Fabre, Persson Planefors lead in European Champions Cup after Block One Qualifying

    08/18/11

    2011 ECC

    4/38 women and 2/40 men average over 200 on short oil

    2011ECCLogo.jpg Anthony Fabre of France and Swede Joline Persson Planefors took the lead in the men's and women's division of the 34th European Champions Cup after the first round of qualifying Wednesday at Lahti Bowl in Lahti, Finland.

    Just four women and only two men bowled over par (based on a 200 average) for eight games on the 35 feet short oil pattern (pdf file).

    Persson Planefors led all 78 bowlers - 40 men and 38 women - with 1706 total and an average of 213.25. The Swedish national champion had games of 190, 224, 236, 168, 232, 218, 216 and 222. Lisa John, England, was 38 pins behind in second place with 1667 including two 240s.

    Third place belonged to Sandra Torrents, Catalonia, with 1605 including the women's high game of 256. Isabelle Sacco, France, was fourth with 1602. Defending champion Krista Pöllänen, Finland, was sixth with 1526.

    On the men's side, Anthony Fabre, France, had high games of 247 and 243 and six games between 180 and 193 to finish the short oil contest atop the leaderboard with 1623 or an average of 202.88. Grant Dugan, Northern Ireland, was mere nine pins behind in second place with 1614 including three 220s.

    Third place Leonidas Maragkos, Greece, was 20 under with 1580 including a high game of 223. Gheorghe Catalin, Romania, who sits in 14th place with 1516, had the high game of the day with 268. Svein Åke Ek, Norway, is currently in 22nd place with 1472 or an average of 184.

    Qualifying continues Thursday with the second eight game block on the 45 feet long oil pattern (pdf file).

    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.

    40 men and 38 women will bowl three eight-game blocks in the three-day preliminaries: Block 1 on short oil, Block 2 on long oil and Block 3 on dual lane condition (left lane long, right lane short oil).

    The top 8 players after 24 games preliminaries will advance to the single-elimination finals in best-of-three games format. In each round the highest seeded player will bowl the lowest seeded player, the second highest vs. the second lowest, etc., based on the standings after the preliminaries.

    Each match of the finals will be played on one pair of lanes, where the left lane will be dressed with long oil and the right lane with short oil. Each game in a match will be played on one of the two lanes (European style).

    The higher qualifier will have the advantage of selecting the lane conditioning pattern for the first game and whether he wants to start the first game or not. The second game will be played on the other lane condition and the order of players will be changed. An eventual third and deciding game will be played like the first game.

    The field will be trimmed to four, then two players, who will bowl for the title.

     


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