Thordarson leads Vienna Open after Day One; Gross wins Squad 3 and overtakes lead in Doubles with his wife Ivonne

Asgeir Thordarson (left), Iceland, was the best of 112 players on the first day of qualifying in the 5th Columbia 300 Vienna Open at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria. Thordarson led Squad 1 a 1374 six-game series and an average of 229.00.

Thordarson as well as Squad 2 leader Walter Gonaus (5th, 1321) and Thomas Gross (3rd, 1337), right, both of Austria, are automatically qualified fort he finals on Sunday, Oct. 21.

Their compatriot Robert Skach is second with 1362, while Karel Kutina, Czech Republic, was second to Gross in Squad 3 to overtake the fourth place in the overall qualifying standings with 1336.

Roman Kunert, Czech Republic, was sixth with 1315, followed by Christian Racpan (left), Germany, in seventh place with 1298.

Thomas Gross' wife Ivonne Gross (right) is the top-ranked woman in 8th place with 1293 pinfall total including 48 pins handicap.

Photos: Lars Müller/larsmueller.com

The best female bowler in the world in the year 2007, Diandra Asbaty, United States, arrived in Vienna this morning and will take on the lanes on Thursday (8pm) and Friday (5 and 9pm).

The Gross couple moved to the top of the leaderboard in Doubles with 2630 six-game total and an average of 215.17. Previous leaders Richard Klug and Robert Skach, all of Austria, fell to second with 2575. Kunert and Ales Hubacek, Czech Republic, moved into third with 2528.

The qualifying for the Vienna Open finals is contested as a unique doubles tournament. 10.230 Euro or approx. US$ 14,510 from the overall prize fund of 60.530 Euro ($85,850) will be given to the top 20 teams.

Each team rolls one six-game block. Unlimited re-entries with different partners are possible but each player can only cash once with the same partner. The team with the highest total pinfall including handicap will be declared the winner (no finals will be played).

The winners of the Doubles event will split 1.600 Euro or approx. US$2,270. World champions Martin Larsen and Robert Andersson, Sweden, are the defending champions.

Qualifying runs from Wednesday through Saturday and ends with the ultimate Desperado Squad on Saturday evening, Oct. 20.

A total of 68 players from the qualifying will advance to the finals starting on Sunday, Oct. 21 at 8am:

• The eight players with the highest six-game blocks will earn one bye and will be seeded 1-8 in the match play round of 32
• players positioned 9th to 56th after qualifying
• the six leaders of Squad 1 through 6 not among the top 56 and
• the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

All but the top 8 qualifiers will bowl 6 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 24. Those 24 will be seeded 9-32 in the match play round of 32.

Match play rounds of 32, 16 and 8 are single-elimination, best-of-three games. The highest seeded player bowls the lowest seeded player, the second-highest seeded player vs. the second-lowest seeded player, etc.

The semi-finals and the championship match will be decided in one game. A major on the European Bowling Tour, bowlers will be competing for a top prize of 7.000 Euro ($9,930) and an overall prize fund of 60.530 Euro ($85,850).