RI's Tannya leads at bowling World Ranking Master

Musthofid ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 05/03/2008 11:14 AM

Indonesia's Tannya Roumimper put on an outstanding performance to take the lead in the women's division of the World Ranking Master 2008 tenpin bowling championship in Jakarta on Friday.

Tannya scored a total of 1,719 in eight games to top the standings over 23 other bowlers. She even managed more points than the 1,708 put up by Sami Konsteri of Finland, the men's leader.

"I'm both glad and surprised by my performance. I felt no pressure," she said.

It was a convincing run carried over from last year's Southeast Asian Games, where the 17-year-old brought home a gold medal for Indonesia.

Tannya is 102 and 104 points ahead of second place Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia and third place Kirsten Penny of England.

The championship features 24 bowlers each in the men's and women's divisions. Participants qualified for the event by being ranked in the top eight in either the European, American or Asian zones under the World Tenpin Bowling Federation (WTBF).

The preliminary stage of the event features three rounds over three days until Sunday. The top eight players in the men's and women's divisions will advance to the quarterfinals, which will feature a single elimination format.

Bowlers come from Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Denmark, England, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Netherlands, Sweden, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama and Venezuela.

Looking forward to the second round, Tannya expects the competition will only get tougher and that she will have to keep scoring higher if she wants to stay on top.

"Tomorrow, I may score the same average as today, but others may score better than me," she said, adding that coming into the event she was looking for at least a top eight finish.

Fellow Indonesians Putty Armein in the women's division and Ryan Lalisang in the men's failed to shine on the opening day.

Putty is languishing in 14th place after managing only 1,497 points, while Ryan was inconsistent in ending the day in eighth place with 1,658 points.

"It's still difficult for me to find the lanes' rolling grooves. The ball seemed to wobble to the left and right. I was slow to adapt in the first three games," Putty, who finished in second place at the World Ranking Master 2006 in Kuwait, said.

Ryan began the day hot, topping the standings after the first two games, marked by six consecutive strikes in the second game. But he faltered in later games, with the fifth game producing his low score of 152.

He seemed unprepared for the change of lanes.

"The oil was beginning dry up when I got to the other lanes," said Ryan, who reached the semifinals in his WRM debut in Kuwait.

Finland dominated the men's division with Jari Ratia sitting third behind Lucas Legnani of Argentina in second. Legnani and Ratia are four and 24 points behind the leader, respectively.

Sami Konsteri called his performance "perfect" given the level of difficulties.

"There were some small differences between the lanes. I could not have expected more. It's perfect," Konsteri said.

"I might have to score 100 more, but I had many bad breaks," he said.

After playing on the short oiled lane, the players will switch to the long oiled pattern, which Ryan said he was more comfortable this.

"I have generally been better on long oiled lanes because the ball rolls straighter. It's easier to navigate the target," he said.

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