Daria Kovalova (pictured left) of Ukraine came back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat Birgit Pöppler (right) of Germany, two-games-to-one, en route to capture the women's title at the 35th European Champions Cup Sunday at bowling center Dekker in Zoetermeer, Netherlands.

The top eight women after qualifying advanced to the single-elimination finals in best-of-three games format. Each match was played on one pair of lanes with the left lane dressed with the long oil (40 ft.) and the right lane dressed with short oil (35 ft.). Each game was played on one lane. The higher seeded player had the advantage to decide where the first game was played. The second game was played on the other lane and an eventual third game was played on the same lane as the first game.

Qualifying leader Pöppler, who led the 36-player women's division in all three rounds of the preliminaries, took a 1-0 lead with a 231-188 win on the short pattern. The Ukrainian, seeded third, rebounded with a 226-199 win on long oil to force a deciding third game. She defeated Pöppler on her favorite pattern, 216-211, to claim the title.

Pöppler swept No. 8 seed, Sandra Andersson of Sweden in the quarterfinals and eliminated No. 5 Carmen Haandrikman (left) of the host country Netherlands in the semifinals, 2-1.

Kovalova went the distance in all three matches. She topped No. 6 Helga Di Benedetto of Italy, 231-158 in the decider to advance to the semifinals where she came back from a 1-0 deficit against No. 2 Alena Korobkova (right) of Russia.

Pöppler, who averaged 223.09 for 32 games in the tournament, more than 16 pins higher than Kovalova, had to settle for the silver medal. Korobkova finished in third place with Haandrikman in fourth place.

 

The European Champions Cup 2012 took place at bowling center Dekker, a 16-laner with Funk equipment in the city of Zoetermeer, just 15 km East of The Hague, Netherlands.

L-R Pöppler, Kovalova, Korobkova and Haandrikman. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Starting on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 42 men from 41 countries and 36 women from 35 countries rolled three eight-game blocks of qualifying over four days, the first block on short oil (35 ft.), the second block on long oil (40ft.) and the third block on combined oil (one lane dressed with short oil, the other lane dressed with long oil).

The top eight men and the top eight women after 24 games advanced to the single-elimination finals in best-of-three games format.

 

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2012 European Champions Cup - Women's Championship

Single-elimination, best-of-three games; winner earns the title, loser finishes second

Seed	Player	Country	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Won-Loss
#1	Birgit Pöppler	Germany	231	199	211	1
#3	Daria Kovalova	Ukraine	188	226	216	2

 

 

2012 European Champions Cup - Women's Semifinals

Single-elimination, best-of-three games; losers eliminated, finish third and fourth according to their seeding

Seed	Player	Country	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Won-Loss
#1	Birgit Pöppler	Germany	252	205	226	2
#5	Carmen Haandrikman	Netherlands	183	234	179	1
#2	Alena Korobkova	Russia	235	227	159	1
#3	Daria Kovalova	Ukraine	223	248	204	2

 

 

2012 European Champions Cup - Men's Quarterfinals

Single-elimination, best-of-three games; losers eliminated, finish 5th to 8th according to their seeding

2012 European Champions Cup - Women's Quarterfinals

Single-elimination, best-of-three games; losers eliminated, finish 5th to 8th according to their seeding

Seed	Player	Country	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Won-Loss
#1	Birgit Pöppler	Germany	234	234		2
#8	Sandra Andersson	Sweden	230	165		0
#2	Alena Korobkova	Russia	204	186	211	2
#7	Marjo Pöntinen	Finland	161	187	205	1
#3	Daria Kovalova	Ukraine	199	170	231	2
#6	Helga Di Benedetto	Italy	189	218	158	1
#4	Krista Pöllänen	Finland	216	155		0
#5	Carmen Haandrikman	Netherlands	218	254		2