Belmonte, Ciminelli, Svensson and Simonsen Nominated for ESPY Best Bowler Award; Voting Now Open
7/17/2016Three-time defending PBA Player of the Year Jason Belmonte, Player of the Year contender Ryan Ciminelli, 2016 Fire Lake PBA Tournament of Champions winner and 2015 Rookie of the Year Svensson and 2016 USBC Masters
champion Anthony Simonsen have been selected as nominees for the 2016 ESPY Best Bowler Award. Fans can vote for their selections by clicking on http://espn.go.com/espys/2016/?voting=bestbowler
Awards will be announced July 13 during the ESPYs telecast in Los Angeles beginning at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Voting will be open until the start of the ESPYs telecast.
In 2015, Belmonte became the first international player to win three P layer of the Year awards. He became the first player to win the USBC Masters in three consecutive years and won his second consecutive PBA Tournament of Champions title to become the first player to win the Masters and TOC in back-to-back seasons. He will be trying for his second consecutive ESPY and third overall.
A contender for 2015 Player of the Year honors, Ciminelli won three titles in 2015 including the U.S. Open and finished third in the PBA World Championship. In 2016 he won the bowlingball.com Main Shootout for his sixth career Tour title.
Svensson won two titles in 2015 on his way to earning Rookie of the Year honors and in 2016 won the Fire Lake PBA Tournament o f Champions to become the tournament's youngest champion at age 21. Simonsen became the youngest player ever to win a major when he won the 2016 USBC Masters at age 21.
Simonsen became the youngest player ever to win a major when he won the 2016 USBC Masters at age 19. He won his first title by teaming with Connor Pickford to capture the Mark Roth/Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship early in 2016.
Article was posted with permission from Stars & Strikes, America's Bowling Newsmagazine. www.starsandstrikesbowling.com
