Jones takes lead, Asbaty second after fourth round at World Cup

Team USA's Tommy Jones of Simpsonville, S.C., surged into the lead, while Diandra Asbaty of Chicago maintained her second-place position after the fourth round of qualifying Sunday at the QubicaAMF World Cup in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Jones leads the men's division with a 20-game total of 4,903, a 245.15 average, and is ahead of Australia's Jason Belmonte, who is second with 4,832. Mykhaylo Kalika of the Ukraine is third with 4,754, while Lucas Legnani of Argentina is fourth with 4,717.

A 1,202 total Sunday helped Jones bypass Belmonte for the top spot. Belmonte totaled just 1,077 in Sunday's round.

"The lanes were different today than they have been all week," Jones said. "Today they really seemed to be tricky pair to pair. I made a couple good decisions to bowl pretty good and bail out a couple games."

In the women's division, the Dominican Republic's Aumi Guerra, the World Cup defending champion, leads the field with a 20-game total of 4,863, an average of 243.15, while Asbaty sits in second with 4,528. Cherie Tan of Singapore is third with 4,455 and Krista Pollanen of Finland is fourth with 4,408.

"Today went OK but some of the pairs played funky and some of my shot making was funky," Asbaty said. "I plan to straighten that out in the next couple days, but overall I'm in a good position going into tomorrow's eight games."

The top 24 men and top 24 women advanced Sunday to take part in eight additional games Monday. The field will then be cut to the top eight men and top eight women after 28 games for the Round of 8 on Tuesday to determine the top three men and top three women for the stepladder finals Wednesday.

More than 80 countries are being represented in this year's QubicaAMF World Cup. For more information and scores from the event, visit QubicaAMF.com or click here.