Swedes Eklund, Helldén overtake the lead in 3rd QubicaAMF Open

04/18/09

2009 European Bowling Tour #6

Five players crack the 1400 bar on Friday

2009EBT06DennisEklund.jpg2009EBT06JohanHellden.jpgDennis Eklund (pictured left) and Johan Helldén (right), both from Sweden, moved to the top of the leaderboard in the qualifying of the 3rd QubicaAMF Open Friday at Bowling Center Gladiator in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Swedish national team member Eklund, who has won the Vienna Open two years ago, had 217, 224, 233, 270, and back-to-back 258 games in Squad 8 to overtake Swedish youth international Helldén, who had 1439 in Squad 7 with 1460 and an average of 243.33.

Hafthor Hardarsson, Iceland, and 3-time EBT ranking champion Paul Moor, England, were mere six and nine pins behind Helldén in Squad 7 to leap into third and fourth place with 1433 and 1430, respectively.

Jesper Agerbo, Denmark, was the fifth player, who cracked the 1400-bar on Friday. The runner-up in the 2008 Men's World Championships Masters competition chalked up 1415.

Previous leader Bojan Kovač, Slovenia, slipped to sixth place with 1399. David Canady, Germany, led Squad 9 Friday night with 1397 to move into 7th place in the overall qualifying standings.

Former European champion Jouni Helminen, Finland, had a slow start in Squad 8 with 166 and 183 but closed out his set with 232, 279, 289 and 247 (815 for the last three games) to jump into 8th place with 1396.

Rounding out the top 10 are Boštjan Rolk, Slovenia, and Kristoffer Hagelberg, Sweden, with 1378 and 1371, resp. Diana Zavjalova, Latvia, is the top female competitor in 13th place with 1349 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

Zavjalova is the sole woman among the top 46. Paraschos Alvanos, Greece, is the man on the bubble in 46th place with 1209 six-game total and an average of 201.50.

2009EBT06QubicaAMFOpenLogo.jpgThe 3rd QubicaAMF Open 2009 is the sole newcomer on the 2009 European Bowling Tour. The tournament is the first EBT Challenger event this season and will be held at 28-laner Bowling Center Gladiator in Ljubljana, Slovenia, which hosted the 41st QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in the year 2005.

The total prize fund is 42.800 Euro (-25% tax for all participants) with 5.333 Euro going to the winner. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game. As an EBT Challenger event, there are 50 ranking points at stake for the winner of the men's and women's rankings, respectively.

As the sixth stop of the 2009 season, the third QubicaAMF Open 2009 also counts toward qualifying for the PBA World Series in August as the EBT has decided to give the exemption to the highest ranked player in the men's division after seven stops.

Agerbo and Eklund, currently the No. 5 and 6 in the EBT rankings 98 and 106 points behind leader Osku Palermaa, told Bowlingdigital they are very interested to bowl in the PBA World Series and would accept an exemption.

Qualifying (6 games, unlimited re-entries) runs through Saturday, April 18 with the final qualifying squad 13 scheduled for 9pm.

A total of 52 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, April 19, the top 46 players from the overall qualifying standings plus the top six players from the combined standings of the first three days (Tuesday through Thursday) which are not among the top 46. The top 4 qualifiers will earn two byes.

Players seeded 5-52 after qualifying will bowl 6 games with the qualifying total being carried forward. The top 24 after 12 games will advance to the second round to bowl another 3 games. The top 12 after 15 games join the top 4 qualifiers in Round 3 and will be seeded 5-16.

The 16 bowlers will be broken up into 4 groups: A 1, 8, 9 and 16 seed, B: 4, 5, 12, 13 C: 3, 6, 11, 14 and D: 2, 7, 10, 15.

Each group will play 3 games round robin. During match play, players receive 20 bonus pins for winning a match and 10 pins each in the event of a tie plus 19 pins for a game higher than 239 and even 15 pins for a game higher than 269. The top 2 Players from each group advance to the fourth round.

The format for rest the tournament will be two games total pinfall. The remaining eight players will be placed into a bracket system and cut to four, then two, who will bowl for the title and the 5.333 Euro top prize.

 


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Standings after Qualifying Squad 9


The top 46 players plus the top six players from the combined standings of the first three days (places 47-52) will advance to the finals.