Rivera wavers, slips to 3rd spot

TOULON, France – The Philippines’ Biboy Rivera slipped to third after a subpar 993 series, but he remains in strong contention for the top 24 slots in the first qualifying round of the 2010 Qubica AMF Bowling World Cup here.

After the completion of second-day action, Rivera, the 2006 World Masters champion and erstwhile frontrunner, submitted a 10-game total of 2174 for a 217.40 average.

European Masters champion Mads Sandbaekken of Norway rolled the first 1200 series of the 96-country tourney to assume the lead with 2260.

The Norwegian put together scores of 233, 206, 235, 290 and 243 for 1207, 154 pins better than his first-block tally of 1153.

Costa Rica’s Alejandro Reyna was second with 2200, while Finland’s Joonas Jahi was fourth, a pin behind Rivera, at 2173.

Germany’s Chim Grabowski had his second highest 1134 series for 2150 to settle for fifth, while Japan’s Kazuyuki Sakamoto landed in sixth place at 2149.

Wendy Chai of Malaysia and Gye Min Young of Korea showed the way in the women’s singles competition with 1126 and 1114.

Holy Fleming of Scotland dropped to third with 1090, followed by Dominican Republic’s Aumi Guerra (1087), Sweden’s Helen Johnsson (1056) and Japan’s Natsumi Koizumi (1039).

The other RP entry, Apple Posadas, remained in 17th place at 1007.

Competition in the tough individual kegfest was temporarily halted after the first two men’s squads due to construction problems at Bowling de Provence. But action was resumed Tuesday night.

John Walker, CEO of QubicaAMF Worldwide, said the biggest concern of the company would be the players’ safety. Now the place has been safe and a lot of changes would be made.