Junior Team USA men and women to bowl for doubles gold at 2024 IBF World Youth Championships in Korea
July 14, 2024
Junior Team USA bowlers Annalise OBryant (Left) and Katelyn Abigania
WOMEN'S DOUBLES SEMIFINALS I MEN'S DOUBLES SEMIFINALS
WOMEN'S DOUBLES MATCH PLAY I MEN'S DOUBLES MATCH PLAY
WOMEN'S DOUBLES QUALIFYING I MEN'S DOUBLES QUALIFYING
ARLINGTON, Texas – Junior Team USA kept its gold-medal hopes alive in both men’s and women’s doubles after advancing two teams through to the finals at the 2024 International Bowling Federation World Youth Championships in Incheon, Korea, on Sunday.
Katelyn Abigania of San Diego and Annalise OBryant of Ball Ground, Georgia, punched their ticket to the women’s gold-medal match thanks to a 2-0 semifinal-round sweep of Korea’s Yeyoung Kang and Daeun Lee, whom the Americans defeated by scores of 212-201 and 194-180 at Incheon’s Fiesta Bowling Center.
Things were a bit more dramatic on the men’s side as it took three games for Jacob Bockstie of Nottingham, Maryland, and Brandon Bohn of Jackson, New Jersey, to take down Czech Republic’s Lukas Jelinek and Ondrej Trojek and earn their own shot at gold.
Bockstie and Bohn took the semifinal opener by a score of 236-201, but Jelinek and Trojek rebounded to win Game 2 (223-212), forcing a third and decisive game.
Undaunted, the two Americans rose to the occasion, topping the Czech pair, 210-194, in the finale to win the match and secure a berth in the men’s doubles gold-medal match.
That bout will take place on Thursday and pit Bockstie and Bohn against German duo Max Lorenz and Paul Purps, who earned their spot in the title tilt by defeating Slovakia’s Simon Jaros and Martin Malcho (242-141 and 238-234) in Sunday’s other men’s semifinal.
Bockstie and Bohn are both looking forward to the opportunity to bowl for gold, but that wasn’t their focus after the final balls had been thrown on Sunday; instead, they were just celebrating the moment.
“I’m very excited to have officially secured my first world medal,” Bockstie said. “We still have one more match to win though, so our job isn’t done yet. Still, I’m very excited.”
Bohn was excited as well but for different reasons.
“This feels really good, especially since my dad is here with me. It was his birthday yesterday, and today is my parents’ anniversary,” Bohn said. “I wish my mom was here with us, but I know she’s been up in the early morning watching and cheering us on. It’s been a pretty good week so far, and the story keeps writing itself.”
The women’s doubles final also will take place on Thursday, and that’s when Abigania and OBryant will attempt to write their own story while facing the Swedish pair of Maja Engberg and Nora Johansson, which advanced by rallying to defeat Colleen Pee and Ning Tay of Singapore in a 2-1 thriller (190-237, 290-266 and 247-227).
Regardless of the outcome, Abigania will walk away with her first world medal as a member of Junior Team USA. She will certainly be hoping for gold, but just reaching the podium is something that Abigania considers very special.
“I felt really good today warming up and throwing shots. The ball was just coming off my hand really well, so I knew it was going to be a good day,” Abigania said. “Annalise (OBryant) felt the same way, so it’s awesome that we were able to capitalize on that and make shots when we needed them. It feels really good to be able to represent the U.S. and come home with a medal.”
OBryant already knew what it felt like to earn a medal after securing bronze in women’s singles on Friday; nevertheless, her excitement level was just as high as Abigania’s after guaranteeing herself more hardware on Sunday.
“This feels absolutely amazing once again,” OBryant said. “We knew we were bowling the hometown crowd in the semifinal match, but we could still feel our own energy connecting with our parents and teammates in the back, and we were able to use that to keep moving forward. It’s always been a dream to represent Junior Team USA on the world stage, so to be able to add another medal is just incredible.”
The road to attaining that medal was far from smooth as Abigania and OBryant were forced to survive a four-team match-play roll off to get there.
That’s because the American pair finished match play with a 4-3 record, which was precisely the same mark put up by the duos from Colombia, Finland and Japan.
That forced the four teams into a one-game, winner-take-all battle for the final advancing spot.
Thankfully, Abigania and OBryant were up to the task as they rolled their highest score of the day, a 258, to easily get past Finland (181), Japan (179) and Colombia (168) and move on to the semifinals.
Junior Team USA’s other women’s pair, Gianna Brandolino of Channahon, Illinois, and Jillian Martin of Stow, Ohio, was not as fortunate as it finished 2-5 and was eliminated.
Any negative feeling associated with that setback were short-lived, however, as Brandolino and Martin teamed up with Abigania and OBryant shortly thereafter during women’s team qualifying.
The quartet authored a solid performance during that set, putting up Baker games of 214, 193, 190, 247, 213, 149, 174, 198, 202 and 182 to finish fifth out of 20 teams and advance to match play with a 10-game total of 1,962.
Korea led women’s qualifying with 2,095. Spots two through four were claimed by Malaysia (2,016), Sweden (2,014) and Singapore (1,979).
The final advancing spot went to Chinese Taipei, which qualified 16th with 1,785.
Women’s competitors will have a much-deserved day off on Monday as the action shifts to men’s team qualifying, which will be broken up into two 16-team squads.
Bockstie and Bohn will be joined by teammates Zach Andresen of Princeton, Minnesota, and Braden Mallasch of Waupaca, Wisconsin, and be looking to secure a spot in the top 16.
Men’s and women’s team match play and semifinal bouts will be contested Tuesday with all phases of mixed team competition following on Wednesday.
The 2024 World Youth Championships, which features teams from 39 different countries, will end on Thursday with final-round action in singles, doubles and team and their accompanying medal ceremonies.
For more information on Junior Team USA, visit BOWL.com/JuniorTeamUSA.
WOMEN'S DOUBLES SEMIFINALS I MEN'S DOUBLES SEMIFINALS
WOMEN'S DOUBLES MATCH PLAY I MEN'S DOUBLES MATCH PLAY
WOMEN'S DOUBLES QUALIFYING I MEN'S DOUBLES QUALIFYING
ARLINGTON, Texas – Junior Team USA kept its gold-medal hopes alive in both men’s and women’s doubles after advancing two teams through to the finals at the 2024 International Bowling Federation World Youth Championships in Incheon, Korea, on Sunday.
Katelyn Abigania of San Diego and Annalise OBryant of Ball Ground, Georgia, punched their ticket to the women’s gold-medal match thanks to a 2-0 semifinal-round sweep of Korea’s Yeyoung Kang and Daeun Lee, whom the Americans defeated by scores of 212-201 and 194-180 at Incheon’s Fiesta Bowling Center.
Things were a bit more dramatic on the men’s side as it took three games for Jacob Bockstie of Nottingham, Maryland, and Brandon Bohn of Jackson, New Jersey, to take down Czech Republic’s Lukas Jelinek and Ondrej Trojek and earn their own shot at gold.
Bockstie and Bohn took the semifinal opener by a score of 236-201, but Jelinek and Trojek rebounded to win Game 2 (223-212), forcing a third and decisive game.
Undaunted, the two Americans rose to the occasion, topping the Czech pair, 210-194, in the finale to win the match and secure a berth in the men’s doubles gold-medal match.
That bout will take place on Thursday and pit Bockstie and Bohn against German duo Max Lorenz and Paul Purps, who earned their spot in the title tilt by defeating Slovakia’s Simon Jaros and Martin Malcho (242-141 and 238-234) in Sunday’s other men’s semifinal.
Bockstie and Bohn are both looking forward to the opportunity to bowl for gold, but that wasn’t their focus after the final balls had been thrown on Sunday; instead, they were just celebrating the moment.
“I’m very excited to have officially secured my first world medal,” Bockstie said. “We still have one more match to win though, so our job isn’t done yet. Still, I’m very excited.”
Bohn was excited as well but for different reasons.
“This feels really good, especially since my dad is here with me. It was his birthday yesterday, and today is my parents’ anniversary,” Bohn said. “I wish my mom was here with us, but I know she’s been up in the early morning watching and cheering us on. It’s been a pretty good week so far, and the story keeps writing itself.”
The women’s doubles final also will take place on Thursday, and that’s when Abigania and OBryant will attempt to write their own story while facing the Swedish pair of Maja Engberg and Nora Johansson, which advanced by rallying to defeat Colleen Pee and Ning Tay of Singapore in a 2-1 thriller (190-237, 290-266 and 247-227).
Regardless of the outcome, Abigania will walk away with her first world medal as a member of Junior Team USA. She will certainly be hoping for gold, but just reaching the podium is something that Abigania considers very special.
“I felt really good today warming up and throwing shots. The ball was just coming off my hand really well, so I knew it was going to be a good day,” Abigania said. “Annalise (OBryant) felt the same way, so it’s awesome that we were able to capitalize on that and make shots when we needed them. It feels really good to be able to represent the U.S. and come home with a medal.”
OBryant already knew what it felt like to earn a medal after securing bronze in women’s singles on Friday; nevertheless, her excitement level was just as high as Abigania’s after guaranteeing herself more hardware on Sunday.
“This feels absolutely amazing once again,” OBryant said. “We knew we were bowling the hometown crowd in the semifinal match, but we could still feel our own energy connecting with our parents and teammates in the back, and we were able to use that to keep moving forward. It’s always been a dream to represent Junior Team USA on the world stage, so to be able to add another medal is just incredible.”
The road to attaining that medal was far from smooth as Abigania and OBryant were forced to survive a four-team match-play roll off to get there.
That’s because the American pair finished match play with a 4-3 record, which was precisely the same mark put up by the duos from Colombia, Finland and Japan.
That forced the four teams into a one-game, winner-take-all battle for the final advancing spot.
Thankfully, Abigania and OBryant were up to the task as they rolled their highest score of the day, a 258, to easily get past Finland (181), Japan (179) and Colombia (168) and move on to the semifinals.
Junior Team USA’s other women’s pair, Gianna Brandolino of Channahon, Illinois, and Jillian Martin of Stow, Ohio, was not as fortunate as it finished 2-5 and was eliminated.
Any negative feeling associated with that setback were short-lived, however, as Brandolino and Martin teamed up with Abigania and OBryant shortly thereafter during women’s team qualifying.
The quartet authored a solid performance during that set, putting up Baker games of 214, 193, 190, 247, 213, 149, 174, 198, 202 and 182 to finish fifth out of 20 teams and advance to match play with a 10-game total of 1,962.
Korea led women’s qualifying with 2,095. Spots two through four were claimed by Malaysia (2,016), Sweden (2,014) and Singapore (1,979).
The final advancing spot went to Chinese Taipei, which qualified 16th with 1,785.
Women’s competitors will have a much-deserved day off on Monday as the action shifts to men’s team qualifying, which will be broken up into two 16-team squads.
Bockstie and Bohn will be joined by teammates Zach Andresen of Princeton, Minnesota, and Braden Mallasch of Waupaca, Wisconsin, and be looking to secure a spot in the top 16.
Men’s and women’s team match play and semifinal bouts will be contested Tuesday with all phases of mixed team competition following on Wednesday.
The 2024 World Youth Championships, which features teams from 39 different countries, will end on Thursday with final-round action in singles, doubles and team and their accompanying medal ceremonies.
For more information on Junior Team USA, visit BOWL.com/JuniorTeamUSA.