First cut made as qualifying ends at World Cup

KRASNOYARSK, Russia - With qualifying completed and the first cut made Thursday, Peter Hellstrom of Sweden and Canada's Caroline Lagrange lead the way at the 49th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup.

Hellstrom finished qualifying with a 24-game total of 5,892 (245.5 average), while Lagrange built upon her lead with a total of 5,956 (248.17 average) at Sharovaya Molniya Bowling Center. The top 24 men and top 24 women advanced past the first cut and will compete in the Round of 24 on Friday.

In the final round, Hellstrom, who has lead since Round 1, was briefly overtaken by Mats Maggi of Belgium but managed to come back to regain the lead. Hellstrom had his lowest block of qualifying Thursday with 1,313, while Maggi fired 1,502 to get to 5,861, just 31 pins back of the lead.

Russia's Alexei Parshukov is in third position with 5,836, while Or Aviram of Israel is fourth with 5,778.

Team USA's John Szczerbinski moved up to seventh place with 5,667 after shooting 1,421 in the fourth round. Szczerbinski sits about 170 pins outside of third place.

Lagrange, the 2009 champion, had another big day in the fourth round, totaling 1,507 to increase her lead on the field to more than 200 pins. Two-time champion Aumi Guerra of the Dominican Republic sits in second with 5,751.

Team USA's Danielle McEwan is in third place after another solid round. McEwan shot 1,405 in the fourth round to increase her total pinfall to 5,649. Singapore's Cherie Tan is fourth with 5,605.

There were two more 300 games Thursday, bringing the total to 13 for the tournament and topping the old record of eight set in Singapore in 2004. Maggi fired one in the evening session for the men, while Maria Lourdes Arles of the Philippines had a 300 on the first squad of the day.

The World Cup features a long qualifying format as all players bowl four six-game blocks over four days. The field is then cut to the top 24 men and top 24 women for eight additional games to determine the top eight for round-robin match play. After match play, the top three men and top three women advance to the stepladder finals.

All rounds of the World Cup are being broadcast live on BOWL.com's BowlTV.

For more information on the QubicaAMF World Cup, visit BOWL.com/WorldCup.