Needing a 245 final game to overtake qualifying leader Robert Andersson by one pin, Kenneth Haukås, Norway, closed out his six-game series with 232 to settle for third place with 1485 pinfall total and an average of 247.50.

The 35-year-old righthander, who prefers to bowl without using his thumb, started with 213, then fired games of 268, 279 and 289, before he finished with 204 and 232.

World Doubles Champion Robert Andersson (right), Sweden, remained atop the leaderboard with 1497 and an average of 249.50.

Xavier Lotthe (left), France, is second with 1487, while Tobias Karlsson, Sweden, slipped one spot to fourth with 1483.

The next three spots in the 17th of 18 qualifying squad belonged to junior bowlers from Norway, Sweden and Germany.

17-year-old Simen S. Jensen (right), who lives about 2000 kilometers north of Oslo started with 279 and 279 en route to move into 19th place with 1420 pinfall total.

Kim Bolleby (left), a 16-year-old lefty from Sweden, had high games of 266 and 257 and three games over 230 but ran out of gas in game #6 (177) to land in 26th place with 1404.

Kim's father Ulf Bolleby closed out the set with 243 to tie Claes Gauffin, both Sweden, with 1362. Due to the EBT's "higher last game" rule, Bolleby beat out Gauffin for 39th place with 243 to 231. With the final qualifying squad to go, Gauffin is the "man on the bubble" in 40th place.

18-year-old Tina Hulsch (right), Germany, used a high game of 286 for 1392 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for female bowlers on the European Bowling Tour, to move into 30th place and to practically secure her spot for tomorrow's finals.

The Norwegian Open 2007 is the 17th stop of the 2007 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's Challenger events. The tournament offers total prize money of 351.000 Norwegian Kronor, approximately 65,250 U.S. Dollar or 45.715 Euro. The winner will receive the 60.000 NOK top prize ($11,150/€7.815).

Qualifying concludes on Saturday, October 6 with Squad 18 at 8 p.m. local time (GMT +1) and the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad, which is scheduled for 11.30 p.m.

The top 40 players from the qualifying (cut: 1362) will automatically advance to the finals. They will be joined by the top four players from the first weekend (combined standings of squads 1-4) not among the top 40 and the top 4 from the Desperado Squad.

The top 12 earn two byes (cut: 1447), while players ranked 13-24 (cut: 1408) will bypass the first round. The first three rounds of the final consist of four games from scratch with half of the field advancing to the next round.

Once the field is cut to the top 12, players bowl two games from scratch to cut to the top 8, then the top four, who advance to the semi-finals (No. 1 vs. No. 4, No. 2 vs. No. 3). The winners of these one-game matches will bowl for the title and the 60.000 NOK top prize.

Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Oslo commencing Friday, October 5 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, October 7.