PBA World Championships on ESPN

Columbia 300 – Dark Encounter

The “Elastin” chemical breakthrough carries into the Columbia 300 Dark Encounter. The original Encounter featured a pearl version of the revolutionary Elastin coverstock. The chemical engineers at Columbia 300 have taken this technology to a new level by creating even larger pores and increasing the length of the polymer chains in a solid version of “Elastin.”

The Dark Encounter's “Encounter” core is the same dynamic core found in the original Encounter. Columbia explains “The proven core along with a great new cover will provide the big hook you’ve been looking for.” 
Available January 5th, 2012.

First Ever World Bowling Tour Champions Crowned

Mika Koivuniemi reinforced his position as an international bowling 
star, defeating Sean Rash of suburban Chicago (Montgomery,) IL, 237-224, to win the inaugural 
GEICO World Bowling Tour (WBT) Finals title at South Point Casino and Hotel. American 
women’s star Carolyn Dorin-Ballard of Keller, Texas, won the WBT women’s title, 
207-162, over Sweden’s Sandra Andersson.

Koivuniemi, a native of Finland who now resides in Hartland, MI, completed a 
10-month international quest to win the World Tenpin Bowling Association’s 
inaugural WBT title, presented by the Professional Bowlers Association, by 
reeling off a string of six strikes to erase Rash’s early 11-pin lead and taking 
advantage of Rash's missed 10 pin in the ninth frame.

Both finals, conducted as part of the third annual PBA World Series of Bowling, 
aired Sunday on ESPN.

Koivuniemi, a 44-year-old two-time PBA Player of the Year, has won titles in 15 
different countries during his career and easily won the WBT qualifying points 
title over Rash. World Bowling Tour points were awarded in eight tournaments 
held in Finland, the United States, France, Kuwait, Thailand, Korea and 
Australia.

“It has been a good year for me,” Koivuniemi, the reigning PBA Player of the 
Year, said. “I really feel like I bowled well and I deserved to win. It all 
started in Helsinki last January when I won the Brunswick Ballmaster Open. I’ve 
been battling for 10 months to get here, and it came full circle back in Las 
Vegas.”

The opening men’s match between Rash and Australian two-handed player Jason 
Belmonte had been highly anticipated after the two rivals had exchanged heated 
words during a summer GEICO PBA Team Shootout confrontation when Rash accused 
Belmonte of deliberately making distracting noises with his plastic water 
bottle. Their rivalry had intensified during WBT meetings since the June 
episode. But in their first televised showdown since that episode, Rash took 
advantage of a pair of open frames by Belmonte for a 214-204 victory. Belmonte 
had a chance to win, but needing two strikes in the 10th frame, he left a solid 
10 pin on his first try.

“Belmo and I are fierce competitors. We don’t think we can lose at any time when 
we’re on the lanes,” Rash said of the rivalry. “I hope the fans enjoyed the 
match. Jason threw a great shot in the 10th frame, but he left a ringing 10 pin 
which was good for me, bad for him.

“That bottlegate thing happened months ago. People need to move on," Rash 
continued. "Things happen. Jason and I are going to bowl against each other for 
many years to come. But when I’m on the lanes, no one is my friend. The only 
people cheering for me are my wife and my parents and Team Brunswick, and that’s 
all that matters to me.”

In the women’s finals, Dorin-Ballard, a PBA Women's Series champion and 20-time 
Professional Women's Bowling Association titlist, cruised to a 207-162 victory 
over Andersson after the 20-year-old Swedish player missed single-pin spares in 
her first two frames and failed to strike until the seventh frame. Andersson 
advanced to the title match by defeating her Swedish national teammate, Nina 
Flack, 190-160, in the opening match after Flack started her game with 
back-to-back splits.

Koivuniemi and Dorin-Ballard each won $10,000. Rash and Andersson won $6,000 as 
runners-up, and Belmonte and Flack earned $4,000 each.

The WTBA has announced the World Bowling Tour will return in 2012 with an 
expanded 14-event schedule.

Next Sunday the 2011-12 PBA Tour season officially gets underway with the first 
of four elimination rounds leading up to the Jan. 15 PBA World Championship 
finals. The Don Carter Division finals will air Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN. 
Carter Division finalists are England’s Stuart Williams and Dom Barrett, 
Finland’s Osku Palermaa and Jack Jurek of Lackawanna, NY.

St. Ambrose freshman Lockport's Kyle Anderson named Chuck Hall Star of Tomorrow

Kyle Anderson of Lockport, IL, has been selected as the 2012 Chuck Hall Star of Tomorrow Award recipient. Presented by the United States Bowling Congress (USBC), the award annually recognizes star qualities in a male high school senior or college student who competes in the sport of bowling.

“It means so much to me to be selected for this award,” Anderson said. “I am honored to be selected for a national award honoring Chuck Hall and one that has been given to others who I have admired as bowlers. It actually humbles me to think about it.”

A freshman at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, Anderson is studying accounting, finance and business. He also is taking sports management courses, and someday would like to have a career in the bowling industry.

Anderson started bowling at age 5, and when he was 6, he said his league director gave him a medal for Bowler of the Year. From that point, he was hooked on the sport.

A May 2011 graduate from Lockport High School, Anderson had a weighted grade-point average of 4.13 on a 4.0 scale. He was a three-time winner of the Porter Pride Award, given to a Lockport student for athletic leadership and academic achievement.

On the lanes, he was the first individual to win back-to-back high school bowling titles in Illinois, winning the state title in 2010 and 2011. A five-time competitor at the USBC Junior Gold Championships, he finished eighth at the 2011 event in Las Vegas. He placed 17th at the 2011 North Pointe High School Singles Championships.

Anderson was selected to the Dexter/USBC High School All-American Team for 2010-11. He has been active in community service projects and helps with the care of his 87-year-old neighbor, a widow who lives alone and cannot drive, by bringing food, newspapers and books and walking her dog.

The Chuck Hall Star of Tomorrow Award is named for the former Young American Bowling Alliance executive director, who spent much of his life helping young people through his association with junior bowling.

For being selected for the award, Anderson will receive a $6,000 scholarship that will be formally presented at the 2012 USBC Convention to be held in April in Arlington.

Rockford's Megan Buja named Alberta E. Crowe Star of Tomorrow

Rockford, IL's, Megan Buja from University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) has been selected to receive the 2012 Alberta E. Crowe Star of Tomorrow Award. The award is presented annually by the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) to a female high school senior or college student who has excelled in the sport of bowling as well as off the lanes.

"Being selected as the Alberta E. Crowe Star of Tomorrow winner is definitely an honor," Buja said. "Former winners of this award have gone on to become important figures in the world of competitive bowling, and it is incredible to receive the same award that these women received."

Buja is a sophomore at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, where she is majoring in Human Ecology - Dietetics. She plans to become a physician's assistant or attend medical school.

A two-time member of the Dexter/USBC High School All-American Team, she was a four-year member of the Jefferson High School bowling team and was captain her last two years. She helped her team win the state title in 2008 and had a 300 game as Jefferson was the state runner-up in 2010, her senior year. Off the lanes, she was class valedictorian, editor of the school yearbook, class secretary and student council member.

Sue Williams, coach of the Jefferson High School program, has known Buja since she started competing in the area's middle school program.

"At age of 12, she showed the determination to be the best she could be, not only on the bowling lanes, but also academically and socially," Williams said in her recommendation. "I have come to appreciate her many fine qualities, and I have watched her grow as a bowler and a person."

Buja already has enjoyed success on the collegiate level as a member of the UMES team that captured the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships and NCAA Women's Bowling national titles in 2011. She also qualified for the USBC Intercollegiate Singles Championships. She made the Dean's List in fall 2010 and spring 2011 and was a National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association Academic All-American.

Her community volunteer activities include serving as a middle school and junior league bowling coach, working as a lane monitor for Special Olympics, church mission trips and participating in the Relay for Life.

Named in honor of the seven-term president of the Women's International Bowling Congress, the Alberta E. Crowe Star of Tomorrow Award is presented to a female USBC member who exhibits star qualities such as distinguished bowling performances on the state and national levels, academic achievement and extracurricular and community involvement.

For being named the Alberta E. Crowe Star of Tomorrow, Buja receives a $6,000 scholarship that will be presented at the 2012 USBC Convention in Arlington in April.

GEICO World Bowling Tour Finals Kicks Off Bowling Coveage

An international journey that began in Helsinki, Finland, in January 2011 and ended 10 months later in Las Vegas will kick off the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA)’s 2011-12 television season Sunday when the men’s and women’s finals of the inaugural GEICO World Bowling Tour (WBT) Finals presented by the Professional Bowlers Association airs at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN.

The men’s field will feature reigning PBA Player of the Year Mika Koivuniemi, a resident of Hartland, MI, who returned to his native Finland to win the Brunswick Ballmaster Open and take a lead in the WBT points race that he never gave up. The World Tenpin Bowling Association’s inaugural World Bowling Tour series included stops in France, Kuwait, Thailand, Korea and Australia, plus the U.S. Open and United States Bowling Congress Masters. 

 

In Sunday’s WBT men’s final, Koivuniemi will meet the winner of a one-game match between No. 2 qualifier Sean Rash of Suburban Chicago (Montgomery, IL), and No. 3 Jason Belmonte of Australia. Rash and Belmonte made news over the summer after a confrontation over distractions Belmonte allegedly made with his plastic water bottle during the PBA’s GEICO Team Shootout series in Chicago.

In the one-hour women’s finals which immediately follows the men’s finals on ESPN, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard of Keller, Texas, a PBA Women’s Series champion and 20-time Professional Women’s Bowling Association title winner, will meet the winner of a match between veteran Swedish star Nina Flack and her Team Sweden teammate, 20-year-old Sandra Andersson.

The winner in each division will receive $10,000. Second place will pay $6,000 and third will receive $4,000.

The GEICO World Bowling Tour Finals are the first shows in an 18-event PBA Tour series that will air on Sundays on ESPN, concluding with the live PBA Tournament of Champions telecast from Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas on April 15. In addition to the ESPN telecasts, the PBA will produce four Xtra Frame Tour events which will be webcast exclusively on the PBA’s online bowling channel.

Xtra Frame also will air a World Bowling Tour Finals pre-game show starting Wednesday and will immediately follow the ESPN telecast with a post-game show. To subscribe to Xtra Frame, visit pba.com and click on the Xtra Frame logo.

Coming in 2012, The Defiant from Roto Grip

On the way to store shelves, the Roto Grip Defiant. 

The 3000-grit Abralon® finished Blue/Purple/Black “MicroBite Solid Reactive” coverstock wraps the “Paragon™” core.  With a Radius of Gyration (RG) of  2.49 in a #15 ball with an RG Differential of .054. 

World Wide Release Date: 1/10/12