South Korea has won the bid to host the 2027 World Bowling Championships.
This is the first time South Korea has hosted a world championship for both men and women.
According to the Korea Bowling Association, the country was selected to host the 2027 World Bowling Championships at the International Bowling Federation (IBF) Executive Board meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Nov. 23 (local time).
South Korea last hosted the World Men’s Championship in 2006 in Busan, where only male players competed. However, a combined world championship that includes women has never been held in the country, the association said.
The world championships, the most prestigious international bowling event, will feature 32 teams from Asia, Europe and the Americas who will compete in qualifiers to determine the world champion.
The Korean team won the overall title at the 2023 World Championships in Kuwait last month with four gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
The World Youth Bowling Championships will also be held in Korea for the first time in 26 years.
About 700 youth athletes from more than 50 countries around the world will compete in the 12-day event, which kicks off next July, the federation said.
The last time South Korea hosted the event was in 1998. Incheon was the host city.
The federation said, “The tournament has produced many stars who are leading the world of bowling. It is an important event to see the future of bowling,” the federation said in welcoming the bid.
The host cities and specific dates for both events have yet to be finalized.
The federation said it won the right to host the two tournaments after focusing its bidding efforts on national federation executives at the IBF Congress in Kuwait last month.
In particular, it said that Chung Seok, the president of the Korea Bowling Association, was instrumental in securing the rights to host the tournaments, as he spoke with IBF President Sheikh Talal Mohammad Al-Sabah, who was recently re-elected, during the congress. 파워볼