matter where Wang comes tomorrow.

As well as vying for a place in the round robin as individuals, the players are also competing to be top country. With the top eight in each section now known, there are two countries in with a realistic chance, Sweden and Australia.

Tomorrow sees the round robin with a position round and 30 pins bonus for a win.  Follow all the action live starting tomorrow at 9:00