First gold medals handed out

Team USA's Stefanie Nation claimed the first gold medal of the World Tenpin Bowling Association World Women's Championships.

Hwang Sun-Ok and Gang Hye-Eun of Korea (pictured below) followed suit with doubles gold shortly after.

Nation topped Mexico's Sandra Gongora, 167-131, at Cashman Center to defend the title won by her Team USA teammate Shannon O'Keefe at the 2007 WTBA World Women's Championships in Monterrey, Mexico.

Gongora, who earned her way into the championship match with a 258-209 semifinal win over Denmark's Anja Ginge Jensen, quickly lost her momentum and left three washouts and three splits in the loss to Nation.

"All it comes down to is making good shots because I can't control what my opponent is doing," said Nation, who was the top seed after six qualifying games and defeated Finland's Krista Pollanen, 220-195, in the semifinals.
"You never know what's going to happen, so you have to stay focused and aggressive. It was a funky pair, and neither of us could really get anything going. I was fortunate to come out ahead."

Nation became just the third American woman to claim singles gold at the World Women's Championships, joining O'Keefe and Kelly Kulick (1999).
Jensen and Pollanen each earned bronze medals Thursday.

"The feeling is incredible, but I'm really at a loss for words right now,"
said Nation, who earned silver medals in team at the World Championships in
2005 and 2007. "I don't know if it will sink in until I hear the national anthem, but right now, it feels unbelievable."

In the doubles action, Hwang and Gang defeated Australia's Carol Gianotti and Ann Maree Putney, 458-368, to win the gold medal. They qualified second behind their teammates Hong Su-Yeon and Son Yun-Hee and beat Anne Gales and Rikke Rasmussen of Denmark, 484-386, to earn a spot in the championship game. Gianotti and Putney topped Hong and Son, 417-409, for their place in the finale.

"To win this event brings us great pleasure," said Gang, who along with Hwang, has had previous success at the Asian Games. "We are thankful for the support of so many people. We got here with great coaching and a lot of hard work."

Earlier in the day, Colombia's Clara Guerrero battled through a difficult transition during her third game of trios and was able to get back on track in time to finish with six consecutive strikes and help her team into the overall lead at the event's halfway point.

Guerrero opened with games of 257 and 276, but started to struggle as the lanes changed. After a couple of wrong adjustments, she regained her rhythm and finished with 202 for a 735 series and helped her team to a 1,960 total.

"The first two games, I was throwing it a lot more left to right than I like, but it was working, so I didn't want to change anything," Guerrero said. "I knew my transition was going to be hard, and the last pair ended up being a lot tighter, so it confused me a little bit. We feel pretty good right now, and we're looking forward to tomorrow. We struggled a little bit on the fresh on the other pattern, but we're going to learn from what happened yesterday and come out and make good shots. If it's meant to happen for us, it will."

Team USA's Nation, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard and Liz Johnson, who were the opening-squad leaders, now are second with 1,942. Korea is third with 1,930, and Denmark is fourth with 1,929.

Trios is split into two three-game blocks over two days and uses both of the tournament's lane conditions. All competitors will return Friday to test their skills on the 40-foot WTBA Athens pattern.

After representatives from 45 countries complete their six qualifying games in trios, the top four teams will advance to the semifinals, which will be held Friday at 9:30 p.m. EDT.

This year's tournament marks the first time professionals are allowed to compete at the World Women's Championships, and competitors will compete in singles, doubles, trios, team and Masters competition before the event concludes Sunday. Medals also will be awarded for all-events.

Through 15 games, Guerrero is the all-events leader with 3,312. Rasmussen is second with 3,306, and Sweden's Helen Johnsson is third with 3,273.
Nation is fourth with 3,362.

After 24 games, the top 16 players in the all-events standings will advance to Masters competition, which is scheduled for Sunday morning.