The
9th Columbia 300 Vienna Open got underway with a 9-pin No-Top tournament Monday evening, Sept. 26th at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria. The event, which traditionally kicks off the five-day qualifying portion of the European Bowling Tour "Gold" tournament, drew 81 players from Austria, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands and Poland. Three of the Dutch bowlers,
Marco Landman (1233),
Ronnie Lenting (1179), and
Eric van Glabbeek (1137), led Group A, B and C, resp., while
Petra Schadner of Austria won Group D with 1131.
The qualifying of the 9th Columbia 300 Vienna Open got underway on Tuesday, Sept. 27th at noon CET with the first of 17 squads at 32-lane Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria. Austrian national team members Rene Landl and Roman FĂĽrbacher posted the two highest six-game series in a full squad of 30 Doubles en route to take the lead in Singles Qualifying and teamed to also set the tone in Doubles. Landl (r.) beat out his team mate FĂĽrbacher (l.) for the top spot by one pin, 1251 to 1250. Qualifying continues today with Squad 2 and 3. 
The 9th annual Columbia 300 Vienna Open is the 17th stop of the 2011 European Bowling Tour and the last "Gold" event this season. 325 players from 30 countries have already registered for the popular tournament which will be held Sep. 27 through Oct. 2, 2011 at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria offering total prize fund of 70.630 Euro. 
14 out of 17 qualifying squads are fully booked but there are still individual spots available in almost every squad. Bowlingdigital will cover the VO live from Vienna.