Birgit Pöppler wins women's qualifying at 35th European Champions Cup

    10/20/12

    2012 ECC

    German international leads all three rounds of the preliminaries to earn the No. 1 seed for Sunday's single-elimination finals; Pöppler out averages the rest of the field by at least 16 pins; Sandra Andersson of Sweden hits the cutoff number for eighth place

     

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    Birgit Pöppler of Germany led the women's preliminaries of the 35th European Champions Cup en route to earn the No. 1 seed for Sunday's single-elimination finals at bowling center Dekker in Zoetermeer, Netherlands.

    Pöppler led all three eight-game blocks and combined series of 1761 on short oil (35 ft.), 1814 on long oil (40 ft.) and 1772 on combined oil for 5347 pinfall total and an average of 222.79 for 24 games. She out averaged her next-closest competitor by more than 16 pins.

    L-R Pöllänen, Pöntinen, Korobkova, Di Benedetto, Andersson, Kovalova, Haandrikman and Pöppler.

    Pöppler, the current European Bowling Tour point ranking leader, will take on the No. 2 in the rankings, Sandra Andersson of Sweden, in the quarterfinals in best-of-three games format. Andersson beat out Norway's Andrea E. Hansen and Swiss Bigi Manico for the eighth and last place to advance with 4744 total (197.67 average).

    Trailing Pöppler by 399 pins to finish in second place was Alena Korobkova of Russia with 4948 (206.17). Korobkova, who posted the fourth-highest series on combined oil (1647) meets Marjo Pöntinen of Finland, who used the second-highest 1675 series to leap into seventh place with 4768.

    Third place belonged to Daria Kovalova of Ukraine with 4928. She bowls Helga Di Benedetto of Italy, who finished the preliminaries in sixth place with 4769.

    In the fourth quarterfinal match, two-time defending champion Krista Pöllänen and Carmen Haandrikman of the host country Netherlands square off. Pöllänen was fourth with 4885 and Haandrikman fifth with 4793. The quarterfinals start on Saturday, Oct. 21, at 9 a.m. local time.

    2012ECCLogo.jpg The European Champions Cup 2012 takes place at bowling center Dekker, a 16-laner with Funk equipment in the city of Zoetermeer, just 15 km East of The Hague, Netherlands.

    Starting on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 42 men from 41 countries and 36 women from 35 countries roll three eight-game blocks of qualifying over four days, the first block on short oil (35 ft.), the second block on long oil (40ft.) and the third block on combined oil (one lane dressed with short oil, the other lane dressed with long oil).

    The top eight men and the top eight women after 24 games advance to the single-elimination finals in best-of-three games format. The player, who wins all three matches, will be declared the champion.

     


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    2012 European Champions Cup - Women's Qualifying after 24 games


    First block on short oil (35 ft.), second block on long oil (40ft.) and third block on combined oil. The top 8 advance to the single-elimination finals in best-of-three games format.

     


    Women's Qualifying - Third Block Results


    First block on short oil (35 ft.), second block on long oil (40ft.) and third block on combined oil.

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