The QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, previously known as the International Masters and AMF Bowling World Cup, is an annual Ten-pin bowling championship sponsored by QubicaAMF Worldwide, and the largest in bowling in terms of number of participating nations. Each nation chooses one male and/or one female bowler to represent them in the tournament, and in the majority of cases, this is done by running a qualifying tournament, the winners of which are chosen.
History
The Bowling World Cup was created by AMF's European Promotions Director at the time, Victor Kalman, and Gordon Caie, AMF's Promotions Manager in the UK at the time. Dublin, Ireland in 1965 hosted the first-ever Bowling World Cup, then called the International Masters. 20 bowlers, all men, participated. Lauri Ajanto became the first-ever winner of the BWC. Women first competed in 1972, the 8th edition of the AMF Bowling World Cup in Hamburg, West Germany where Irma Urrea became the first-ever woman to win the BWC. 13 countries have participated in every Bowling World Cup since its inception: Australia, Belgium, England, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and United States. As of 2019, the Bowling World Cup has visited 42 different cities in 31 different countries. Currently the men's champion is Francois Louw and the women's champion is Rebecca Whiting. On March 9, 2020, World Bowling and QubicaAMF announced a merger of the World Bowling Singles Championships and the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup into one annual event, that will continue to be called the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup from 2020 onwards. The 56th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup will be held in Salmiya, Kuwait at the Kuwait Bowling Sporting Club. This will be the first time Kuwait hosts the Bowling World Cup.
Format
Qualifying Rounds
Stage 1: Qualifying Round of 24 Games, total pinfall. Top 24 Men, Top 24 Women advance to Stage 2, total pinfall carries over.
Stage 2: Top 24 Men, Top 24 women bowls 8 games. Top 8 Men, Top 8 Women based off total pinfall after 32 games advance to Stage 3.
Stage 3: Top 8 Men, Top 8 women bowls another 8 games in a round robin format, 30 bonus pins for a win, 15 bonus pins for a tie. Top 4 Men, Top 4 Women after 40 games advance to the knockout finals.
Knockout Finals
Semifinals: First seeded bowler vs Fourth seeded bowler; Second seeded bowler vs Third seeded bowler, winners advance to the finals.
Finals: Semifinal winners bowl for the title.
Lane Pattern
For the 2019 BWC, all games are bowled on one pattern, typically a 41 foot pattern unless lane topography at the host site dictates that the pattern be adjusted one foot less or one foot more.
Previous winners
Source:
Number of titles by country/territory
Records
Winners
Paeng Nepomuceno holds two Guinness World Records from his victories in the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup. His four victories came in a record three different decades. He also holds the record for the youngest men's champion, 19, when he won his first of four titles in 1976. Incidentally, Nepomuceno won his titles in Olympic years.
The oldest champions are Remo Fornasari, 51, when he won in 1987; and Irma Urrea, 45, when she won the very first women's title in 1972.
Gemma Burden is the youngest women's champion, 17, when she won in 1995.
Two other men besides Nepomuceno has won multiple Bowling World Cup titles, Arne Svein Ström and Michael Schmidt.
Six women have each won two times, Pauline Smith, Jeanette Baker, Shannon Pluhowsky, Aumi Guerra, Caroline Lagrange and Clara Guerrero.
Baker, Guerra, and Guerrero are the only bowlers in QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup history to win consecutive titles.
Only once has a country swept the men's and women's titles in the same year. This occurred in 1986 when Sweden incidentally defeated Philippines in both the men's and women's finals to accomplish this feat.
A host representative has won the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup three times. Bob Worrall won in New York City in 1981, Wang Hongbo won in Shanghai in 2016, and Shannon O'Keefe won in Las Vegas in 2018.
Chris Barnes and Lynda Barnes are the only husband-wife duo that has won the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup.
USA is the most successful nation in the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, winning a combined 20 titles
The Bent Petersen Country Award is awarded to the country with the best combined finishes in the men's and women's divisions. It is named after Bent Petersen, who ran AMF’s international operations for 36 years before retiring in 1998. Originally known as the Country Champion Award, it has been awarded at the BWC since 1984. The first winner of the award was Thailand. Australia are the most recent winners. In 2000, the award was renamed in honor of Petersen. Petersen died on November 21, 2014.
Highest Game Award is awarded in both the men's and women's division to the bowlers who had the highest one game score during the tournament. There have been 76 300s bowled at the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup. Jack Guay bowled the first-ever 300 game in 1994, the 30th year of the AMF Bowling World Cup; while Shalin Zulkifli was the first woman to bowl a 300 in 1997. United States has the most 300s by a country, seven.
The Barry James Sportsman Award and Jacky Felsenstein Sportswoman Award, awarded to one male bowler and one female bowler, is voted for by the participating bowlers. Representatives from Canada and Mexico have each won this award more times than any country, seven times each.
