Kirsten Penny and Steven Thorton of England beat Germany's Tanya Petty and Tobias Gaebler 834-763 on Wednesday to take the gold medal in mixed doubles bowling event at the World Games in Akita Prefecture. Penny and Thorton finished on top of the preliminary rounds at the Utenayu bowling lanes in Yokote with 2,584 pins in six games for an average team score of 430.7. Norway's Petter Hansen and Mette Hansen were second with 2,556 and the German team third with 2,584.
Petty and Gaebler upset the Hansen's in the step-ladder semifinal 364-348, but then fell behind in the first game of the championship final 475-402 and failed to recover in the second as the English bowlers walked away with the gold medal. In the men's singles event, Japan's Masaaki Takemoto, who rolled a perfect game in the mixed doubles competition, advanced to the semifinals with some steady bowling in the qualifying rounds.
In billiards, Japanese national champion Akimi Kajitani defeated Australia's Tammy Cantoni to advance to the quarterfinal's of the women's pool competition.
In rhythmic gymnastics, Irina Tchachina of Russia grabbed the lead in all four events -- rope, hoop, ball and clubs -- after the preliminary rounds at Akita City Gymnasium. Yukari Murata advanced to the finals in the hoops and club events for the host country and Ai Yokochi went through in the rope and ball apparatus.