Uotila, Kondratyev add their names to the leader board in Ebonite Lahti Open

    10/10/11

    2011 European Bowling Tour #18

    Teemu Asplund holds on to the lead after Squad 4/15

    2011EBT18TeemuAsplund.jpg2011EBT18PasiUotila.jpgTeemu Asplund (left), Finland, held on to the lead in the qualifying of the Ebonite Lahti Open after squads 3 and 4 have completed their six-game blocks Sunday at Lahti Bowl in Lahti, Finland.

    Asplund leads the field of 104 players - 92 men and 12 women - from three countries, Finland, Russia and Ukraine, with 1387 pinfall total and an average of 231.17.

    Long-time Finnish national team member Pasi Uotila (right) led Squad 3 with 1352 en route to leap into second place in the overall standings. After a slow start with 205, 204 and 209, Uotila finished strong with 248, 259 and 227 (734).

    2011EBT18SamuValaranta.jpg2011EBT18SamuliTiainen.jpgOleksandr Kondratyev finished 17 pins behind Uotila to overtake third place with 1335. The Ukrainian, the only non-Finnish bowler above the cut line (top 36), led the squad after five games, 241, 236, 199. 211 and 267, but had to settle for second place due to a 181 in the last game.

    Samu Valaranta (left) and Perttu Jussila slipped two places to fourth and fifth with 1313 and 1310.

    Samuli Tiainen (right) led Squad 4 on Sunday afternoon with 1296 including high games of 247 and 233 to move into sixth place in the qualifying standings. Rounding out the top 8 were Matti Virta and Riku-Petteri Kivelä, who were tied at 1280 (213.33), the estimated cutoff number.

    Jonna Jokinen was the best of 12 women after the first weekend and one of just two women among the top 36 in 32nd place with 1195 including 48 pins handicap. Mari Nurmilo is the other in 36th and last place to survive the first cut with 1186.

    Qualifying continues on Monday, Oct. 10, with Squad 5 scheduled to start at 6.30 p.m. local time (CET+1).

    2008LahtiOpenLogo.jpg The Ebonite Lahti Open is the 18th stop of the 2011 European Bowling Tour and the last "Silver" event of the 2011 EBT season. The tournament will be held from Saturday Oct. 8 through Sunday Oct. 16, 2011 at 20-lane Lahti Bowl in Lahti, Finland.

    Lahti is the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region. It is situated on a bay at the southern end of lake Vesijärvi about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north-east of the capital Helsinki.

    The tournament offers total prize fund of 52.200 Euro with 10.000 Euro going to the winner and 5.000 Euro to the runner-up as well as 3.000 and 2.000 Euro to the third and fourth place finisher.

    2010EBT16MichaelFagan_small.jpg 2010EBT05MaiGingeJensen_small.jpgIn the 2010 Lahti Open, two-time PBA championMichael Fagan (left), United States, came from fourth to first place averaging almost 250 in the stepladder finals to win his third EBT title. In the title match, Fagan defeated top seeded Mai Ginge Jensen (right), Denmark, 247-207, to claim the title and the 10.000 Euro top prize. Jensen, who won the women's ranking, finished second for 5.000 Euro.

    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 gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament such as the Lahti Open 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.

    Qualifying of the 2011 Ebonite Lahti Open (six-game series, unlimited re-entries) runs from Saturday, Oct. 8 through Saturday, Oct. 15 with the final Squad 15 scheduled for 8 p.m. local time (CET +1). Qualifying concludes with the single-game Desperado Squad slated for 11.30 p.m.

    Women will receive 8 pins handicap each game throughout the entire event, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    The Ebonite Lahti Open features a 41 feet Kegel lane conditioning pattern with 21.45ml volume oil total.

    A total of 40 players - the top 36 from the qualifying and top 4 from the Desperado Squad - will advance to the finals on Sunday, Oct. 16. The top 8 qualifiers earn one bye and will be seeded into Final Round 2.

    The remaining 32 players bowl 6 games starting from scratch. The top 12 join the top 8 qualifiers and bowl 5 games from scratch with the top 10 advancing to Round Three. Those 10 players bowl another five-game series with the pinfall from Round Two being carried forward to cut to the top 4 who advance to the stepladder finals.

    The No. 4 seed meets the No. 3 seed, the winner takes on the No. 2 for the right to bowl the No. 1 for the title. All stepladder matches are single-game matches.

     


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