Finland leads team event at 2014 World Men's Championships

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Defending champion Finland paced the field through the first day of team qualifying at the 2014 World Bowling Men's Championships in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

Professional Bowlers Association standout Osku Palermaa led Finland at Zayed Sports City's Khalifa International Bowling Centre with a 709 series on the 43-foot Tokyo oil pattern. He was joined by Petteri Salonen (679), Kimmo Lehtonen (676), Joonas Jehkinen (661) and Juhani Tonteri (656) for a 3,381 total.

Sweden is second overall with a 3,362 total, Korea, which finished the day with a 1,243 game, is third with 3,354 and Puerto Rico is in fourth place with 3,285. Malaysia and the United States are just outside the cut number at 3,264 and 3,261.

Team competition continues Saturday at 8:30 a.m. local time in Abu Dhabi (Friday at 11:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) as the bottom half of the field after Friday's first round hits the lanes for three games on the 38-foot Atlanta oil pattern. The top 28 teams will bowl their final three qualifying games at 4:30 a.m. EDT.

After all 272 bowlers, representing 49 countries, have completed their six games of qualifying, the field will be cut to the top four for the semifinals, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. EDT. The two semifinal winners will advance to the gold-medal match, and the losers each will earn bronze medals.

The nine-day World Men's Championships runs through Dec. 14 as bowlers compete for medals in six events - singles, doubles, trios, team, all-events and Masters match play.

The tournament features two different lane conditions - the 38-foot Atlanta pattern and the 43-foot Tokyo pattern.

Singles was contested on Tokyo, doubles was bowled Atlanta and trios and team competition both include three games on each pattern. Each event includes six games of qualifying before the field is narrowed to the top four for the semifinals.

With three games left, singles gold medalist Dan MacLelland of Canada leads all-events with a 21-game total of 4,835, a 230.24 average. Korea's Choi Bokeum is second with 4,829 and Team USA's Mike Fagan is third at 4,798. Park Jongwoo of Korea and Team USA's Tommy Jones are just outside of the top three with 4,761 and 4,754, respectively.

Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded in all-events based on the 24-game totals, and the top 24 in the overall standings will advance to the Masters round Sunday.

The 2014 World Men's Championships marks the event's first visit to Abu Dhabi since 1999.

All rounds of the event are being broadcast live on BOWL.com's BowlTV. For a complete schedule in Eastern time, visit BOWL.com/LiveStream.

For more information on the World Men's Championships, visit the official website of the event at adwtbc.com.