Wu Siu Hong powers his way into the lead in Vienna Open

Hong Kong's No. 1 bowler, Wu Siu Hong, averaged 246.83 in the sixth qualifying squad to take the lead in the qualifying for the 4th Vienna Open powered by Columbia 300 with 1481 six-game total.

The righthander started with 244 and back-to-back 222 games and finished with 793 for the last three games (270, 257 and 266).

Siu Hong has practiced with Doubles World Champion Robert Andersson (right) the past two weeks in Andersson's hometown Gothenburg in Sweden. The duo moved to the top in the Doubles event as 'coach' Andersson shot 258 in his final game to add 1257 to Siu Hong's 1481 for a 2738 series to top the previous high score by 18 pins.

Squad 1 leader Andrew Cain (left) used his second re-entry on his 25th birthday to improve his score to 1438 and to leap into second position in the overall standings. The former Team USA member had a high game of 269 and a low game of 223.

Together with his partner Stuart Williams (1281), the American/English duo fell three pins short of the second place in Doubles. Previous leader Thomas and Ivonne Gross slipped to second place with 2722 and Cain/Williams are third at 2719. Thomas fell to third place in Singles with 1400.

A 'high' light came in the second frame of the fourth game when Germany's Michael Krämer had an interesting spare attempt on the 7-9 split. The righthander went literally through the roof when he lost an insert and his ball in a 'high speed spare attempt'. After the dust had settled, Krämer and his team mates had to move to the extra lanes due to security reasons. Click on the image to view it full size.

Krämer (1228, in action) and his partner Niki Schöder (1359, in the back ground left), Austria, moved into seventh place in the Doubles event with 2587.

The qualifying for the Vienna Open finals is contested as a doubles tournament. All players roll six-game blocks and no finals will be played. A bowler can only cash once with the same partner. Unlimited re-entries with different partners are possible. The winners of the Doubles event will split 1.600 Euro ($2,002).

The lane maintenance is done by John Janawicz from Kegel. Janawicz is the 2005 USBC Open Singles and All Events Champion. Kegel is the official lane maintenance partner of the European Tenpin Bowling Federation.

Qualifying continues through Saturday evening and ends with the ultimate 'Desperado Squad'. 68 players from the qualifying will advance to the finals starting on Sunday, October 22 at 8am:
- The eight players with the highest six-game blocks will earn one bye and will be seeded 1-8 in the match play Round of 32.
- Players positioned 9-56 after qualifying,
- the leaders of Squad 1 through 6 not among the top 56,
- and the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

All but the top 8 qualifiers will bowl 6 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 24. Those 24 will be seeded 9-32 in the play Round of 32.

Match Play Rounds of 32, 16 and 8 are in a best-of-three games format, highest seeded player vs. the lowest seeded player, the second-highest seeded player vs. the second-lowest seeded player, etc.

The semi-finals and the championship match will be decided in one game. The Vienna Open champion will receive the 7.000 Euro top prize (approx. $8,758).


Singles Results
Doubles Results