Abu Dhabi: Denmark’s Carsten Hansen, Thomas Larsen and Frederik Ohrgaard beat top seeds the United States 647-638 in a thrilling final to win the trios gold medal at the 2014 World Bowling Championships at the Khalifa International Bowling Centre here on Thursday.
“We thought we had lost the match when the first two Americans put in good games,” said Hansen, the youngest in the Danish team at 22. “I didn’t do the math but our coaches and Frederik kept telling me we have a chance if Larsen could strike home.”
Larsen added: “This is a huge win for us. We won the team bronze medal in Las Vegas last year and Denmark haven’t won a gold medal since 1983. This gold is the result of the hard work we have put in during our preparations.”
The champions also had to work hard in their semi-final against third seeds South Korea. They had to come from behind to beat the trio of Park Jong-woo, Hong Hae-sol and Kim Kyung-min 668-662, while the Americans sailed past the Australian trio of David Porto, Sam Cooley and Jason Belmonte 735-647.
After three events and 18 games bowled, doubles gold medalist Choi leads the all-events standings with 4,174. America’s Mike Fagan’s 1,515 series in the trios moved the American into second with 4,169, while singles bronze medallist Tommy Jones of the US is third with 4,118.
