Maragkos cracks top 8 in qualifying at the 5th Columbia 300 Vienna Open

Leonidas Maragkos (left) from Greece came out of the gates quickly in the early morning squad on Saturday at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria en route to crack the top 8 in the qualifying of the 5th Columbia 300 Vienna Open.

The Greek national team member, currently the No. 10 in the EBT rankings, came out of the gates fast, rolling a 279 game. He added a pair of 240 and a pair of 220s before he closed out his six-game series with a 195 game to tie Squad 4 leader Mike Machnig, Germany, at 1417.

Due to Machnig's higher last game (235), Maragkos overtook the 8th place, the last spot to earn one bye for the finals, an average of 236.17.

Due to Machnig's higher last game (235), Maragkos overtook the 8th place, the last spot to earn one bye for the finals.

German youth international Florian Hinterwimmer finished his series with 266, 243 and 279 but fell one pin short of Maragkos' score to rise into 9th place in the overall qualifying standings with 1416.

Four more players from squad 11 moved into the top 56. Joonas Huolman, Finland, was next with 1389 including a pair of 258 games, good for 16th place.

Pawel Bielski, Poland, was six pins behind with 1383 to overtake the 20th place.

Photos: Lars Müller/larsmueller.com

German, European and World champion Tanya Petty (left) had 1351 including 48 pins handicap to move into 43rd place. Petty is one of 11 women among the top 56 thus far.

With 296 players and 286 doubles in the books, Petteri Salonen (right) from Finland held on to the lead in both disciplines, singles and doubles.

Salonen rolled a 1547 six-game series to hold a comfortable 99-pin lead in Singles and help grab the lead in doubles with Sami Konsteri with 2886.

Hinterwimmer teamed with Melanie Birlinger (left), also a German youth national team member, to lead squad 11 in doubles with 2741 and an average of 224.42, good for 7th place overall. Maragkos and Jimmy Mortensen, Denmark, were second with 2725 pinfall total to overtake the 10th place.

Dutch national team member Wendy van der List (right) just squeezed in the top 56 by virtue of her higher last game. Van der List beat out Vincent Cayez, France, Franz Hahn, Austria and Robert Andersson, Sweden, all 1329, for 56th place, 232-214-207-192.

The qualifying for the Vienna Open finals is contested as a unique doubles tournament. 10.230 Euro or approx. US$ 14,510 from the overall prize fund of 60.530 Euro ($85,850) will be given to the top 20 teams.

Each team rolls one six-game block. Unlimited re-entries with different partners are possible but each player can only cash once with the same partner. The team with the highest total pinfall including handicap will be declared the winner (no finals will be played).

The winners of the Doubles event will split 1.600 Euro or approx. US$2,270. World champions Martin Larsen and Robert Andersson, Sweden, are the defending champions.

Qualifying runs from Wednesday through Saturday and ends with the ultimate Desperado Squad on Saturday evening, Oct. 20.

A total of 68 players from the qualifying will advance to the finals starting on Sunday, Oct. 21 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 9th to 56th after qualifying
• the six leaders of Squad 1 through 6 not among the top 56 and
• the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

Advancing as "lucky loser" are currently (cutoff number 1329):

• Squad 1: Pavla Novakova, Czech Republic, 1246
• Squad 2: Thomas Tybl, Austria, 1281
• Squad 3: Roman Kunert, Czech Republic, 1315
• Squad 4, Richard Klug, Austria, 1328,
• Squad 5: Franz Hahn, Austria, 1329
• Squad 6: Peter Ljung, Sweden, 1324.

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 match play round of 32.

Match play rounds of 32, 16 and 8 are single-elimination, best-of-three games. The highest seeded player bowls 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. A major on the European Bowling Tour, bowlers will be competing for a top prize of 7.000 Euro ($9,930) and an overall prize fund of 60.530 Euro ($85,850).


Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Vienna with updates after each round commencing October 17 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, October 21.