OBryant takes bronze in singles; doubles qualifying begins at IBF World Youth Championships
July 12, 2024
WOMEN'S SINGLES SEMIFINALS/FINALS I MEN'S SINGLES SEMIFINALS/FINALS
WOMEN'S SINGLES MATCH PLAYI MEN'S SINGLES MATCH PLAY
WOMEN'S SINGLES QUALIFYING I MEN'S SINGLES QUALIFYING
WOMEN'S DOUBLES QUALIFYING I MEN'S DOUBLES QUALIFYING
ARLINGTON, Texas – Friday was a busy day of action for Junior Team USA bowlers competing at the 2024 International Bowling Federation World Youth Championships in Incheon, Korea, as singles semifinal matches were contested and the opening round of doubles qualifying got underway.
Annalise OBryant of Ball Ground, Georgia, secured the Americans’ first medal of this year’s tournament as she walked away with bronze in women’s singles after falling to Finland’s Stella Lökfors 2-1 (202-205, 202-198 and 241-254) during a hard-fought best-of-three semifinal bout at Incheon’s Fiesta Bowling Center.
With the victory, Lökfors advanced to the gold-medal match on July 18 where she’ll face Singapore’s Arianne Tay, who punched her ticket to the finals by taking down Peru’s Yumi Yuzuriha Seragaki 2-0 (228-211 and 242-222) during Friday’s other women’s semifinal. Like OBryant, Seragaki earned bronze.
The men’s singles gold-medal match also will be contested on July 18 and will pit Germany’s Paul Purps against Carl Eklund of Sweden.
Eklund advanced by rallying to defeat Korea’s Junghun Bae by a final of 2-1 (248-257, 279-247 and 215-186), while Purps moved on by sweeping New Zealand’s Ben Petit by scores of 229-159 and 231-152.
For their efforts, Bae and Petit walked away with the men’s singles bronze medals.
As for OBryant, although she would have preferred to advance on Friday and keep her gold-medal hopes alive, she was proud of the effort she put forth while earning bronze.
“Of course, I wanted to move on, but I did the best that I could and am very proud of the way I competed,” OBryant said. “I feel grateful and happy to have won my first medal in international competition, and I hope that I can help our team win more during the remaining events here.”
The next event on the docket for World Youth Championships competitors is doubles, and the opening squads hit the lanes Friday once singles semifinal action concluded.
In the women’s division, OBryant teamed up with Katelyn Abigania of San Diego and authored a fifth-place showing out of 22 teams on the opening squad.
OBryant and Abigania put up scores of 217, 213, 210, 148, 165, 217, 165, 178, 197 and 221 during the 10-game Baker set to come in with a score of 1,931 (a 193.1 average).
Malaysia’s Anis Hannani Romzi and Adania Mohd Redzwan led the field with 2,041, while spots two through four were secured by Colombia’s Sara Duque and Mariana Santos (2,006), Germany’s Maxine Bolek and Fiona Lindemann (1,956) and Mexico’s Ivanna Emire Villalobos Erosa and Valeria Lizbeth Viramontes Millan (1,954).
On the men’s side, the top five spots on Squad 1 were secured by Sweden’s Alex Joki and Robin Noberg (2,317), Finland’s Rami Mukkula and Karo Hilokoski (2,228), Korea’s Bae and Seongtak Kim (2,222), Slovakia’s Martin Malcho and Simon Jaros (2,182) and Iceland’s Aron Hafthorsson and Mikael Aron Vilhelmsson (2,179).
Junior Team USA’s duo of Braden Mallasch of Waupaca, Wisconsin, and Zach Andresen of Princeton, Minnesota, finished eighth out of 23 teams with 2,125 (a 212.5 average) thanks to scores of 181, 167, 205, 208, 233, 178, 242, 275, 238 and 198.
The American squads will have to remain in the top 16 at the conclusion of qualifying in order to advance to match play.
Doubles qualifying will finish up on Saturday with one additional squad of women’s competitors and two more groups in the men’s division.
Jillian Martin of Stow, Ohio, and Gianna Brandolino of Channahon, Illinois, will represent the Junior Team USA women on Saturday, while Brandon Bohn of Jackson, New Jersey, and Jacob Bockstie of Nottingham, Maryland, will don the stars and stripes for the men.
Meanwhile, Abigania, Andresen, Mallasch and OBryant will cheer them on and hope that their own doubles efforts will be enough to carry them through.
Abigania likes her and OBryant’s chances of moving on; however, regardless of how the scores shake out, she’s proud of the work they did on Friday.
“I think doubles went really well today,” Abigania said. “I think me and Annalise (OBryant) really saw the lane a lot quicker than in singles, which allowed us to line up off one another.
“Annalise is such a great teammate; she’s so supportive and reliable in everything she does. She bowled so well in singles that I just want to do everything I can to hopefully help her win another medal for the U.S. I feel great about what we did today; I just hope we get to bowl more.”
Doubles competition will run through July 14, team qualifying and match play will occur on July 15-16 and all phases of mixed team competition will happen on July 17.
The 2024 World Youth Championships, which features teams from 39 different countries, will end on July 18 with final-round action in singles, doubles and team and their accompanying medal ceremonies.
For more information on Junior Team USA, visit BOWL.com/JuniorTeamUSA.
WOMEN'S SINGLES MATCH PLAYI MEN'S SINGLES MATCH PLAY
WOMEN'S SINGLES QUALIFYING I MEN'S SINGLES QUALIFYING
WOMEN'S DOUBLES QUALIFYING I MEN'S DOUBLES QUALIFYING
ARLINGTON, Texas – Friday was a busy day of action for Junior Team USA bowlers competing at the 2024 International Bowling Federation World Youth Championships in Incheon, Korea, as singles semifinal matches were contested and the opening round of doubles qualifying got underway.
Annalise OBryant of Ball Ground, Georgia, secured the Americans’ first medal of this year’s tournament as she walked away with bronze in women’s singles after falling to Finland’s Stella Lökfors 2-1 (202-205, 202-198 and 241-254) during a hard-fought best-of-three semifinal bout at Incheon’s Fiesta Bowling Center.
With the victory, Lökfors advanced to the gold-medal match on July 18 where she’ll face Singapore’s Arianne Tay, who punched her ticket to the finals by taking down Peru’s Yumi Yuzuriha Seragaki 2-0 (228-211 and 242-222) during Friday’s other women’s semifinal. Like OBryant, Seragaki earned bronze.
The men’s singles gold-medal match also will be contested on July 18 and will pit Germany’s Paul Purps against Carl Eklund of Sweden.
Eklund advanced by rallying to defeat Korea’s Junghun Bae by a final of 2-1 (248-257, 279-247 and 215-186), while Purps moved on by sweeping New Zealand’s Ben Petit by scores of 229-159 and 231-152.
For their efforts, Bae and Petit walked away with the men’s singles bronze medals.
As for OBryant, although she would have preferred to advance on Friday and keep her gold-medal hopes alive, she was proud of the effort she put forth while earning bronze.
“Of course, I wanted to move on, but I did the best that I could and am very proud of the way I competed,” OBryant said. “I feel grateful and happy to have won my first medal in international competition, and I hope that I can help our team win more during the remaining events here.”
The next event on the docket for World Youth Championships competitors is doubles, and the opening squads hit the lanes Friday once singles semifinal action concluded.
In the women’s division, OBryant teamed up with Katelyn Abigania of San Diego and authored a fifth-place showing out of 22 teams on the opening squad.
OBryant and Abigania put up scores of 217, 213, 210, 148, 165, 217, 165, 178, 197 and 221 during the 10-game Baker set to come in with a score of 1,931 (a 193.1 average).
Malaysia’s Anis Hannani Romzi and Adania Mohd Redzwan led the field with 2,041, while spots two through four were secured by Colombia’s Sara Duque and Mariana Santos (2,006), Germany’s Maxine Bolek and Fiona Lindemann (1,956) and Mexico’s Ivanna Emire Villalobos Erosa and Valeria Lizbeth Viramontes Millan (1,954).
On the men’s side, the top five spots on Squad 1 were secured by Sweden’s Alex Joki and Robin Noberg (2,317), Finland’s Rami Mukkula and Karo Hilokoski (2,228), Korea’s Bae and Seongtak Kim (2,222), Slovakia’s Martin Malcho and Simon Jaros (2,182) and Iceland’s Aron Hafthorsson and Mikael Aron Vilhelmsson (2,179).
Junior Team USA’s duo of Braden Mallasch of Waupaca, Wisconsin, and Zach Andresen of Princeton, Minnesota, finished eighth out of 23 teams with 2,125 (a 212.5 average) thanks to scores of 181, 167, 205, 208, 233, 178, 242, 275, 238 and 198.
The American squads will have to remain in the top 16 at the conclusion of qualifying in order to advance to match play.
Doubles qualifying will finish up on Saturday with one additional squad of women’s competitors and two more groups in the men’s division.
Jillian Martin of Stow, Ohio, and Gianna Brandolino of Channahon, Illinois, will represent the Junior Team USA women on Saturday, while Brandon Bohn of Jackson, New Jersey, and Jacob Bockstie of Nottingham, Maryland, will don the stars and stripes for the men.
Meanwhile, Abigania, Andresen, Mallasch and OBryant will cheer them on and hope that their own doubles efforts will be enough to carry them through.
Abigania likes her and OBryant’s chances of moving on; however, regardless of how the scores shake out, she’s proud of the work they did on Friday.
“I think doubles went really well today,” Abigania said. “I think me and Annalise (OBryant) really saw the lane a lot quicker than in singles, which allowed us to line up off one another.
“Annalise is such a great teammate; she’s so supportive and reliable in everything she does. She bowled so well in singles that I just want to do everything I can to hopefully help her win another medal for the U.S. I feel great about what we did today; I just hope we get to bowl more.”
Doubles competition will run through July 14, team qualifying and match play will occur on July 15-16 and all phases of mixed team competition will happen on July 17.
The 2024 World Youth Championships, which features teams from 39 different countries, will end on July 18 with final-round action in singles, doubles and team and their accompanying medal ceremonies.
For more information on Junior Team USA, visit BOWL.com/JuniorTeamUSA.