WTBA World Tenpin Bowling Championships

World Tenpin Bowling Championships
Status	Active
Genre	Sports event
Date(s)	Midyear
Frequency	Every 4th year
Inaugurated	1954
Organised by	International Bowling Federation (IBF)

The World Tenpin Bowling Championships is a global event that invites all countries that are members of International Bowling Federation to participate.

Event details and history

The first World Championships was in 1954, held in Helsinki where 58 men from 7 federations took part. The next three World Championships (1955, 1958, and 1960) only had men participating. Women first participated in the 1963 World Championships in Mexico City. From 1963 to 2003, the World Championships were conducted every fourth year.

Current Championships

As a result of the expanding number of federations competing, it was agreed in 2001 to divide the two genders in World Championships beginning in 2005. This affected the schedules for the following two 4 years cycles as follows:

• World Women Championships was conducted in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011.
• World Men Championships was conducted in 2006, 2008 and 2010 (2012 was moved to 2013).

World Championships for both genders were reintroduced in 2009 after a World Congress resolved to hold them every fourth year. In 2013, the inaugural edition of these so-called Combined World Championships took place. The number of teams allowed to compete in the Combined World Championships is limited to 36 teams per gender, one of which is the host federation's team, and the other 35 federations are chosen from the Zones based on the number of federations in each zone as of the qualifying date. The following are the most recent four-year World Championship cycles:

• 2018: World Men Championships
• 2019: World Women Championships
• 2021: Combined World Championships

The above-mentioned four-year cycles will be repeated for the 2022-2025 cycles, and so on.

Format of the games and disciplines through the years

from 1954

The format for the championships has changed many times throughout its history. In the early years of the championships, men competed in four different categories: Doubles, 4-man team, 8-man team and masters. Up until 1963 women did not participate in the event. The first year that women did take part, they competed in 4 different categories, doubles, four-person team (European Style), four-person team (American Style) and masters. This is the only time the "European Style" has been used in the championships. In the following championships the European style four-person team was replaced with the five-person team event (American Style) and was used until 1979.

Current format and disciplines

Singles, Doubles, Trios, Team of Five, All Events, and Masters have been the disciplines for both genders since 1979, with 6 women and 6 men on each team. The medalists for these events except the Masters from 1979 to 2007 were determined by total pinfall.

After the conclusion of singles, doubles, trios, and five-person team events, the All Events medals are presented to the top three bowlers of both genders who have accumulated the most pinfall over the 24 games.

Addition of Match-Play in the finals

Beginning in 2008, a medal round was introduced for singles, doubles, trios, and 5 five person team event. The Medal round consisted of the top four qualifiers playing a knockout format to determine the medalists (1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3, winners of those matches face each other in the final).

The masters event has only recently changed with the onset of the championships splitting into 2 different events. Up until 2005 the top 16 would bowl a 16-game Round Robin with the top 3 bowlers after the 16 games advancing through to a stepladder final. From 2005 to 2011, the masters was played using the matchplay style, best of 5 format.

From 2013-2015, the top 24 men and women in All-Events advanced to the Masters event. All players will bowl six games with the All-Events total carried forward. The top 8 after 30 games advance to seven games of round robin match play, where 20 bonus points are awarded for a won match and 10 bonus points for a tied match. The top 4 advance to the semifinals, which is a one-game match, 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. The semifinal losers will earn a bronze medal. The semifinal winners advance to a one-game final match to determine gold and silver medals. In 2017, the masters format (still consisting of top 24 men and women) reverted to matchplay style, best of 3.

Modification in Team Event

Beginning in 2017, the five-person team event was modified. Qualifying was still all five players bowl ten frames each with their scores added together to determine the overall score. In the medal round, the five players bowl a best of 3 baker format, where players bowl in order one frame each (frames 1-5) and repeat the order from frames 6-10.

Dual pattern lane condition format

In 2005 the World Championships adopted the "dual pattern format" lane conditions. The two patterns are chosen from a bank of oil patterns certified by World Bowling. These oil patterns are classified as "short", "medium", and "long". Each bowler at the championships will bowl an equal number of games on the two patterns. In the masters, each match is played on alternating lane patterns with the highest seed having the choice of which pattern to start on.

The concept of having two different lane patterns is to force the bowlers to be more versatile in the championships. The two different lane patterns force the bowlers to attack each pattern from different angles, using different styles of play, such as ball speed, hand position and ball choice. It has been argued that in previous championships around the world, using one pattern for the whole event would suit certain bowlers over others, which was deemed as being unfair. It was agreed that having two different lane conditions would be a fairer way of determining the best bowlers at the championships. Many other championships around the world have also adopted this format, such as the Men's and Women's European Championships, the Asian Games, the World Ranking Masters, The Commonwealth Championships and the Asian Championships. World Bowling announced in December 2015 only one lane pattern will be used for the entirety of future World Championships, ending the dual pattern format.

Championships

World Bowling Executive Board have awarded the 2021 Combined World Championships hosting rights to Kuwait. Hong Kong will host the Men's World Championships in 2018, and Las Vegas will host the Women's World Championships in 2019.

A new event, WTBA World Singles Championships for men and women, was held for the first time in Limassol, Cyprus from September 18–26, 2012, and will be held subsequently every four years. With this new event, WTBA will stage a World Championship event every year.

Number Year City Country Women Men Total Events 1 1954 Helsinki Finland - 58 58 4 2 1955 Essen West Germany - 64 64 4 3 1958 Helsingborg Sweden - 99 99 4 4 1960 Hamburg West Germany - 102 102 4 5 1963 Mexico City Mexico 45 132 177 8 6 1967 Malmö Sweden 84 161 225 8 7 1971 Milwaukee United States 103 268 371 8 8 1975 London England 152 271 423 8 9 1979 Manila Philippines 146 175 321 12 10 1983 Caracas Venezuela 175 206 381 12 11 1987 Helsinki Finland 196 230 426 12 12 1991 Singapore Singapore 196 280 476 12 13 1995 Reno United States 253 358 611 12 14 1999 Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates 255 345 600 12 15 2003 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 234 348 582 12 16 2005 Aalborg Denmark 216 - 216 6 17 2006 Busan South Korea - 247 247 6 18 2007 Monterrey Mexico 227 - 227 6 19 2008 Bangkok Thailand - 333 333 6 20 2009 Las Vegas United States 228 - 228 6

Number Year City Country Women Men Total Events 21 2010 Munich Germany - 356 356 6 22 2011 Hong Kong Hong Kong 171 - 171 6 23 2013 Henderson United States 212 216 428 12 24 2014 Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates - 272 272 6 25 2015 Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates 147 - 147 6 26 2017 Las Vegas United States 176 213 389 12 27 2018 Hong Kong Hong Kong 265 265 6 28 2019 Las Vegas United States 178 178 6 29 2021 Dubai UAE - -

Medals history

See also: List of WTBA World Tenpin Bowling Championships medalists

Women's medal table

As of 2019.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	29	26	28	83
2	South Korea	16	9	15	40
3	Sweden	7	14	9	30
4	Philippines	6	3	2	11
5	Malaysia	5	8	3	16
6	Japan	5	4	5	14
7	Australia	4	6	8	18
8	Finland	4	6	6	16
	Germany	4	6	6	16
10	Colombia	4	4	6	14
	Mexico	4	4	6	14
12	Chinese Taipei	4	2	4	10
13	Canada	3	4	0	7
14	Denmark	3	2	9	14
15	England	3	1	5	9
16	Singapore	2	8	7	17
17	China	1	1	0	2
18	Puerto Rico	1	0	2	3
19	Thailand	1	0	1	2
20	Venezuela	0	0	4	4
21	Hong Kong	0	0	2	2
	Indonesia	0	0	2	2
23	Austria	0	0	1	1
	Belgium	0	0	1	1
	France	0	0	1	1
	Latvia	0	0	1	1
	South Africa	0	0	1	1
Totals (27 entries)		106	108	135	349

Men's medal table

As of 2018.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	32	26	23	81
2	Sweden	19	12	12	43
3	Finland	11	17	16	44
4	South Korea	8	7	17	32
5	Chinese Taipei	5	5	2	12
6	Canada	5	4	6	15
7	England	5	2	4	11
8	Australia	5	1	6	12
9	Netherlands	4	2	5	11
10	Mexico	3	7	7	17
11	Malaysia	3	2	2	7
12	Germany	2	5	9	16
13	Philippines	2	3	1	6
14	Belgium	2	3	0	5
15	Singapore	2	2	1	5
16	Venezuela	1	3	6	10
17	Norway	1	3	4	8
18	Colombia	1	1	4	6
	France	1	1	4	6
20	Denmark	1	1	3	5
21	Puerto Rico	1	1	1	3
22	Hong Kong	1	1	0	2
23	Italy	1	0	1	2
	Qatar	1	0	1	2
25	Japan	0	6	4	10
26	United Arab Emirates	0	1	3	4
27	Indonesia	0	1	0	1
28	Guam	0	0	1	1
	Ireland	0	0	1	1
	Kuwait	0	0	1	1
Totals (30 entries)		117	117	145	379

Total medal table

As of 2019.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	61	52	51	164
2	Sweden	26	26	21	73
3	South Korea	24	16	31	71
4	Finland	15	23	22	60
5	Australia	9	7	14	30
6	Chinese Taipei	9	7	6	22
7	Malaysia	8	10	5	23
8	Canada	8	7	6	21
9	Philippines	8	6	3	17
10	England	8	3	9	20
11	Mexico	7	11	13	31
12	Germany	6	12	15	33
13	Japan	5	10	9	24
14	Colombia	5	5	10	20
15	Singapore	4	10	8	22
16	Denmark	4	3	12	19
17	Netherlands	4	2	5	11
18	Belgium	2	3	1	6
19	Puerto Rico	2	1	3	6
20	Venezuela	1	3	10	14
21	Norway	1	3	4	8
22	France	1	1	5	7
23	Hong Kong	1	1	2	4
24	China	1	1	0	2
25	Italy	1	0	1	2
	Qatar	1	0	1	2
	Thailand	1	0	1	2
28	United Arab Emirates	0	1	3	4
29	Indonesia	0	1	2	3
30	Austria	0	0	1	1
	Guam	0	0	1	1
	Ireland	0	0	1	1
	Kuwait	0	0	1	1
	Latvia	0	0	1	1
	South Africa	0	0	1	1
Totals (35 entries)		223	225	279	727

World Championship Records

Men

Category	Record	Player	Country	Event	Year/Venue
Individual Records
Individual Game	300	Rick Steelsmith	United States	Trios	1987, Helsinki, Finland
		Rolando Sebelen Sr.	Dominican Republic	Doubles	1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
		Steve Thornton	England	Doubles
		Andrés Gomez	Colombia	Doubles
		Ahmed Shaheen	Qatar	Trios
		Amedeo Spada	Italy	Singles	2003, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
		Anders Öhman	Sweden	Doubles
		Darren Cundy	England	Team
		Kimmo Lehtonen	Finland	(Make-up) Team
		Martin Larsen	Sweden	Round Robin
		Antonis Evaggelidis	Greece	Trios	2006, Busan, South Korea
		Bill Hoffman	United States	Team
		Biboy Rivera	Philippines	Masters Final
		Pasi Uotila	Finland	Singles	2010, Munich, Germany
		Chris Barnes	United States	Singles
		Bodo Konieczny	Germany	Singles	2013, Henderson, United States
		Luis Eduardo Rovaina	Venezuela	Singles
		Bill O'Neill	United States	Singles
		Chris Barnes	United States	Doubles
		Park Jong-Woo	South Korea	Doubles
		Tore Torgersen	Norway	Trios
		Achim Grabowski	Germany	Team
		Hareb Al-Mansoori	UAE	Team
		Ricardo Lecuona	Mexico	Team
		Wu Hao-Ming	Chinese Taipei	Singles	2017, Las Vegas, United States
		Andrew Anderson	United States	Singles	2018, Hong Kong, China
		Fabian Kloos	Germany	Doubles
Individual 3 Game Series	826	Kimmo Lehtonen	Finland	Singles	1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Individual 6 Game Series	1541	Jason Belmonte	Australia	Doubles	2006, Busan, South Korea
Individual 24 Game All-Events	5635	Tore Torgersen	Norway		1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Singles Records
Singles - 1 Game	300	Amedeo Spada	Italy		2003, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
		Pasi Uotila	Finland		2010, Munich, Germany
		Chris Barnes	United States
		Bodo Konieczny	Germany		2013, Henderson, Nevada, United States
		Luis Eduardo Rovaina	Venezuela
		Bill O'Neill	United States
		Wu Hao-Ming	Chinese Taipei		2017, Las Vegas, United States
		Andrew Anderson	United States		2018, Hong Kong, China
Singles - 3 Games	826	Kimmo Lehtonen	Finland		1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Singles - 6 Games	1524	Remy Ong	Singapore		2006, Busan, South Korea
Doubles Records
Doubles - 1 Game	599	Jaime Monroy Andrés Gomez	Colombia		1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Doubles - 3 Games	1514	Tomas Leandersson Anders Öhman	Sweden		2003, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Doubles - 6 Games	2906	Tomas Leandersson Anders Öhman	Sweden		2003, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Trios Records
Trios - 1 Game	778	Antti-Pekka Lax Lasse Lintilä Ari Halme	Finland		1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Trios - 3 Games	2196	Bill O'Neill Chris Barnes Tommy Jones	United States		2010, Munich, Germany
Trios - 6 Games	4144	Mike Fagan Sean Rash Marshall Kent	United States		2014, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Team Records
Team - 1 Game	1309	Mario Quintero Luis Kassian Ricardo Lecuona Roberto Silva Alejandro Cruz	Mexico		2013, Henderson, Nevada, United States
Team - 3 Games	3563	Park Jong-Woo Choi Bok-Eum Hong Hae-Sol Shin Seungh-Yeon Kim Kyung-Min	South Korea		2014, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Team - 6 Games	6917	Park Jong-Woo Kang Hee-Won Choi Bok-Eum Hong Hae-Sol Shin Seungh-Yeon Kim Kyung-Min	South Korea		2014, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Women

Category	Record	Player	Country	Event	Year/Venue
Individual Records
Individual Game	300	Cha Mi-Jung	South Korea	Trios	1999, Abu Dhabi, UAE
		Kim Yeau-Jin	South Korea	Doubles	2007, Monterrey, Mexico
		Kirsten Penny	England	Team
		María Rodríguez	Colombia	Doubles	2009, Las Vegas, United States
		Kelly Kulick	United States	Singles	2011, Hong Kong, China
		Caroline Lagrange	Canada	Trios
		Shannon O'Keefe	United States	Trios
		Britt Brøndsted	Denmark	Team
		Shayna Ng	Singapore	Masters 1st Round
		Shannon Pluhowsky	United States	Masters Finals
		Kelly Kulick	United States	Doubles Semifinals	2013, Henderson, United States
		Joan Gonzalez	Venezuela	Doubles	2015, Abu Dhabi, UAE
		Karen Marcano	Venezuela	Team
		Liz Johnson	United States	Team Finals
				Masters Step 2
		Danielle McEwan	United States	Masters Step 2
Individual 3 Game Series	812	Jacqueline Sijore	Malaysia	Singles	2011, Hong Kong, China
Individual 6 Game Series	1601	Shayna Ng	Singapore	Singles	2011, Hong Kong, China
Individual 24 Game All-Events	5744	Mai Ginge Jensen	Denmark		2011, Hong Kong, China
Singles Records
Singles - 1 Game	300	Kelly Kulick	United States		2011, Hong Kong, China
Singles - 3 Games	812	Jacqueline Sijore	Malaysia		2011, Hong Kong, China
Singles - 6 Games	1601	Shayna Ng	Singapore		2011, Hong Kong, China
Doubles Records
Doubles - 1 Game	556	Carolyn Dorin-Ballard Kelly Kulick	United States		2011, Hong Kong, China
Doubles - 3 Games	1536	Carolyn Dorin-Ballard Kelly Kulick	United States		2011, Hong Kong, China
Doubles - 6 Games	2901	Carolyn Dorin-Ballard Kelly Kulick	United States		2011, Hong Kong, China
Trios Records
Trios - 1 Game	802	Stefanie Nation Shannon Pluhowsky Shannon O'Keefe	United States		2011, Hong Kong, China
Trios - 3 Games	2165	Esther Cheah Zandra Aziela Jacqueline Sijore	Malaysia		2011, Hong Kong, China
Trios - 6 Games	4232	Hwang Sun-Ok Jeon Eun-Hee Son Yun-Hee	South Korea		2011, Hong Kong, China
Team Records
Team - 1 Game	1262	Nadine Geisler Vanessa Timter Juliane Rieger Birgit Pöppler Patricia Luoto	Germany		2011, Hong Kong, China
Team - 3 Games	3491	Stefanie Nation Missy Parkin Shannon O'Keefe Kelly Kulick Liz Johnson	United States		2013, Henderson, United States
		Jeon Eun-Hee Son Hye-Rin Kim Jin-Sun Jung Da-Wun Baek Seung-Ja	South Korea		2015, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Team - 6 Games	6750	Nadine Geisler Vanessa Timter Juliane Rieger Janine Ribguth Birgit Pöppler Patricia Luoto	Germany		2011, Hong Kong, China
		Missy Parkin Liz Kuhlkin Jordan Richard Stefanie Johnson Danielle McEwan Shannon O'Keefe	United States		2019, Las Vegas, United States

See also

• World Bowling Singles Championships
• World Ninepin Bowling Championships
• PBA World Championship
• QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup
• WTBA World Juniors Tenpin Bowling Championships
• Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships
• African Tenpin Bowling Championships
• Pan American Tenpin Bowling Championships
• European Tenpin Bowling Championships
• European Bowling Tour
• World Ranking Masters
• World Tenpin Masters
• Mediterranean Challenge Cup

External links

• World Bowling Website
• Official website of the Asian Bowling Federation
• Official European Tenpin Bowling Federation website
• Official website Pan American Bowling Federation
• Bowlingdigital.com, Tenpin news website
• Talktenpin.co.uk, Tenpin news website