Luminita Farkas (pictured left) of Romania led the second qualifying squad of the 9th Columbia 300 Vienna Open en route to qualify for the finals on Sunday, Oct. 2 at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria.

Despite starting and finishing her six-game series with 160s, Farkas totaled 1234 pins including 48 pins handicap thanks to games of 215, 231, 2902 and 209, to beat out Lubos Jurinyi, Slovakia, and Zoltan Skorbrics, Hungary, for the top spot by five and nine pins, respectively.

Skorbrics (right) needed three strikes and an eight-count in the last two frames to tie Farkas and to win the squad by virtue of the higher last game. The Hungarian got the first two strikes but left a ringing 10 on his next shot, which sealed his fate.

Farkas moved into fourth place in the overall qualifying standings and is currently the best woman in the 96-player field. Jurinyi is sixth with 1229 including a 278 in the fifth game and Skorbrics is seventh with 1225.

Austrian national team members Rene Landl, Roman Fürbacher and Michael Loos held on to the lead with 1251, 1250 and 1239, respectively.

Landl and Fürbacher (left, r-l) also continued to lead in Doubles with 2501 and an average of 208.42. Their compatriots Walter Gruellenberger and Roland Leisch remained in second place with 2432 with Thomas Gross and Walter Rieger in third at 2346.

Fourth place belonged to Alexander Medveditskov of Russia and Italy's Marco Parapini with 2326. Franz Hahn and Günter Weiss (right, l-r), Austria, were the best doubles in Squad 2 with 2319 en route to move into fifth place.

Qualifying continues Tuesday with Squad 3 scheduled for 8 p.m.

The 9th Columbia 300 Vienna Open is the 17th stop of the 2011 European Bowling Tour and the last of six EBT "Gold" tournaments this season. 325 players from 30 countries are expected to compete for total prize fund of 70.630 Euro (approx. $95,000) - 60.400 € for Singles and 10.230 € for the Doubles event.

The singles champion will receive the 7.000 € top prize, the runner-up earns 5.000 and the third-place finisher gets 3.500 Euro. The doubles winners will split 1.600 €.

In addition, players can earn money for a Perfect Columbia Game ($1,000 for every 300 game bowled in the tournament with a Columbia 300 ball), a Perfect Ebonite Game ($500 for every 300 game bowled in the tournament with a ball manufactured by EBONITE International, including the brands of Ebonite, Track and Hammer) and a Columbia Early Bird Award ($500 for the leader of each of the first seven squads of the tournament. To qualify for this award, the player must be wearing a shirt and must also be using a ball from any of the EBONITE International brands including Columbia 300, Ebonite, Track and Hammer).

The Vienna Open features a 41 feet Kegel lane conditioning pattern with 26.2ml volume oil total.

The qualifying is traditionally contested as a Doubles tournament with separate prize money. Each duo rolls at least one six-game block. Unlimited re-entries with different partners are possible but each player can only cash once with the same partner.

Qualifying runs from Tuesday through Saturday and concludes with Squad 17 Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. and ends with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad on Saturday night slated for 11.30 p.m. CET. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard on the European Bowling Tour

A total of 64 players will qualify for the Vienna Open finals on Sunday, Oct. 2:

• the top 52 players from the overall qualifying standings
• the first player each from Squad 1-6, who is not among the top 52 (total 6 players)
• and the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

The top 8 qualifying leaders will bypass the first round of the finals. The other 56 players will bowl 6 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 22, who will join the top qualifiers in Round Two.

Those 30 players will bowl another 6 games starting from scratch after which the field will be trimmed to the top 18, who will carry their pinfall forward into Round Three. After another 6-game block the top 4 with the highest 12-game total will advance to the stepladder finals.

The No. 4 seed meets the No. 3 in the opening match and the winner takes on the No. 2 seed for the right to bowl the top seed for the title, 150 ranking points and the 7.000 Euro top prize.

For the ninth year in a row, Bowlingdigital will cover the Columbia 300 Vienna Open live from Plus Bowling in Vienna with stories and results after each round commencing Monday Sept. 27 with the no-tap tournament all the way through to the stepladder finals on Sunday Oct. 2.

Bowling fans around the world will be able to watch the stepladder finals on Sunday, Oct. 2 at 5 p.m. CET live on Bowlingdigital.com. The live streaming coverage is a partnership between theAustrian Bowling Federation, Plus Bowling, Columbia 300 and Bowlingdigital.com.

Since the English Open has lost its EBT status, the 2011 European Bowling Tour consists of 20 tour stops in 16 countries including two Platinum, six Gold, six Silver and six Satellite tournaments.

The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event receive ranking points. The winner of a Platinum tournament receives 250 ranking points, the winner of a Gold tournament such as the Vienna Open gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament earns 100, and the winner of a Satellite tournament gets 50 ranking points.

The top 16 men and the top 16 women at the end of the 2011 season qualify for the fifth EBT Masters to be held at Dream-Bowl Palace in Unterföhring near Munich, Germany on April 30 and May 1, 2012. The event will become the first EBT Masters to be contested on single lane condition.

 

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9th Columbia 300 Vienna Open - Singles and Doubles Results (pdf files)

Singles Qualifying - Standings after Squad 2/17
Singles Squad 2

Doubles Results - Standings after Squad 2/17
Doubles Squad 2