Squad 7 and 8 leaders Vezis, Karlsson lead Croatia Open heading into final qualifying day

    04/14/12

    2012 European Bowling Tour #5

    Four players move into the top 6 on Friday: Karlsson shoots the first 300 game of the tournament; cut for 48th place is now 1156 (192.67 average)

    2010BWCDanielVezis.jpgFormer European Youth champion Daniel Vezis (pictured left) posted a 1444 series in Squad 7 to overtake the lead in the qualifying of the Croatia Open Friday at Bowling 300 in Zagreb. The two-hander from Latvia started his six-game series with a low game of 212, then fired, 251, 228, 237, 268 and 248, an average of 240.67, to lead the 81-player field from 15 countries into the final day of qualifying.

    2011EBT17AlexanderMedveditskov.jpgChristian Karlsson, Slovenia, led the other Squad (8) on Friday (Squad 6 has been cancelled) with 1419 including the tournament's first 300 in game #5. Karlsson moved into second place in the overall standings.

    Previous leader Andrey Suslov of Russia slipped to third place with 1402 and is tied with compatriot Alexander Medveditskov (right), who was seeded fourth due to the lower last game.

    2012EBT04DennisEklund.jpgSquad 2 leader Peter Verdnik, Slovenia, fell to fifth with 1396 and was followed by Sweden's Dennis Eklund (left), who was third to Vezis and Medveditskov in Squad 7 with 1384 including a 289 opening game.

    With the final three qualifying squads to go on Saturday, Maja Debenec, Slovenia, is the best of nine women in the field 27th place with 1237 total including 48 pins handicap. The only other woman above the cut line is her compatriot Mateja Kerovec, who was 39th with 1178.

    Paál László, Hungary, holds the 48th and last place to advance with 1156 or an average of 192.67.

    Qualifying concludes on Saturday, April 14, with Squad 9, 10 and 11 scheduled for 10 a.m., 2 and 6 p.m. CEST.

    2012EBT05CroatiaOpenLogo_small.jpg The Croatia Open 2012 is a newcomer on the European Bowling Tour and the fifth event on the 2012 EBT Schedule. It is the second of seven EBT "Satellite" tournaments this season, the lowest of four EBT categories. The tournament will be held from Monday, April 9 through Sunday, April 15, 2012 at 18-lane Bowling 300 in Zagreb, the biggest bowling center in Croatia.

    The Croatia Open 2012 offers total prize fund of 21.000 Euro with 5.000 Euro going to the winner, 2.500 to the runner-up and 1.250 Euro a piece for the third and fourth place finishers, respectively. The highest local finisher will receive a 400 Euro bonus.

    Qualifying (6 games, unlimited re-entries) runs through Saturday, April 14 with the final qualifying Squad 11 scheduled for 6 p.m. CEST. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard on the European Bowling Tour.

    A total of 48 players will advance to the single-elimination finals on Sunday, April 15. The top 16 qualifiers will receive one bye. In each round, the highest seeded player will bowl the lowest seeded player, the second-highest will bowl the second-lowest seeded players, etc.

    The round of 48, 32 and 16 will be contested in best-of-three games format, while the quarterfinal and semifinal matches as well as the title match will be decided in a single game.

    2012EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2012 European Bowling Tour is made up of 21 events in 16 countries including two Platinum, four Gold, eight Silver and seven Satellite tournaments.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event earn ranking points based on how they finish in the event. The winner of a Platinum tournament receives 250 ranking points, the winner of a Gold tournament gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament earns 100, and the winner of a Satellite tournament such as the Croatia Open gets 50 ranking points.

    Those points will be tabulated throughout the season to determine the top 16 men and top 16 women who will compete in the sixth EBT Masters in Bratislava, Slovakia in Sept. 2013.

     


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    Qualifying Standings after Squad 8/11