Sweden Excel During First Round of Singles Qualifying at IBF World Championships -- November 6, 2021
Through five games of singles qualifying at the IBF World Championships, the brightest stars showed out.
The men and women have completed five games of singles at the IBF World Championships in Dubai. Full standings are available at StrikeCloud.com.
England’s Verity Crawley, who I noted as one of the favorites entering the tournament, has the early lead on the women’s side. Three Swedes sit in the top ten:
Verity Crawley, England — 1,224
Kelly Kulick, United States — 1,218
Joline Persson Planefors, Sweden — 1,210
Iliya Syamim, Singapore — 1,205 (She rolled a 300 game in Game 2.)
Cheria Tan, Singapore — 1,204
Juliana Franco, Colombia — 1,202
Jenny Wegner, Sweden — 1,201
Cajsa Wegner, Sweden — 1,182
Syazwani Sahar, Malaysia — 1,162
Missy Parkin, United States — 1,148
After five more games, the field will be cut to the top 32 bowlers for match play. The United States’ Danielle McEwan sits 33rd with 1,043, four pins back of the cut.
I said in my preview that if the left side is in play, Sweden’s Jesper Svensson and the United States’ Jakob Butturff would be the men to beat. That prediction came to fruition on the first day of singles qualifying: Svensson averaged over 269 on the day to take a commanding lead, while Butturff averaged almost 260 over his final four games to climb to third.
Here are the top ten thus far:
Jesper Svensson, Sweden — 1,345
Abdulrahman Alkheliwi, Saudi Arabia — 1,313
Jakob Butturff, United States — 1,233
Kang Heewon, Korea — 1,208
Yousif Falah, Bahrain — 1,207
Syazirol Shamsudin, Malaysia — 1,195
Richard Teece, England — 1,192
Niko Oksanen, Finland — 1,185
Timmy Tan, Malaysia — 1,180
Tobias Börding, Germany — 1,177
Saudi Arabia's Abdulrahman Alkheliwi shot a pair of perfect games, becoming the first men’s player to shoot multiple 300s in the same year. Norway's Georg Skryten, and Guatemala's Marvin Leon each shot 300 games as well.
Singles competition resumes Monday, as the first round of doubles qualifying will be held on Sunday.
Keep in mind, Dubai time is eight hours ahead of EST; that difference will actually increase to nine hours after daylight savings time this weekend. The first blocks of each day in Dubai will be begin at around 11 p.m. or midnight EST.
Finally, check out Sarah Klassen’s YouTube channel for unique insights into the competition. Here’s her video from the first round of singles qualifying: