Perttu Jussila, Heidi Manninen crack the top 5 in Brunswick Ballmaster Open Qualifying

    01/06/14

    2014 European Bowling Tour #1

    Timo Alho holds on to the lead with 1373; Jussila moves into third place with 1363 with Manninen fifth on 1332; cut for 44th place is 1208 (201.33 average)

    2013EBT15PerttuJussila.jpg2013EBT15TimoAlho.jpgPerttu Jussila (pictured left) of Finland averaged 227.17 in the fifth qualifying squad of the 44th Brunswick Ballmaster Open Sunday at Tali Bowling Center in Helsinki, Finland, falling 10 pins short of lead to move into third place with 1363.

    Squad 2 leader Timo Alho (right) of Finland, continued to lead the 266-player field from Finland (261), Estonia (3), Germany (1) and Uzbekistan (1) with 1373 and an average of 228.83. German national team member Patricia Luoto is the best of 24 women in second place with 1364 including 48 pins handicap.

    Jussila overtook former World Ranking Masters champion Kimmo Lehtonen by one pin. The two-time Ballmaster champion (2002 & '07) slipped one spot to fourth place with 1362.

    Heidi Manninen, a member of the Finnish women's national squad, posted a 1284 series, an average of 214, and added 48 pins handicap to lead Squad 6 with 1332 total en route to crack the top 5.

    2013EBT15PasiUotila.jpg2013WSrCTeemuRaatikainen.jpgThree-time Ballmaster Open Pasi Uotila (left) champion (2000, '04 & '09) was second to Jussila in Squad 5 with 1315 to slip to sixth place with his high series of 1327. Both Uotila and Jussila were on the Finnish national team which won the gold medal in the five-player Team event at the 2013 World Championships.

    Juho Mäkelä of Finland was next to Manninen in Squad 6 with 1309 to leap into 11th place. Former Finnish standout Teemu Raatikainen (right), a member of the Finnish Senior national team, currently holds the 44th and last place to advance with 1208 and an average of 201.33.

    Qualifying continues on Monday, January 6, with Squads 7 & 8 scheduled to start at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. local time (CET +1).

    2014BallmasterLogo_small.jpg The 44th Brunswick Ballmaster Open is the opening event of the 2014 European Bowling Tour and the first of six "EBT Gold" events this season, the second-highest of the four EBT categories. The tournament will be held from Friday, Jan. 3, through Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014 at 36-lane Tali Bowling Center in Finland's capital city Helsinki.

    Players will compete for total prize money of 90.300 Euro with 12.000 Euro going to the winner, 8.000 to the runner-up and 4.000 and 3.000 to the third and fourth place finishers, respectively. Low to cash is 48th place, worth 1.100 Euro.

    According to an agreement between the World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA) and the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), the Ballmaster will award a PBA international title, if won by a PBA member or a PBA international member.

    Qualifying (six games, unlimited re-entries) of the Brunswick Ballmaster Open runs through Saturday, Jan. 11, and ends with Squad 17 followed by the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad slated for 11.30 p.m. local time (CET +1).

    Women will receive 8 pins handicap each game (up to 292 - maximum score is 300), a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    A total of 48 players - the top 44 from the overall qualifying standings plus the top 4 from the Desperado Squad - qualify for the finals on Sunday, Jan. 13. The qualifying winner receives a 2.000 Euro bonus. The first and second runner-up get 1.000 and 500 Euro, respectively.

    All 48 finalists bowl eight games scratch with the top 16 advancing to the match play portion. Those 16 bowl further 15 games of round robin match play (no position round) with the Round 1 total carried over.

    Players earn 30 bonus pins for each match won and 15 for a tie. The top 4 players after 23 games including bonus pins determine the champion in a traditional stepladder final.

    The No. 4 seed meets the No. 3 in the opening match. The winner takes on the No. 2 seed for the right to bowl the top seed for the title, the 12.000 Euro top prize and 150 EBT and 50 WBT ranking points.

     


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    Unofficial Qualifying Standings after Squad 6/17

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