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98 nations have entered this year's competition
The large number of entrants requires that competition begin Sunday, October 15, following the Opening Ceremonies at Bowling International de Lisboa rather than Monday morning, October 16, as originally planned. Lisbon Mayor Joao Soares has been invited to address the Bowling World Cup athletes and spectators during those ceremonies.
The revised tournament schedule calls for the women to bowl Sunday afternoon and evening, with the men beginning their qualifying Monday morning. All bowlers will complete 24 games of qualifying before the field is cut to the top 24 women (Tuesday afternoon) and men (Wednesday afternoon), Those bowlers return for 16 more games Thursday, October 19. The field is then narrowed to the top eight men and women who advance to the arena phase of the tournament beginning Friday, October 20.
SINGLE-ELIMINATION FORMAT TO DECIDE CHAMPIONS of the AMF World Cup
Although the opening ceremonies and qualifying phases will take place at the Bowling Internacional de Lisboa the 2000 AMF Bowling World Cup men and women’s championships will be decided in an arena finals staged in Lisbon’s Parque das Nacoes ("Nations Park"), site of the 1998 World Expo.
The Sala Tejo room in the Atlantico Pavilion, a short walk from the Bowling Internacional de Lisboa, will be converted to an arena bowling setting for the final phases of the 36th AMF World Cup. Changes will be made in the traditional stepladder format of the World Cup as well.
The preliminary qualifying will remain the same - 24 games in the first three days for the cut to 24 men and 24 women, 16 more games on Thursday to choose the top 8 men and 8 women based on total pinfall.
The top 8 face a different ball game in the Year 2000 World Cup finals.
Consistency will determine the winners.
The top eight men and women after 40 games of qualifying at Lisbon's Bowling Internacional de Lisboa advance to the new single-elimination phase of the championship, which replaces the traditional matchplay and stepladder portions.
Prior to the start of the arena competition, rankings will be assigned to the top eight men and women based on standings after 40 games to determine pairings. (The man and woman who are tournament leaders at that time become the No. 1 seeds; the second-best scoring players become the No. 2 seeds, and so on through No. 8).
Players will be pitted against each other in the arena in best-two-of-three-games, single-elimination competition, with the winner of each match advancing to the next round of play.
The last two survivors in both the men and women's divisions battle Saturday, October 21, for the 2000 AMF Bowling World Cup crowns. Arena competition takes place on two specially installed AMF lanes in the Sala Tejo room of the Atlantico Pavilion on the Parque das Nacoes grounds.
Matchroom Productions, a U.K. based operation will coordinate TV production and distribution. Sky Sport will also carry the broadcast of the 2000 AMF Bowling World Cup, which is expected to comprise a maximum of eight one-hour shows on a tape-delayed basis. Plans are being made to distribute the World Cup series in the USA through the Fox cable network and in Asia through independent networks.
Full tentative schedule of events available (click below).
| *Information supplied by Lydia Rypcinski, AMF Media Bureau |
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