UP-AND-DOWN DAY FOR U.S IN TEAM EVENT AT MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

BANGKOK, THAILAND (August 26, 2008) After and up-and-down morning Tuesday, Team USA finds itself tied for fourth place halfway through preliminaries in the team event at the 2008 World Tenpin Bowling Association Men's World Championships.

Team USA's five-player lineup - Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Ocala, Fla., Bill Hoffman of Columbus, Ohio, Patrick Allen of Wesley Chapel, Fla., Chris Barnes of Double Oak, Texas, and Tommy Jones of Simpsonville, S.C. - posted 3,010 in three games on the low-scoring long oil pattern.

Norway holds the lead with 3,198, followed by Finland in second with 3,046 and England in third with 3,027. Korea, also at 3,010, shares fourth place with the United States.

The top four teams after six preliminary games advance to the one-game semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday (8 a.m. EDT), with the winners meeting in the one-game finals at 8:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. EDT). The semifinal losers will each receive bronze medals.

Team USA put together games of 1,032, 991 and 987 - the last of which featured a late flurry of strikes by each player to avoid a disastrous finish.

"The event wasn't going to be won today, but you definitely could've lost it today," said Jones, who shot 597 Tuesday. "It was challenging obviously. We didn't get off to a very good start, but the troops rallied at the end. We made a lot of good shots at the end to right the day."

Hoffman led Team USA with 639, followed by Williams at 608, Allen with 585 and Barnes with 582.

Team competition continues Wednesday with the final three preliminary games on the short oil pattern. Rhino Page of Topeka, Kan., joins the five-player lineup on the short oil pattern with Allen, Barnes, Jones and Hoffman, while Williams will pace for his all-events total in the second squad at 2 p.m. local time (3 a.m. EDT).

"We need to make some good shots," said Jones, who is averaging 223.5 over 10 games on the short pattern at the World Championships. "We put ourselves a little bit behind today by not getting as many pins as we wanted, when we knew other teams would struggle. A lot more teams are going to bowl good tomorrow."

In all-events, Allen is currently fourth after 15 of 24 games with 3,282 (218.8 avg.), trailing leader Alejandro Cruz of Mexico by 75 pins. Norway's Tore Torgersen and the United Arab Emirates' Mahmood Ahmad Al Attar are tied for second with 3,295.

Page, who entered the day second in all-events, shot 533 as a pacer to move to 3,273, dropping to seventh place.

Jones is 18th with 3,223 in the all-events standings, from which the top 16 after 24 games will advance to the best-of-five, single-elimination Masters event.

The 2008 Men's World Championships marks the much anticipated first appearance of professionals in major WTBA competition thanks to a change in legislation last August.

The Men's World Championships, which is being held at SF Strike Bowl Ngamwonwan and continues through Saturday, features more than 300 athletes from 57 countries competing in six disciplines - doubles, trios, team, singles, all-events and Masters.

Visit bowl.com for complete coverage of the 2008 WTBA Men's World Championships, including videos, photos, stories, results and blogs.

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2008 WTBA MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
(at Bangkok, Thailand)
Tuesday's Results

TEAM
Preliminaries
(Through 3 of 6 games)

Top 10
1. Norway, 3,198; 2. Finland, 3,046; 3. England, 3,027; 4. (tie) United States, 3,010; Korea, 3,010; 6. Philippines, 2,995; 7. China, 2,987; 8. Germany, 2,985; 9. Colombia, 2,987; 10. Sweden, 2,964.


ALL-EVENTS
(Through 15 of 24 games)

Top 20
(Top 16 after 24 games advance to Masters)
1. Alejandro Cruz, Mexico, 3,357; 2. (tie) Tore Torgersen, Norway, 3,295; Mahmood Ahmad Al Attar, United Arab Emirates, 3,295; 4. Patrick Allen, United States, 3,282; 5. Choi Bok-Eum, Korea, 3,280; 6. Joe Ciach, Canada, 3,274; 7. Rhino Page, United States, 3,273; 8. Mads Sandbakken, Norway, 3,270; 9. Choi Ki-Bong, Korea, 3,265; 10. Hussain Nasir Al Suwaidi, United Arab Emirates, 3,264.

11. Martin Larsen, Sweden, 3,258; 12. Pasi Uotila, Finland, 3,256; 13. Glenn Morten Pedersen, Norway, 3,255; 14. Jason Belmonte, Australia, 3,240; 15. (tie) Andrew Frawley, Australia, 3,231; Robert Andersson, Sweden, 3,231; 17. Saed Al Hajri, Qatar, 3,229; 18. Tommy Jones, United States, 3,223; 19. Jesper Agerbo, Denmark, 3,216; 20. Jaime Monroy, Colombia, 3,215.

Other U.S. placements
30. Bill Hoffman, 3,186; 46. Walter Ray Williams Jr., 3,129; 53. Chris Barnes, 3,119.