Mik Stampe (pictured left) from Denmark led his compatriot Anders Lousdal (right) into the pole position in Doubles and also overtook the lead in Singles in the 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open Thursday afternoon at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria.

Stampe used two high games for a 1329 six-game series, an average of 221.50 over six games. He had a slow start into the day with games of 189 and 204, then fired 260 and 277 before he closed out the set with 190 and 209. Lousdal added 1164 for a pinfall total of 2493 and an average of 207.75.

Leo Grundschober, Austria, the first player who reached the 1300-mark in this year's event, slipped to second place with 1310. Andreas Humm (right), Germany, missed the 1300 by one pin to leap into third place with 1299.

Anton Stiel, Austria, is fourth with 1288 and is followed by Tim Friedrichs, Germany, and Franz Hahn, Austria, both with 1286. Mirek Cifra, Czech Republic, is in 7th place with 1269 and Rene Landl, Austria, is 8th with 1267. Manfred Panzenböck (left)was third in Squad 7 of 17 with 1251, god for 9th place in the Singles qualifying.

Previous doubles leaders Mirek Cifra and Karel Kutina, Czech Republic, finally fell one spot to second place with 2467 pinfall total and an average of 205.58. Grundschober and team mate Roman Fürbacher sit in third place with 2461.

Ivonne Gross (right), who is already qualified for the finals as one of the first six squad leaders, is the top-ranked woman in the field of 180 players with 1224 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

Two of the best women bowlers in the world, USBC Queens champion and Clash of Champions winner Lynda Barnes (left), United States, and two-time World Champion and World Ranking Masters winner Clara Juliana Guerrero (right), Colombia, arrived in Vienna this afternoon. The two Columbia staff members will take to the lanes on Friday.

Laszlo Paal, Hungary, currently holds the 52nd and final spot to advance with 1155 or an average of 192.50.

Qualifying continues on Thursday with Squads 8 and 9 at 4pm and 8pm.

The 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open is the 11th stop of the 2009 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Majors". The tournament will be held from Tuesday Sept. 29 through Sunday Oct. 4, 2009 at the renovated 32-lane Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria.

More than 340 players from 27 countries will compete for an increased total prize money of 68.130 Euro - 57.900 € in Singles and 10.230 € in Doubles. The singles champion will receive the 6.000 Euro top prize while the doubles winners will split 1.600.

Once again the qualifying for the Vienna Open finals is contested as a doubles tournament. Each duo rolls at least 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 top 20 doubles will cash. Bigi Manico, Switzerland and Tanya Cuva (nee Petty) are the defending champion.

Qualifying runs from Tuesday through Saturday and ends with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad on Saturday night Oct. 3 slated for 11.30 pm local time (GMT +1). Women receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard on the European Bowling Tour

A total of 64 players will qualify for the Vienna Open finals on Sunday, Oct. 4:

 

the top 52 players from the overall qualifying standings

the first player each from Squad 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, who is not among the top 52 (total 6 players)

and the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

The top 8 qualifying leaders will bypass the first round of the finals.

The other 52 players will bowl 6 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 22, who will join the top qualifiers in Round Two.

Those 30 players will bowl another 6 games starting from scratch after which the field will be trimmed to the top 18, who will carry their pinfall forward into Round Three. After another 6-game block the top 4 with the highest 12-game total will advance to the stepladder finals.

The No. 4 seed meets the No. 3 in the opening match and the winner takes on the No. 2 seed for the right to bowl the top seed for the title, 100 ranking points and the 6.000 Euro top prize.