25th November, Hong Kong, China: Hong Kong's national bowler, Jovi Ma Ka Yin made the cut for the Men's Singles Round 2 finals of the HKGX 2025 IBF World Championships as Swedish two-hander, Jesper Svensson topped the overall standings followed by Baek Seung Min of Korea in second.
The newly-crowned PBA Tournament of Champions winner, Svensson amassed a total of 1497 over the six games qualifying round to top both Squad 3 and winner of the overall standings. Baek, who finished second to the Swede, totaled 1455 to end up second overall.
Finland's Luukas Vaananen was equally impressive with a third place finish in the third squad and sixth in the overall standings. Squad 2 leader, Nicolas Carter of Denmark and Squad 1 leader, Ji Geun of Korea ended up third and fourth positions with 1442 and 1430 respectively.
Vaananen and Rafiq Ismail of Malaysia, who finished second to the Korean, took up sixth and seventh positions. Markus Jansson of Sweden, Mathias Ankerdal of Denmark and Mihal-Alin Dragnia completed the top ten.
Jovi Ma putting in an impressive performance in his debut
Debutant, Jovi Ma Ka Yin did extremely well to be the only Hong Kong bowler to make the next round in 13th position with 1362. Ma's team-mates who did not make the cut were Ivan Tse (46th-1289), Keith Mark (90th-1224), Tong Wong (107th-1202), James Lui (113th-1189) and Wu Siu Hong (127th-1163).
Abdulrahman Al Doseri of Qatar, who shot the championship's first perfect game in the third squad, survived to make the cut for Round 2 sharing 31st and 32nd positions with UAE's Nayef Eqab on 1313, averaging 218.83.
Missing the cut by just three pins was Andrew Anderson of USA with 1310. Others who were closed to making the cut were Paul Purps of Germany, Daiya Saito of Japan and Mate Balazs-Becsi of Romania all missing out by four pins on 1309.
The top 32 will advance to the Round 2 head-to-head Matchplay finals on November 27. They will be divided into four groups and will bowl seven matches, earning 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 point for loss. The winner of each group will proceed to the semi-finals.
Jesper Svensson topping Squad 3 and finishing as overall leader
The women will take to the lanes tomorrow, November 26 for their six games qualifying round which is divided into two squads. Again the Top 32 in the combined standings will advance to the Round 2 Matchplay finals.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Hong Kong, China.