RESULTS:Team

HELSINKI, Finland - The Junior Team USA boys took the lead after the first round of team qualifying Thursday, while the girls sat in third at the 2010 World Tenpin Bowling Association World Youth Championships.

After struggling in singles on the short-oil pattern Monday, the U.S. boys team fared much better during the first three games of qualifying for team event on the same pattern. The team shot 2,530, an average of 210.8, and leads Korea by 13 pins.

The Junior Team USA girls shot 2,460, an average of 205, and trail Malaysia by eight pins and Singapore by five pins. Qualifying concludes Friday for the boys and girls with three additional games before the field will be cut to the top four teams for the semifinals Saturday.

Jake Peters paced the U.S. boys with a 658 series and was followed by Andrew Koff (642), Devin Bidwell (632) and Craig Hanson (598).

"It was definitely a concern for us with the way we bowled on this pattern in singles," said Peters, who shot 236, 225 and 197. "We came in with a game plan and did a lot better. This gives us confidence heading into the long pattern tomorrow."

Jenn Boisselle led the American girls with a 681 series and was followed by Brittni Hamilton (649), Christine Bator (624) and Kristie Petravich (506).

"I think today worked out really well, and we like the spot we are sitting in," said Boisselle, who had games of 256, 247 and 178. "All you have to do is be in the top four, and we are a strong enough team to compete in match play. We just have to attack it the same way tomorrow that we did today."

In boys all-events after 15 games, Korea's Jong-Woo Park leads with 3,360, an average of 224, while Koff is second with 3,343. Peters is 17th with 3,156, Hanson is 21st at 3,133 and Bidwell is 28th with 3,105.

On the girls side, Korea's Moon-Jeong Kim leads with 3,292, an average of 219.5, while Latvia's Diana Zavjalova is second with 3,274. Hamilton sits in eighth place with 3,131, while Boisselle is ninth at 3,130.

The top 16 players after 18 games advance to Masters match play based on their all-events totals, and Bator is currently in 16th position with 3,097. Petravich is 20th with 3,054.

The United States Bowling Congress is working in cooperation with the Finnish Bowling Federation to provide live video streaming of the semifinals and finals of each event. Coverage will be available on BOWL.com, and the team event coverage is scheduled to begin at 2 a.m. Eastern on Saturday.

A field of 46 countries are competing in the World Youth Championships for medals in five events - singles, doubles, team, all-events and Masters match-play.

2010 WTBA WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Tali Bowl, Helsinki, Finland
Wednesday's Results

GIRLS TEAM

QUALIFYING
(Top 10, three of six games)

1, Malaysia, 2,468. 2, Singapore, 2,465. 3, United States, 2,460. 4, Korea, 2,448. 5, Netherlands, 2,388. 6, Latvia, 2,385. 7, Finland, 2,384. 8, Colombia, 2,380. 9, England, 2,353. 10, Australia, 2,344.

GIRLS ALL-EVENTS
(Top 10 after 15 of 18 games)

1, Moon-Jeong Kim, Korea, 3,292. 2, Diana Zavjalova, Latvia, 3,274. 3, Hayley White, England, 3,235. 4, Yeon-Ju Kim, Korea, 3,209. 5, Jazreel Tan, Singapore, 3,182. 6, Carmen Haandrikman, Netherlands, 3,166. 7, Shayna Ng, Singapore, 3,166. 8, Brittni Hamilton, United States, 3,131. 9, Jenn Boisselle, United States, 3,130. 10, Laura Fonnegra, Colombia, 3,129.


BOYS TEAM

QUALIFYING
(Top 10, three of six games)

1, United States, 2,530. 2, Korea, 2,517. 3, France, 2,473. 4, Australia, 2,471. 5, Singapore, 2,468. 6, Estonia, 2,442. 7, Macau, 2,441. 8, Sweden, 2,440. 9, Kuwait, 2,413. 10, England, 2,411.

BOYS ALL-EVENTS
(Top 10 after 15 of 18 games)

1. Jong-Woo Park, Korea, 3,360. 2, Andrew Koff, United States, 3,343. 3, Mats Maggi, Belgium, 3,332. 4, Daniels Vezis, Latvia, 3,293. 5, Sam Cooley, Australia, 3,260. 6, Seung-Hyeon Shin, 3,254. 7, Swayne van Zandwijk, Netherlands, 3,233. 8, Kert Truus, Estonia, 3,213. 9, Samu Valaranta, Finland, 3,210. 10, Steven Miller, England, 3,205.