Sixteen competitors advance to match play at 2016 World Cup

Standings - Men | Women

SHANGHAI -
Team USA's Danielle McEwan set her sights high for the 2016 QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, and she's one step closer to her initial goal after advancing to the eight-player round-robin portion of the event.

The five-time Team USA member has a pair of fourth-place finishes at the QubicaAMF World Cup in 2012 and 2013, just missing out on the stepladder finals, but with a change this year to the finals format, finishing match play in fourth place this time would mean her first mission was accomplished.

McEwan entered Friday's Round of 24 trailing Singapore's Bernice Lim by 125 pins but was focused on chipping away at that number during the eight-game block, after which, total pinfall for the week would determine the eight bowlers advancing to match play.

The top eight women will be joined Saturday at Hao's Bowling by the top eight men for eight games of side-by-side round-robin competition beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern.

The 36-game total pinfall, including bonus pins for each win, will determine the four men and four women who advance to their respective championship rounds, featuring a new knockout-style format in a special arena setting.

The No. 1 seeds will face the No. 4 qualifiers, and No. 2 and No. 3 in each division will do battle. The winners of each semifinal will earn spots in the championship matches.

2016WCWomenTop8ForWeb250x140Lim still leads the women with a 28-game total of 5,985, a 213.75 average, but McEwan was able to trim the deficit to 46 and remains second with 5,939. England's Lisa John is third with 5,885 and Jenny Wegner of Sweden is fourth with 5,854.

Other qualifiers Friday at Hao's Bowling include Rebecca Whiting of Australia (5,814), Nadine Geissler of Germany (5,789), Iliana Lomeli of Mexico (5,781) and Malaysia's Syaidatul Hamidi, who had the highest block of the day by more than 140 pins to grab the final spot in match play with a 5,776 total.

Two-time defending champion Clara Guerrero of Colombia finished 12th this year in Shanghai.

"I feel like I've been throwing the ball better and getting more confident with my game plan and decisions as the week has gone on," McEwan said. "We've been taking it one step at a time, with the main goal being to make the top four. I don't like looking back, so I'm going to keep my eyes on Bernice and keep trying to track her down. The 30 bonus pins each game will be huge."

On the men's side, China's Wang Hongbo continues to show visitors to his home country how to shoot big scores at Hao's Bowling, and he tops the standings with a 28-game total of 6,018, a 214.93 average.

Sweden's Martin Larsen qualified second with 5,929 and was followed by Petteri Salonen of Finland (5,872), Sam Cooley of Australia (5,811), Chris Sloan of Ireland (5,711), David Simard of Canada (5,710), Anze Grabrijan of Slovenia (5,705) and Russia's Yan Korshak (5,681).2016WCMenTop8ForWeb250x140

A sellout crowd already is expected for Saturday's arena finals, and the demand for tickets could increase exponentially if Hongbo can remain in the top four.

He is looking to become only the second bowler to win the World Cup on his home soil. Bob Worrall of the United States accomplished the feat in New York in 1981.

The women's and men's championship rounds at the 2016 World Cup are scheduled for Saturday at 2 a.m. Eastern. All rounds of the 2016 World Cup are being broadcast on BowlTV.

The field this week included 81 men and 63 women, representing 84 countries, all of whom bowled 20 games over four days, before the first cut Thursday night.