Belgium's Wim Claessens overtakes lead in qualifying at Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel

    02/14/12

    2012 European Bowling Tour #3

    Four players of Squad 3 move into the top 5; cut for 38th place is now 1236 (206 avg.)

    2012EBT03LisanneBreeschotenWimClaessens.jpg Wim Claessens, Belgium (pictured right), led the third qualifying squad at Dolfijn Bowling Tilburg in Tilburg, Netherlands Monday night with 1476 total to easily overtake the lead in the qualifying of the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament.

    Claessens sandwiched high games of 246, 268 and back-to-back 257 between low games of 223 and 225, an average of 246, to win the squad and to earn a 250 Euro bonus from tournament sponsor Hammer.

    Claessens held a 91-pin lead over Daniel Dol , Netherlands, who checked in with 1385 including high games of 260, 255 and 240, to move into second place in the overall qualifying standings.

    Day one leader Roel Mol, Netherlands, skipped to third place with 1367. Former Dutch women's national team member Lisanne Breeschoten (pictured with Claessens) totaled 1362 including handicap to leap into fourth place. Breeschoten is currently the best of 21 women in the 93-player field from six countries. Oliver Morig of Germany had six games between 207 and 235 to sit in fifth place with 1348. Defending HBS champion Gery Verbruggen, Belgium, who led Squad 2 with 1341, fell to sixth place.

    With three of 14 qualifying squads in the books, Dominique Blondeau, France, held the 38th and last place to advance with 1236 and an average of 206.

    Qualifying continues on Tuesday, Feb. 14 with Squad 4 scheduled for 8 p.m. CET. The winner of Squad 4 will receive a 250 Euro bonus. The top 6 players after Squad 4 will automatically qualify for the finals. If any of those players will finish qualifying in the top 38, the next positioned player from the Squad 1-4 standings will advance.

    The Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament is the third stop of the 2012 European Bowling Tour and first of eight EBT "Silver" tournaments this season. The tournament will be held from Sunday Feb. 12 through Sunday Feb. 19, 2012 at Dolfijn Bowling Tilburg, a 20-laner in Tilburg, Netherlands.

    Participants in the 2012 Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament will compete for total prize money of 51.450 Euro with 8.000 Euro going to the winner, 6.000 to the runner-up and 4.000 and 2.000 to third and fourth place finishers, respectively.

    Once again the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament will be contested on dual lane condition with one lane dressed with a 38 feet medium pattern and the other lane dressed with a 44 feet long pattern.

    Also available is the Kegel LaneMapping Report, which gives the bowlers detailed information on the lane topography at Dolfijn Bowling Center.

    2011EBT03GeryVerbruggen2_small.jpg Four-time European Bowling Tour ranking champion Gery Verbruggen of Belgium won his 11th career EBT title in the 2011 Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament defeating Dane Jesper Agerbo for the title by two pins, 473-471. Tanya Cuva, Germany, advanced to the penultimate round en route to win the women's rankings in Tilburg.

    Qualifying runs through Saturday Feb. 18 with the final qualifying Squad 14 scheduled for 6 p.m. CET. Qualifying concludes with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad slated for 9.30 p.m. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard on the European Bowling Tour.

    A total of 48 players - the top 38 qualifiers, the top 4 from the Desperado Squad and the top 6 from a separate leaderboard of Squads 1-4 conducted Feb. 12-14 will advance to the finals on Sunday, Feb. 19. The top 8 qualifiers will receive three byes and qualifiers 9-16 will earn two byes.

    The remaining 32 players will be divided into eight groups of four players each for the first of six eliminator rounds. All four players will bowl a two-game match with the two lowest scoring players eliminated. The two highest scoring players advance to the next round.

    The field will be cut to 32, 24, 16, eight and then four. The four finalists will bowl a final two-game match to determine the champion.

    2012EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2012 European Bowling Tour consists of 22 tour stops in 17 countries including two Platinum, five Gold, eight Silver and seven 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 Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel 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 2012 season qualify for the sixth EBT Masters to be held Sept. 23rd, 2013 at BNC Bowling Center in Bratislava, Slovakia.

     


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