Current national team member Dennis Eklund and former women's national team member Marie Bengtsson won the Swedish National Championship finals Sunday at Strike & Co in Gothenburg.

In the men's title match in best-of-three game format, Eklund defeated Hafthor Hardarson, Iceland, two-games-to-none while 44-year-old veteran Bengtsson went the distance to beat Joline Persson Planefors, 2-1, to claim the women's title.

For Bengtsson it was a surprising but eagerly awaited victory. "I had two silver medals and two bronze medals (in national championships) before, but the gold was always missing," said Bengtsson. "When I prepared for the title match I said to myself: '´It is now or never.'"

Bengtsson was on the Swedish national team during the 1990s, winning a team silver medal in the World Championship in Reno, Nev., United States, in 1995. The mother of two is now satisfied with only competing in league matches for her club Örgryte from Gothenburg.

"Honestly speaking I had not planned to participate in this year's championship, but fortunately I was persuaded by my teammates," she said.

The finals featured the future stars of Swedish women's bowling, but Bengtsson was able to weather all charges by the young players. In the quarterfinal, Bengtsson defeated 20-year-old Victoria Johansson, then eliminated 19-year-old Jenny Johansson in the semis before she topped 19-year-old Joline Persson Planefors (pictured right) in the title match.

In the third and decisive game, Bengtsson opened with a 5-bagger and never looked back to wrap up the title with a 228-193 victory.

The preliminaries of the men's final were dominated by Sweden's top players. Martin Paulsson, Robert Andersson, Martin Larsen and Dennis Eklund were atop the leaderboard after 16 games when the field was cut to the top 8 players for the best of three games match play final.

However, Paulsson, Andersson and Larsen were knocked out, in the quarterfinal leaving Eklund as the favorite for the championship. Eklund continued his impressive run averaging 232 on the final day and closing out the championship with a 6-0 won-loss record.

In the title match against 23-year.old Hafthor Hardarson (left), Eklund flew past his opponent in the first game, 257-169 and sealed the victory in a close second game, 184-182.

"I had a game plan and I followed it all the way through. It worked out perfectly until the final when the lane conditions were extreme and I had to use my two-step-approach on the right lane," said Eklund who extended a winning streak.

One month ago he won the third Super Six stop in Gothenburg and was part of the Sundbyberg team which outplayed the country's top team, Pergamon, in the playoffs en route to win the league championship. Finally Eklund has claimed his first individual national title.

"Now I will have a two-week vacation from bowling and then the preparations start for the World Championship in Munich in August," he said.

Dennis Eklund and Marie Bengtsson will represent Sweden in the European Champions Cup in Ankara, Turkey, later this year. With his victory Eklund has also secured the top spot in the Swedish World Cup ranking and will join Helén Johnsson in the 46th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup at Bowling 300 Zagreb in Zagreb, Croatia (Oct. 15-24, 2010).

Report by Hans Karlsson. Photos by Thord Lagercrantz.

 

Swedish National Championship - Men's Playoffs

Quarterfinals:
Markus Jansson def. Martin Paulsson, 3-1
167-195, 213-197, 233-182
Hafthor Hardarson def. Robert Andersson, 2-1
182-177, 187-258, 223-169
Karl-Johan Eliasson def. Martin Larsen, 2-1
218-183, 205-229, 220-212
Dennis Eklund def. Mikael Larsson, 2-0
258-226, 209-180

Semifinals:
Dennis Eklund def. Markus Jansson, 2-0
247-191, 236-191
Hafthor Hardarson def. Karl-Johan Eliasson, 2-1
217-243, 217-204, 180-155

Championship:
Dennis Eklund (pictured right) def. Hafthor Hardarson, 2-0
257-169, 184-182

 

Swedish National Championship - Women's Playoffs

Quarterfinals:
Joline Persson Planefors-Linda Haglund, 2-0
247-189, 176-163
Jenny Johansson-Rebecka Larsen Jr., 2-1
213-210, 224-239, 217-205
Marie Bengtsson def. Victoria Johansson, 2-1
198-193, 190-203, 225-224 Helén Johnsson def. Veronica Lantto, 2-0
203-168, 259-248

Semifinals:
Joline Persson Planefors def. Helén Johnsson, 2-1
237-234, 204-240, 210-134
Marie Bengtsson def. Jenny Johansson, 2-0
248-217, 213-202

Championship:
Marie Bengtsson (pictured right) def. Joline Persson Planefors, 2-1
194-185, 166-217, 228-193.