Pär Svensson, Sweden, and Jouko Kuossari, Finland led qualifying Squad 20 en route to crack the top 10 in the 1st Maribor Open Strike Tournament at Strike Bowling Center in Maribor, Slovenia.

Svensson (left), who has won gold medals with the Swedish national team in World and European Team Cups, had high games of 244 and 239, three 220-plus games and a low game of 209 to move into sixth place with 1372 six-game total and an average of 228.67.

Finnish veteran Kuossari (right), a former European champion (1993, Doubles and Team) and 1994 ECI champion, finished 11 pins behind Svensson in seventh place with 1361 (226.83) including a 278 in game #2.

Alexander Gabrielian, Austria, was third in Squad 20 with 1282, good enough for 20th place in the overall standings. Hafthor Hardarson, Iceland, was next with 1268 to move into 24th place.

European champion Jari Ratia (left) from Finland had 1260 and sits in 11th place overall with the 1333 he shot yesterday.

Mathieu Berges (right), Switzerland, and Robert Kendall, England, tied for 1227 to overtake 30th and 31st place due to Berges' higher last game, 216-172.

Swedes Martin Larsen (left) and Tony Fransson held onto the lead with 1512 (252.00) and 1472 (245.33) six-game total, respectively. Pasi Uotila, Finland, is third with 1467.

Qualifying continues on until Saturday evening and concludes with the one-game Desperado Squad around Midnight. A total of 56 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, Sep. 16: The top 52 in the overall qualifying standings and the top 4 Desperados.

Qualifiers 1-14 will earn two byes, while qualifiers 15-28 will bypass the first round only. The remaining 28 finalists will bowl 3 games starting from scratch The top 14 will qualify for the second round and meet qualifiers 15-28. The top 14 after another 3-game set from scratch meet the top 14 qualifiers in Round #3.

The field will be trimmed to 16, 8 and then 4 in Rounds 3 to 5 (same format as before). The four remaining players will bowl for the title and the 8.000 Euro top prize in a traditional stepladder format based on the standings after Round #5: No. 4 bowls No. 3, the winner meets No. 2 and the winner bowls No. 1 for the title.

Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Maribor all the way through to the finals on Sunday, September 16. The four-player stepladder finals will be broadcasted live on Slovenian television in a two-hour show from Strike Bowling Center.