TEGUCIGALPA

AMF World Cup 2003 in Honduras 1994 CHAMP TORE TORGERSEN HEADED FOR 2003 AMF WORLD CUP Die Teilnehmer - Stand 16.9.2003	Honduras - Land und Leute
World Cup Champs Ryan-Ciach (li), Suarez (re), © Hero Noda	CANADA, PHILIPPINES RE-ENACT 1980 RESULTS IN 2003 AMF WORLD CUP LONDON, ENGLAND, October 20, 2003 – In a classic case of “déjà vu all over again,” bowlers from the same two countries that won the women and men’s 1980 AMF Bowling World Cup crowns—Canada and the Philippines—claimed the at Planeta Sipango in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Kerrie Ryan-Ciach of Canada upset defending women’s champion Shannon Pluhowsky of the USA 2 games to 0 to win the women’s silver trophy, while C.J. Suarez of the Philippines downed Marcel van den Bosch of the Netherlands by an identical margin to capture the men’s. Ryan-Ciach, a 32-year-old from Mississauga, Ontario who works in her family’s business, trumped Pluhowsky 210-160 and 234-225. Pluhowsky was trying to become the second person ever to win back-to-back World Cup titles. Ryan-Ciach, who has been bowling for 24 years and won a gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Invitational Championships, barely made it to Tegucigalpa in time to compete in the World Cup. A previous commitment in Canada forced her to miss the women’s official practice session, and she had to be slotted into the men’s session at the last minute. The hectic schedule caught up with Ryan-Ciach midway through the qualifying phase, when she became ill with a virus and had to be treated by an emergency medical team. “Whatever medicine they [the technicians] gave me sure worked,” Ryan-Ciach said. “I was back to normal after two days. I was so focused in that final match [with Pluhowsky] that I didn’t even realize where we were in the last game until the 10^th frame.” Ryan-Ciach dispatched Mexico’s Tere Piccini Healey in the quarterfinal round, 2 games to 1 (240-223, 204-215, 220-193) and popular Costa Rican representative Marie Ramirez in the semis, also 2 games to 1 (237-236, 195-197, 215-211) to advance to the championship match. Ryan-Ciach became the first Canadian to win the AMF World Cup since Jean Gordon won the women’s title in 1980 in Jakarta, Indonesia. “This is a great honor, because every other Canadian who has won the World Cup has gone into a Hall of Fame,” Ryan-Ciach said.
Like Gordon, whose co-champ was a rising star from the Philippines named Paeng Nepomuceno, Ryan-Ciach shares the 2003 honors with a young Filipino star, Christian Jan “C.J.” Suarez. Suarez, a 24-year-old IT consultant and businessman, is a lefthander like his idol Nepomuceno. He was bitterly disappointed last year in Riga, Latvia, where he failed to make the cut to the quarterfinals by two pins. He lost the eighth and final qualifying slot at that time to eventual champion Mika Luoto of Finland. This year, Suarez snagged the No. 7 seed, nine pins over the cut line. He turned away Belgium’s Chris Van Damme 2 games to 0 (196-195, 183-140) before avenging himself on Luoto, 2 games to 1 (189-264, 265-214, 182-178), in the semifinals. His opponent in the title match, van den Bosch, had upset top-seeded Bill Hoffman of the USA 2 games to 0 in the semifinals (244-193, 224-218) and hoped to become the first Dutch player in 16 years to win the title. “I can’t believe this is happening!” Suarez said after dropping van den Bosch, 205-202 and 232-209. “I am so proud to be the first bowler from our country to win this title since 1996. I am hopeful that this victory will cause our national sports commission to give bowling even more attention and more support now.” Suarez, who was coached by his father Teody, then laughed, saying that had Teody been with him in Riga, this might have been his second World Cup title in a row. His victory brings to seven the number of World Cup championships won by bowlers from the Philippines. Bowlers from 76 nations, including first-time Tunisia, competed in the 2003 AMF Bowling World Cup. Bill Hoffman of the USA rolled the only perfect 300 game of the tournament, the 19^th in World Cup history. Suarez’ victory combined with Jojo Canare’s tie for third place in the women’s division to earn the Philippines the Bent Petersen Trophy for best overall country performance. Hungary’s Beatrix Pesek and Morocco’s Patrick Leroy were awarded the Jacky Felsenstein Sportswoman Award and Barry James Sportsman Award, respectively. The awardees were chosen by a vote of their peers. The 2004 AMF Bowling World Cup will be held in Singapore, and is planned for a new 34-lane center to be built by the SuperBowl chain (dates to be confirmed at a later time). The 40^th anniversary edition of AMF’s annual fall classic will be the second Bowling World Cup staged in Singapore. Bernie Caterer of Great Britain and Kesinee Srivises of Thailand won the first, held in 1973 at Jackie’s Bowl.	© Hero Noda
1988 BOWLING WORLD CUP CHAMPION QUALIFIES FOR HONDURAS UAE’s Mohammed Al-Qubaisi Goes After Title No. 2 LONDON, ENGLAND, September 17, 2003 – The UAE’s Mohammed Al-Qubaisi goes for his second AMF Bowling World Cup title this month in Honduras. The tournament takes place September 27-October 4 at Planeta Sipango lanes in Tegucigalpa. Al-Qubaisi defeated Australia’s Ian Bradford to win the 1988 World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico. His victory made him the first UAE athlete to win a world sports championship. Al-Qubaisi nearly duplicated the feat six years later in Hermosillo, Mexico. He took Norway’s Tore Torgersen to the wire before losing, 217-215. Their rivalry continues this year in Tegucigalpa, where four other past champs will join them: Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar (1999), Martina Beckel of Germany (1992), and defending champions Shannon Pluhowsky of the USA and Mika Luoto of Finland.	Mohammed al-Qubaisi
Abdul Hameed, India	Pluhowsky got ready for the Cup by winning a gold medal at this summer’s Pan American Games. Luoto set a record to win the men’s singles at the WTBA World Championships in Malaysia last week (1,426 pins for six games/237.83 average). Last year’s surprise gold medallist at the Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championships will also be in Tegucigalpa. Abdul Hameed, 34, is the first Indian to win an international bowling title.
LEANDERSSON OUT, BECKEL IN FOR 2003 BOWLING WORLD CUP First UAE Woman Bowler Expected; 87 Nations Registered LONDON, ENGLAND, September 1, 2003 – Former champion Tomas Leandersson has withdrawn from the 2003 AMF Bowling World Cup in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Leandersson won in 2000 in Lisbon, Portugal and was looking forward to Honduras. However, as he told World Cup staff, “I will be at the World Championships in Malaysia for three weeks prior to the World Cup. There have been delays with a new house I am building in Sweden. It is important that I return home right after Malaysia.” Current Swedish national champion Peter Ahlen will fill the vacancy.	Peter Ahlen, S ©bowlingdigital.com
Martina Beckel, GER ©bowlingdigital.com	Despite the loss of Leandersson, the number of previous champions competing this year remains at five. Martina Beckel, the 1992 women’s champion in Le Mans, France, qualified in August to represent Germany. This is her seventh appearance in the World Cup. She finished 24^th in her last effort in 2000. The other winners are Tore Torgersen of Norway (1994), Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar (1999), and 2002 champions Shannon Pluhowsky of the USA and Mika Luoto of Finland. This is the first time in tournament history that both reigning champions will defend their titles.The 2003 edition marks the debut of Tunisia in the Bowling World Cup. Tunisia, a nation sandwiched between Algeria and Libya in North Africa, is sending two bowlers. Arif Mohamed-Hedi will compete in the men’s division, while Sonia Annagui competes in the women’s.
This year the AMF World Cup will welcome the first woman bowler from the UAE, Rahma Mubarak Al-Sharqi. In addition, this will be the first time a UAE woman competes in an international bowling championship outside that country’s borders. Also competing September 27-October 4 at Planeta Sipango bowling center is Bashar Kalaji of Syria. The 2001 Sportsman of the Year is appearing in his second Bowling World Cup. Eighty-seven nations---one short of the record set in 2000 in Portugal---have registered thus far for Honduras. The AMF World Cup is one of the official events marking the 425^th anniversary of the founding of Tegucigalpa. It is also Honduas’ first-ever international sports championship that will confer a world title upon the winners. To commemorate that milestone, Honduran President Ricardo Maduro Joest plans to roll out the first ball of the tournament Sunday morning, September 28. Opening ceremonies will be Saturday evening, September 27, at a site to be announced. The men and women’s championship matches will be held at Planeta Sipango Saturday, October 4.	Bashar Kalaji, SYR © Hero Noda
© Hero Noda	DEFENDING CHAMP MIKA LUOTO QUALIFIES FOR 2003 AMF BOWLING WORLD CUP LONDON, ENGLAND, August 14, 2003 – The 2002 AMF Bowling World Cup men’s champion, Mika Luoto of Finland, will defend his title next month in Honduras. This marks the first time both the men and women’s champions return to defend their titles. Shannon Pluhowsky of the USA, who won the women’s title last year in Riga, Latvia, qualified for the 2003 World Cup earlier this year. Luoto and Pluhowsky also have a chance to join Jeanette Baker of Australia in the Cup’s most exclusive club. Baker is the only person, male or female, ever to win two consecutive championships. She did so in 1982 and 1983. Luoto is a 34-year-old bowling center owner from Hyvinkaa, Finland. The lefthander defeated Singapore’s Remy Ong 2 games to 0 last year to win the men’s title (232-217, 279-222). His personal best scores are 300 for a single game and 823 for a three-game series. Prior to winning the AMF World Cup, Luoto’s greatest achievement came in the 2001 WTBA European Championships, where he won gold medals in singles, doubles, trios and all-events.
VALLE, BREVE ARE HONDURAS’ 2003 AMF WORLD CUP BOWLERS 1999 World Cup Champion Ahmed Shaheen Also Qualifies LONDON, ENGLAND, August 6, 2003 – Gil Valle Suarez and Maria Elena Breve Ferrari will represent the host nation at this year’s AMF Bowling World Cup in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The 39^th edition of the annual tournament will be held September 27-October 4 at Planeta Sipango bowling center in Tegucigalpa.Valle, 27, is making his second trip to the Bowling World Cup. The university student finished in a tie for 49^th place in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2000. Valle, who has been bowling for 10 years, was the 1996 Honduras Bowler of the Year. He also won a gold medal in all-events at the 1995 Central American/Caribbean Youth Championships. Breve, 21, is bowling in her first World Cup championship. A university student like Valle, Breve has been competing for six years. Her victory in the Honduran World Cup qualifying tournament is her most important achievement to date. Breve’s mother, Ingrid Liccette Ferrari Paz, is one of the local organizers for this year’s Bowling World Cup.	© Lydia Rypcinski In addition to Valle and Breve, the 1999 men’s Bowling World Cup champion also will compete in Tegucigalpa. Qatar’s Ahmed Shaheen qualified in July for his seventh appearance in AMF’s fall classic. Shaheen has finished in the top 10 in five of his previous six appearances. He has also rolled one of the 18 perfect 300 games in World Cup history. Shaheen finished tied for fifth place in 2002 in Riga, Latvia, and was runner-up the prior year in Pattaya, Thailand. Shaheen joins Tore Torgersen of Norway, Tomas Leandersson of Sweden, and Shannon Pluhowsky of the USA as former champions who will compete in Tegucigalpa. Pluhowsky is the defending women’s champion. The mayor of Tegucigalpa, Miguel Pastor, announced that his office would sponsor the Opening Ceremonies at Planeta Sipango Saturday evening, September 27. The President of Honduras, Ricardo Maduro, is expected to roll out the tournament’s ceremonial first ball at that time. As of press time, 86 countries had pledged to send their men and women’s national champions to Tegucigalpa for the competition. The Bowling World Cup record is 88 nations, which was set in 2000 in Lisbon.

80 COUNTRIES PLEDGED FOR 2003 AMF BOWLING WORLD CUP
Opening Ceremonies Will Be Part of Tegucigalpa’s 425^th Birthday Celebration

LONDON, ENGLAND, July 3, 2003 – Eighty countries have already pledged to send their men and women’s national individual champions to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to compete in the 39^th annual AMF Bowling World Cup. The 2003 edition of AMF’s international fall classic, the world’s largest annual international sports championship in terms of number of participating nations, is set for September 27-October 4 at 24-lane Planeta Sipango.

Tournament manager Anne-Marie Board noted that several nations absent from the World Cup roster in recent years, including Vanuatu, Mauritius, Aruba and the Virgin Islands have indicated they will be in Tegucigalpa when the opening ceremonies begin September 27. She added that the mayor of Tegucigalpa, Miguel Pastor, is planning to host the opening ceremonies as he designated the Bowling World Cup one of the official functions celebrating Tegucigalpa’s 425^th birthday that week.

“Details are still being finalized, but we expect that this year’s Opening Ceremonies will take place at one of Tegucigalpa’s civic facilities and be replete with fireworks and many dignitaries from the city and the nation,” Board said.

Board also announced that the official headquarters hotels for the 2003 Bowling World Cup are the Real InterContinental Tegucigalpa and the Clarion Hotel Real Tegucigalpa, both five-star facilities. Each features a fully equipped health club/gymnasium, outdoor swimming pool, and extensive dining facilities. In addition, the Real InterContinental is directly across from the Multiplaza Mall, Tegucigalpa’s largest indoor shopping center. The hotels are five minutes’ drive from each other and approximately 15 minutes by bus from host center Planeta Sipango. Shuttle buses will run between the two hotels and to and from Planeta Sipango continually during Tournament Week.

Non-bowlers wishing to stay at either hotel for the AMF Bowling World Cup should contact Board directly at aboard@amf.com, or fax her a completed Hotel Reservation Form at 44-(0)1-442-286-530. Single rooms are available at US$100 per night, including a daily buffet breakfast, and double rooms at US$110 per night. Hotel reservations should be sent to Board no later than August 31, 2003.

Additionally, tour operator Greko Tours of Tegucigalpa is available to book individual and group tour excursions in Tegucigalpa and elsewhere in Honduras immediately before, during and immediately after the Bowling World Cup. For information on available packages, contact Mr. Jose Rodriguez, general manager of Greko Tours, at gerencia@grekotours.com (telephone 504-239-5999; fax 504-232-2801).

More than 90 nations are expected to send their male and female national champions to this year’s AMF Bowling World Cup. The weeklong singles tournament is recognized as one of the premier events in international amateur bowling. Women’s defending champion Shannon Pluhowsky of the United States is one of several athletes already announced for the tournament.

Kerrie Ryan-Ciach, a seasoned international player from Mississauga, Ontario, will make her Bowling World Cup debut in Tegucigalpa. Ryan-Ciach, 32, wrested the women’s title away from Quebec’s Diane Buchanan, who appeared in the three most recent editions of the AMF World Cup and was the 2002 tournament’s Sportswoman of the Year. Ryan-Ciach has competed in the 1999 Pan American Games, the 1999 Olympic Festival, and the 1994 Commonwealth Invitational championship, where she won gold, silver and bronze medals. She has a league average of 208 and a high three-game series of 834, as well as two perfect games.

LONDON, ENGLAND, March 3, 2003 – Tegucigalpa, Honduras, will welcome the 2003 AMF Bowling World Cup September 27-October 4, at the 24-lane Planeta Sipango center.

John Walker, Chief Operating Officer of AMF Bowling Products, met with Mrs. Amida de Lopez, one of the Vice-Presidents of Honduras; Raul Mejia, president of the local bowling federation president; Jose Gerardo Rischmagui, World Cup organizing committee president and President of the Honduran Confederation of Sports, and other Honduran officials Monday, March 3, in Tegucigalpa during a formal signing ceremony and press conference for more than 150 guests and reporters.

Honduras is the first-ever Central American/Caribbean nation to host AMF’s annual fall sports classic, which is the world’s largest annual international sports championship in terms of number of participating nations. The Bowling World Cup will also be Honduras’ first international sports championship, says tournament manager Anne-Marie Board.

“President Maduro has pledged his country’s full support to make the tournament a success,” Board reports. “He told me that he personally enjoys taking his grandchildren bowling on weekends and looks forward to seeing the top-flight competition for which the World Cup is known.”

“The news that Honduras has been awarded the World Cup has made me, my staff and the rest of my country feel overjoyed with excitement,” says Rischmagui. “We look forward to receiving the world with open arms and to make this event one of the best in AMF history.”

Planeta Sipango, located in southeast Tegucigalpa, boasts 24 AMF “HPL” lanes equipped with AMF furnishings, a lounge, snack bar, games arcade, bowling pro shop and office space. Its mezzanine floor, equipped with billiard tables and a full service bar, accesses the “Ozono” discotheque, which is located in the same building. Owned by the Simón family, Planeta Sipango opened in November 1999, with a Central American championship tournament, according to facility manager Gerardo Simón. “We are all very proud and excited with the news that we have been chosen to host the AMF World Cup,” says Simón.

Honduras follows the lead of Northern Ireland, which hosted the 1996 Bowling World Cup in the Belfast suburb of Castlereagh; that tournament was also Northern Ireland’s first-ever international sports championship and played a major role in the sport’s growth in that nation.

With the selection of Honduras, the Bowling World Cup returns to the Western Hemisphere for the first time since 1999, when it was held in Las Vegas, USA. The 2002 edition was held in Riga, Latvia, the first Eastern European nation ever selected, and 85 countries were represented. Honduran athletes have competed in the World Cup since 1968; the most recent representative, Gil Valle, finished in a tie for 49^th place among the men in Portugal in 2000.

This year’s field is expected to include women’s defending champion Shannon Pluhowsky of the United States. Pluhowsky captured her second consecutive USA national amateur championship, her country’s World Cup qualifying event, this past December.

LONDON, ENGLAND, July 3, 2003 – Norway’s Tore Torgersen, who won the AMF Bowling World Cup in 1994, has qualified for the 2003 edition that will take place September 27-October 4 at Planeta Sipango bowling center in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Torgersen, 34, is one of the highest-profile and best-known bowlers on the international scene. His many honors include the 1999 WTBA World Championships all-events title and the 2002 AMF World Tenpin Masters crown. Torgersen’s dramatic but futile showdown with Tomas Leandersson in the championship round of the 2000 AMF Bowling World Cup in Lisbon, Portugal, which Leandersson won, added another chapter to one of the great rivalries in international bowling. The Norwegian star hopes not only to square off against Leandersson for the title again in Tegucigalpa—Leandersson was previously announced as representing Sweden this year—but also avenge an atypical performance at last year’s Bowling World Cup in Riga, Latvia, where he finished 25^th.	Tore Torgersen © Hero Noda
Chris van Damme © Hero Noda	Norway’s female representative is Marianne Haukas, a former national team member. A well-known player in Norway, Haukas, 27, has had limited success internationally. Her top performance came in 1993, where she won the silver medal in the women’s singles at the European Championships. Other players announced for Tegucigalpa include Chris Van Damme and Liliane Vintens of Belgium, and Yahav Rabin and Yonit Cohen of Israel. Van Damme is another alumnus of the 2000 Bowling World Cup. He finished in a tie for third place behind Leandersson and Torgersen in Lisbon.
Rabin wrote a piece of World Cup history in 2001, when he became the first Israeli bowler to qualify for the top 8 in Pattaya, Thailand. Rabin finished tied for fifth place, losing his quarterfinal match to the 1999 World Cup champion, Ahmed Shaheen of Qatar. It will be the Israeli bowler’s third attempt to win the title. Vintens and Cohen will compete in their first AMF World Cups in Tegucigalpa.	Yanav Rabin & Yonit Cohen © Pinchas Hershkovitz

LONDON, ENGLAND, April 11, 2003 – Defending women’s champion Shannon Pluhowsky of the United States headlines a quartet of early confirmed entrants that will compete in the 2003 AMF Bowling World Cup, scheduled for September 27-October 4 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Pluhowsky, a 20-year-old student at the University of Nebraska, won the women’s title in Riga, Latvia, last October, defeating England’s Nikki Harvey 2 games to 0 in the championship round (224-165, 202-183). Pluhowsky’s World Cup victory capped a phenomenal year in which she also won the girls’ Masters titles in both the World Tenpin Bowling Association’s American Zone and World Youth Championships. The lefthander from Phoenix, Arizona, averaged 212 last year and has two perfect games to her credit, along with a career three-game high series of 826. Pluhowsky earned the right to defend her Bowling World Cup title this year by wining her second consecutive U.S. women’s National Amateur Championship in January.	Shannon Pluhowsky © Hero Noda
Bill Hoffmann © USA Bowling	Bill Hoffman of Columbus, Ohio, the men’s NAC winner, will join Pluhowsky in Tegucigalpa. Both bowlers are making a second career appearance in AMF’s international fall classic; Hoffman, 29, finished 11^th in his World Cup debut in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2000. He is a graduate of Ohio State University, where he majored in international relations and political science. He has rolled several 300 games and has a personal-best mark of 857 for three games. Hoffman is averaging 225 this year in league and tournament play.
Last year’s Canadian men’s representative, Merlin Bunnage of Winfield, also qualified for a second Cup appearance by winning his national Bowling World Cup finals in Sudbury, Ontario in March. The 41-year-old bowling center manager finished 35^th last year in Riga. He is a convert to tenpin bowling from the popular five-pins version that is enjoyed in Canada. Since switching over to the larger pins, Bunnage has posted personal high marks of 300 for a single game and 787 for a three-game series, while maintaining a 210 average.	Kerry Ryan-Ciach & Merlin Bunnage © BPAC