Squad 7 and 8 leaders Lebon, Blank move into top 10 in Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament

    02/17/12

    2012 European Bowling Tour #3

    Michael Coussens achieves perfection in Squad 8; Belgian Wim Claessens remains in the lead; cut for 38th place surpasses 1300-mark (1301, 216.83 avg.)

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    2012EBT03UweBlank.jpgLong-time Belgian international Jean-Marc Lebon (pictured left) and Uwe Blank (right) of Germany led Squad 7 and 8 Thursday at Dolfijn Bowling Tilburg in Tilburg, Netherlands en route to move into the top 10 in the overall qualifying standings of the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament.

    Lebon used a pair of 268 and four games between 202 and 243 to become the third player in this year's event who cracked the 1400-bar. Lebon toppled 1418 pins to overtake third place on the leaderboard averaging 236.33 for six games.

    His compatriot Wim Claessens continued to lead the field of 159 players from 14 countries with 1476 and an average of 246. Dutch Nicole Sanders is the best of 45 women in the field and one of ten above the cut line in second place with 1442 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    EBT08DirkDreyer.jpg2012EBT03MichaelCoussens.jpgBlank started his series in Squad 8 Thursday evening with 210 and 213, then rolled three consecutive big numbers (257, 269 and 254) before he closed things out with 179 for 1382 total and an average of 230.33, good for eighth place overall. His compatriot Dirk Dreyer (left) was mere 19 pins behind to leap into 11th place with 1363.

    Michael Coussens (right) of Belgium had the first 300 game of the tournament in his 1350 series which propelled him into 14th place.

    The cutoff number improved by 46 pins in the three qualifying squads on Thursday and surpassed the 1300-mark. Stephan Unger, Germany, holds the 38th and last place to advance to the finals with 1301 or an average of 216.83.

    Qualifying continues on Friday, Feb. 17 with Squad 9-11 scheduled for noon, 4 and 8 p.m. CET. The winner of Squad 9 will receive a 500 Euro bonus, while the winner of Squad 11 will pocket 250 Euro.

    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.

    2011EBT04GeryVerbruggen_small.jpg2011GPZTanyaCuva_small.jpgFour-time European Bowling Tour ranking champion Gery Verbruggen (left) 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 (right), 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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    Qualifying Standings after Squad 8/14

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