JASMINE Yeong-Nathan's good form at the 44th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup showed no signs of abating as she stretched her lead at the top after the third block of qualifying on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old Singapore kegler scorched the lanes at Bol 300 in Hermosillo, Mexico, with a six-game total of 1,394 - an average of 233 pinfalls - to bring her total to 4,210.

The 2005 national champion now has a commanding lead over the 65-strong women's field.

Her closest rival, Ann Maree Putney, the defending champion from Australia, trails by 197 pinfalls (4,013).

Finland's Krista Pollanen is third on 3,982 pinfalls.

There will be one more block of qualifying before today's quarter-finals, where the top 24 keglers will bowl eight games.

With the qualifying pinfalls being carried forward, Yeong-Nathan will be looking to build on her results.

The top eight bowlers to emerge from the quarter-finals will battle for three places in the step-ladder finals.

Although Yeong-Nathan could not be reached by press time, her mother Veronica revealed that her daughter has not got ahead of herself, and is not thinking of the title just yet.

'She's really enjoying her game now,' said Veronica, who has been receiving daily updates via SMS from Yeong-Nathan. 'She just wants to take it one step at a time, and not give herself too much pressure.'

But before leaving for the tournament, Yeong-Nathan had set the target of at least equalling her top-eight finish from two years ago, when she was seventh.

Should she win, it will be the Republic's first AMF World Cup victory.

Remy Ong and Henry Tan have come closest to winning the men's title, with runner-up finishes in 2002 and 1970 respectively.

Grace Young's fourth placing in 1994 remains Singapore's best showing in the women's event.

In the men's field, Singapore's Lee Yu-Wen dropped to 29th position and is in danger of missing out on a place in the quarter-finals.

The hook bowler, who was 23rd overnight, felled 1,181 pinfalls - his lowest score of the three blocks.

His total of 3,680 is 476 pinfalls off leader Derek Eoff of the United States.

More importantly, it is 54 pinfalls short of Argentina's Jonathan Hocsman's total - the man occupying 24th place.

The tournament, with bowlers from 91 countries competing, will end on Saturday.