Friday's squad leaders Pöllänen, Holzapfel, Williams crack top 5 in Munich

    04/28/12

    2012 European Bowling Tour #7

    Sean Rash maintains one-pin lead after qualifying squad 8/12; Dane Martin Klitte rolls first 300 game in Squad 8; initial cut is currently 1332 (222 average)

    201112PBASeanRash.jpg

    2011BWCKristaPollanen2.jpgSean Rash (pictured left), United States, maintained a slim one-pin lead in the 3rd Track Dream-Bowl Palace Open after the completion of two-thirds of the qualifying squads at Dream Bowl Palace in suburban Munich, Germany. The PBA Tournament of Champions winner leads the field of 209 players from 26 countries with 1426 total and an average of 237.67.

    Krista Pöllänen (right) of Finland fell one pin short of the lead in Squad 7 on Friday afternoon to jump into second place with 1425 including 48 pins women's handicap. The World Games and European Champions Cup winner had scratch games of 238, 237, 215, 217, 225 and 245, an average of 229.50.

    2012EBT04MichaelHolzapfel2.jpg2012EBT04StuartWilliams2.jpgGerman international Michael Holzapfel (left) led the morning squad 6 with 1421 behind games of 245, 197, 208, 228, 298 and 245 to sit in third place in the overall standings. While Holzapfel missed the first 300 game of the tournament by two pins, Martin Klitte of Denmark accomplished the feat in the third game of his 1348 series in Squad 7.

    Places four and five belonged to England's PBA champions Dominic Barrett and Stuart Williams (right). Barrett slipped from second to fourth place with 1419 while Williams led Squad 8 with 1408 including six games between 267 and 206 to leap into fifth place.

    2012EBT04MikaKoivuniemi2.jpg2012EBT04MartinLarsen2.jpgCassie Staudinger of Australia is the second woman in the top 8 in sixth place with 1397 including handicap. Nine-time PBA champion and current World Bowling Tour men's point ranking leader, Mika Koivuniemi (left), Finland, was second to Pöllänen in Squad 7 to overtake seventh place with 1392.

    Rounding out the top 8, who will bypass the first two rounds of Sunday's finals, was Martin Larsen (right), Sweden, who trailed Holzapfel in Squad 6 by 35 pins with 1386 (231 average).

    His compatriot Mathias Ã…rup, who won the gold medal in Doubles at the 2010 Men's World Championships at Dream Bowl Palace, currently holds the 16th place with 1369 and an average of 228.17. Qualifiers 9 to 16 will earn one bye for the finals.

    2011EBT04AchimGrabowski2.jpgWith eight of the 12 squad leaders, who are automatically qualified for the finals, determined, German standout Achim Grabowski (right) is the "man on the bubble" in 39th place with 1332 and an average of 222 as Squad 1 leader, Rainer Köpf, Germany, slipped below the cut line with 1331.

    Qualifying continues on Saturday, April 28, with Squads 9-12 scheduled for 8 a.m., noon, 4 and 8 p.m. local time (CEST) and concludes with the Desperado Squad immediately following Squad 12.

    2012TrackDBPOpenLogo_small.jpg The 3rd Track Dream-Bowl Palace Open is the seventh stop of the 2012 European Bowling Tour and the third out of eight EBT "Silver" tournaments this season. The tournament will be held from April 25-29 at 52-lane Dream Bowl Palace in Unterföhring, a suburb of Munich, Germany and offers total prize fund of 50.000 Euro with 7.000 Euro going to the winner, 3.000 Euro to the runner-up and 4.000 and 2.000 Euro to the third and fourth place finisher, respectively.

    Qualifying of the 3rd Track Dream-Bowl Palace Open runs from Wednesday April 25 through Saturday, April 28 with the final qualifying Squad 12 scheduled for 8 p.m. CEST. Qualifying will conclude with the one-game Desperado Squad slated for 11.30 p.m.

    A total of 48 players including all squad winners and the top 4 of the Desperado Squad will qualify for the finals on Sunday, April 29. The top 8 qualifiers will receive two byes, while qualifiers 9-16 will bypass the first round of the finals.

    Three four-game rounds each starting from scratch will trim the field to 32, 20 and then eight players, who will determine the champion in single-elimination match play rounds. In each round over two games decided by total pinfall, the highest seeded player meets the lowest seeded player, the second-highest meets the second-lowest, and so on.

    Following April 30 and May 1 at the same venue will be the 5th EBT Masters featuring the top 16 men and women of the 2011 EBT season.

    2012EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2012 European Bowling Tour is made up of 21 events in 16 countries including two Platinum, four Gold, eight Silver and seven Satellite tournaments.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event earn ranking points based on how they finish in the event. The winner of a Platinum tournament receives 250 ranking points, the winner of a Gold tournament gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament such as the 3rd Track Dream-Bowl Palace Open earns 100, and the winner of a Satellite tournament gets 50 ranking points.

    Those points will be tabulated throughout the season to determine the top 16 men and top 16 women who will compete in the sixth EBT Masters in Bratislava, Slovakia in Sept. 2013.

     


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    Standings after Qualifying Squad 8/12


    Squad leaders in boldface.

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