Mega Place Bowling Club in Chania, Crete, Greece (Sept. 21-28, 2009)

Ann Louise Haugen Andersen (pictured), Norway, who led the women's division of the 32nd European Champions Cup after the first block on short oil, widened her lead in the second block on long oil Thursday afternoon at Mega Place Bowling Club in Chania, Crete, Greece.

The Norwegian added the second highest block of the day in Group A with 1820 to the 1888 from yesterday to lead the field of 37 women from 36 countries with 3708 and an average of 231.75 for 16 games. Trailing Haugen Andersen by 48 pins to sit in second place with 3660 is Sara Mizrahi, Israel, who maintained her position with a 1775 series. Reija Lunden, Finland, and Sandra Andersson, Sweden, remained in third and fourth place with 3601 and 3583.

Natassa Rovithaki (right), Greece, used a 1791 series to leap from 8th to 5th place with 3572. Ghislaine Van Der Tol, Netherlands, had the highest series in Group B Thursday evening with 1811 to move into the top 8 into sixth place with 3545.

World Youth champion Birgit Pöppler, Germany, fell one spot to 7th place with 3519. England's Kirsten Penny is the second-best player of Group A in 8th place with 3491. Her compatriot, defending ECC champion Zara Glover, posted the highest series on long oil with 1826 to jump from 14th to 9th place with 3489.

The women are done for today and bowl their third and final block on dual lane condition (one lane with short oil, one lane with long oil) on Friday evening and Saturday morning. The men will bowl their second block Friday morning and afternoon.

The ECC features the national champions or ranking leaders - one man and one woman per country - of the European Tenpin Bowling Federation member federations plus the defending champions.

All players will bowl three 8-game blocks (a total of 24 games) preliminaries over three days: Block 1 on short oil, Block 2 on long oil and Block 3 on short/long oil (left lane short, right lane long).

The top 8 players after the preliminaries will qualify for the single-elimination final in best-of-three games format. In each round the highest seeded player will bowl the lowest seeded player, the 2nd highest vs. the 2nd lowest, etc.) based on the standings after the preliminaries.

 

 

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Women's Division - Standings after the second block on long oil