It is hard to describe what happened today. A country that doesn’t have a single youth bowler, a country that didn’t have a decent lane machine until this summer, and a country that doesn’t have a deep bowling traditions like other countries, won a medal at the IBF Super World Championships. OK, I have to admit, slightly went too far with the saying that Lithuania doesn’t have a single younth player. We have one. And together with Aidas Daniūnas, he not only crushed such global bowling mega stars as Jesper Svensson, Pontus Andersson or Glenn Morten Pedersen, but also secured the IBF Super World Championship medal. And this is not the end.
In the Round 32 of the Men’s group doubles, Aidas and Laurynas won against seven of their eight rivals, losing to the Singapore athletes only. Seven wins was enough to secure first place in group A and a ticket to the quarterfinals, where Syafiq Ridhwan and Nevern Netaneel duo form Malaysia were waiting. Team LTU started strong and didn’t lose rythm until the last shot was made. At times, it seemed that even the pins of the Dubai International Bowling Center wanted our victory more. After several incredibly successful throws, Lithuanian duo closed the game with the final result 258 – 235. After the last strike, both of our athletes turned to the broadcast cameras and raised their thumbs up – for the first time in history Lithuania just won the World Championship medal.
On November 13th, Lithuanians will stand against William Svensson and James Blomgren from Sweden in the semi-finals. Another Swedish duo – Jesper Svensson/Pontus Andersson – will play against team USA’s Andrew Anderson/Kristopher Prather. As a matter of course, no one can be sure about the exact pairs yet – thanks to the awful broadcast and results system from of the organizers, it is difficult to say how it will really be. Still, on thing is sure – Lithuania will be a tough nut to crack.
Another Lithuanian duo – Andrius Gasparavičius and Aidas Borodinas – almost created another miracle in the Men’s doubles group D. After taking five wins out of seven, they were close from the quarterfinals, but finished fourth. It is worth mentioning that if Andrius and Aidas had entered the quarterfinals, we would probably have had a confrontation between two Lithuanian doubles.
Rasa Germanavičienė and Marija Žiogė (0W/7L) had to admit the advantage of their competitors today and took the 8th place in the Women’s group B.
Another bowling dessert awaits us tomorrow on 11:30 local time. Team LTU member Laurynas Narušis, who has entered the TOP 32 stage of the Men’s group Singles, will fight the world’s most powerful bowlers again for the ticket to the quarterfinals and a chance to win another World Championships medal.
Apollo4bowling will help you to follow up all the latest news from the IBF Super World Championships. Stay tuned!
