Women’s bowling meet is melting pot of world

The atmosphere seems like any bowling center during league play. The jubilation of a strike is met with high-fives by teammates and frequently opponents. A solid nine-count slumps shoulders, and a missed spare produces snarls.

The reactions are the international language of bowling.

What distinguishes this group playing at the 60-lane temporary facility set up at Cashman Center from weekly leagues is the field is comprised of the best women's bowlers from 45 countries.

More than 200 players are competing in the biennial World Tenpin Bowling Association's Women's World Championships.

Cashman could serve as the backdrop for a United Nations commercial. China and Chinese Taipei players shared a pair of lanes for practice this week. Bowlers from China and Ukraine posed together for pictures taken by their coaches before the doubles competition.

As in most international sports competition, the world seems without boundaries.

They are bowling for gold, silver and bronze medals in the closest event they have to the Olympics.

Some countries offer their bowlers up to $20,000 in performance incentives -- Team USA offers a few hundred dollars for golds -- but as in the Olympics, winning gold is the top priority.

"It's about pride for us," said American pro Lynda Barnes, who bowled in her first Worlds in 1991 as an amateur. This is her first as a professional after international competition began including pros last year.

"There is great talent here, and the field has gotten stronger every year. As good as our team is, it's not an automatic to win the title," she said.

Barnes is joined by fellow pros Liz Johnson, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, Stephanie Nation, Kim Terrell-Kearney and Wendy Macpherson of Henderson. The team has combined to win 60 pro titles.

Competition also is held in singles, doubles and trios, but most players regard the team gold as the most precious.

Reigning team champion Malaysia is among the favorites to win the title, along with Korea and the United States, which hasn't won it since 1987 in Finland.

National pride motivates Malaysia's Shalin Zulkifli, and bowling for her country is her job. She receives a monthly stipend as a team member that allows her to train six days a week in a country where bowling is the top participation sport.

"Our country supports us because we use bowling to help promote a healthier lifestyle," said Zulkifli, 30, a five-time Malaysian national champion with more than 30 international titles won across three continents.

All share a dream of one day bowling in the Olympics. It was an exhibition sport in the 1988 Seoul Games and hasn't gotten any closer to full recognition.

A relative newcomer to the competition is Russia, which experienced a bowling boom in the late 1990s, according to Sergey Lisitsyn, a delegate with the team. He said the team does not receive much financial support from the country's sports ministry.

"We don't bring medals home yet," he said. "Until we start doing that, it will be difficult to break through."

Getting the sport into the Olympics might help, too.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.