Brian Voss shoots 1453 series to take the lead in Sofia International Open

    11/27/13

    Bulgaria

    Top 8 players after Day Four Qualifying are automatically qualified for the finals; cut is currently 1138 (189.67 average)

    2012EBT06BrianVoss.jpg

    PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss (pictured left), United States, averaged 242.17 Thursday at Joy Station in Sofia, Bulgaria, to overtake lead the in the Sofia International Open after day four qualifying en route to qualify directly for the Sunday's finals.

    The 25-time PBA champion and three-time European Bowling Tour titlist rolled games of 212, 278, 223, 250, 247 and 243 to lead a field of 94 players after twelve squads with 1453.

    The top eight players from a separate leader board of Squads 1-12 earned automatic berths into the finals. Every daily leader from Sunday through Monday received a 100 Euro bonus.

    2012BOCatalinGheorghe.jpg2011EBT08MehmetKaya2.jpgTrailing Voss by 58 pins to sit in second place was Catalin Gheorghe (left) of Romania, who finished his series Monday with a 279 high game and 1395 (232.50).

    Third place Mehmet Kaya (right) of Turkey led the second day with 1348 (224.67) including a high game of 267 and a pair of 240s.

    Plamen Stanchev (below left) of Bulgaria, who led the opening day, slipped to fifth place with 1330 and an average of 221.67.

    2013SofiaPlamenStanchev.jpg2013EBT16BrianValenta.jpgFourth place belonged to PBA pro Brian Valenta (right), United States, who was second to Voss on Tuesday, with 1340 (223.33) including all games between 215 and 235.

    Rounding out the top 8 were Bulgarians Kaloiyan Ivanov (6th; 1324), Radoslav Tenchev (7th; 1316) and Antonis Bekas (8th; 1301).

    Ninth place Marius Belan of Romania has 1297 to lead next 44 qualifiers, who will survive the first cut at the end of the qualifying Saturday evening.

    Konstatin Mikheef of Bulgaria currently holds the 44th and last place to advance with 1138 or an average of 189.67.

    Qualifying continues on Wednesday, November 27 with squads 13-16 scheduled for 10 a.m., 2, 6, and 9.30 p.m. Eastern European Time (CET +1).

    The Sofia International Open runs from Nov. 23 thru Dec. 1, 2013 at 20-lane Joy Station in Sofia, Bulgaria, and offers total prize fund of 40.000 Euro with 6.000 Euro going to the winner, 4.000 Euro to the runner-up and 3.000 and 2.500 Euro to the third and fourth place finisher, respectively.

    All players bowl at least one six-game qualifying block with unlimited re-entries. 56 players will advance to the finals on Sunday, December 1, including the top 8 from the a separate leader board of the squads conducted November 23-26 (Squads 1-12), the top 44 qualifiers plus the top 4 of the single-game Desperado Squad.

    All 56 qualifiers bowl 6 games scratch in Round One. The top 28 players advance to the single-elimination finals in best-of-three games format. In each round the highest seeded player bowls the lowest seeded player, the second highest seeded player bowls the second lowest seeded player, etc.

    The top 4 qualify for Round Three (seeded 1-4), while players ranked 5-28 advance to Round Two. The field will be trimmed to 16, 8 and then four players who will determine the champion in single-game semifinals and final.

     


    Sofia International Open - Standings after Qualifying Squad 12/28


    The top eight are automatically qualified for the finals. Places 9-52 will advance at the end of the qualifying.

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