Mika Koivuniemi receives 1.000 Euro bonus for qualifying win in 10th San Marino Open

    07/20/14

    2014 European Bowling Tour #10

    Finnish-American finishes atop the 170-player field from 21 countries with 1484, leads 48 players into Sunday's finals; Rebecka Larsen is the lone woman in the finals, wins women's ranking; Paco Rodriguez (ESP) rolls the fourth 300 game but fails to advance; score to make the cut in 35th place is 1337 (222.83 average)

    2014EBT10MikaKoivuniemi3.jpg2014EBT10StuartWillams.jpgMika Koivuniemi (pictured left), who rolled a 1484 series (247.33 average) in Friday's Squad 15, held on to the lead after Saturday's Squads 18-21 en route to win the qualifying in the San Marino Open and to earn a 1.000 Euro bonus.

    The native Finn, who resides in Hartland, Mich., USA, owns 13 PBA titles and is targeting to win his 10th European Bowling Tour title Sunday at Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle.

    Koivuniemi survived a strong charge by fellow PBA champion Stuart Williams (right) of England, who averaged 245.83 in Squad 19 but fell nine pins short to settle for second place with 1475. Williams had games of 235, 269, 247, 232 and back-to-back 246.

    2014EBT10MartinPaulsson.jpg2014EBT10BrianVoss2.jpgMartin Paulsson (left) of Sweden was third with 1467. PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss (right), United States, had a perfect start in Squad 18 on Saturday morning firing the third 300 game of the event. Voss added 211, 219, 228, 226 and 267 to jump into fourth place with 1451 and an average of 241.83.

    Federico Rossi, Italy, slipped to fifth place with 1449 including the tournament's first 300 game and was followed by Swedes Markus Jansson, who had the second perfecto in his 1402 series, and Patrick Backe with 1434.

    2014EBT10JoachimKarlsson.jpg2014EBT10MarekTalpa.jpgJoachim Karlsson (left) became the fourth Swede in the top 8 when he finished next to Williams in Squad 19 with 1429 including six games between 257 and 216. The top 8 received two byes for the finals.

    One-time EBT champion Marek Talpa (right), Czech Republic, was the 13th player, who surpassed the 1400-mark, when he led Squad 20 with 1404 including high games of 267, 258 and 257 to land in 12th place.

    European champion Rebecka Larsen (below left) of Sweden was second to Voss in Squad 18 with 1345, an average of 224.17, and added 48 pins handicap to overtake 15th place with 1393. As the lone woman in the finals, Larsen has already won the women's ranking in San Marino.

    2013EBT10RebeckaLarsen.jpg2014EBT10AndreySuslov.jpgFour-time EBT champion Thomas Larsen, Denmark, hit the cutoff number for 16th place with 1387 (231.17). Players ranked 9th to 16th get a first-round bye.

    Andrey Suslov (right) of Russia was the only player of the 21st and last qualifying squad who cracked the top 35, who qualified directly for the finals. Suslov toppled 1353 pins, good for 31st place overall. Oliver Morig of Germany took the 35th place with 1337 and an average of 222.83.

    The top 35 will be joined in Sunday's finals by the top 4 of Squads 9-14 and the top 3 each of Squads 5-8 and 1-4, who did not finish in the top 35. The last three spots went to Robin Persson, Sweden (235), Tommaso Radi, Italy (231) and Anton Elofsson, Sweden (224), who topped the one-game Desperado Squad.

    2014EBT10PacoRodriguez.jpgPaco Rodriguez (below right) of Spain set another highlight when he rolled the fourth perfecto of the tournament in the opening game of Squad 19. He added 211 before he closed out with four consecutive sub-200 games to miss the cut and finish in 82nd place with 1193.

    2014EBT10SanMarinoOpenLogo_small.jpg  The 10th Storm San Marino Open is the 10th stop of the 2014 European Bowling Tour and the third out of six EBT "Gold" tournaments this season. The 10th anniversary edition will be held 12-20 at 18-lane Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle, San Marino and offers total prize fund of 60.000 Euro with 8.000 Euro going to the winner, 5.000 to the runner-up, 3.300 to the third and 2.400 to the fourth place finisher.

    The San Marino Open features a 42 feet Kegel lane conditioning pattern with 24.84 ml volume oil total.

    Qualifying of the San Marino Open (six-game series, unlimited re-entries) ran from Saturday July 12 through Saturday, July 19. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game throughout the entire tournament, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    A total of 48 players advanced to the finals on Sunday, July 20, including the top 35 qualifiers plus the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 12-13, the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 14-15, the top 4 from the squads conducted on July 16-17, and the top 3 from the Desperado Squad.

    The top 8 qualifiers receive two byes and qualifiers 9-16 get a first-round bye. The other 32 players will bowl four games from scratch to cut to the top 16, who will meet qualifiers 9-16 in round two. Those 24 bowl another 4 games from scratch to cut to the top 8, who will join the top eight in the last six-game round before the cut to the top 4.

    Those four will determine the winner in an eliminator-format finals which will feature three one-game rounds. All four players bowl the opening game, with the lowest-scoring player being eliminated. In the two rounds to follow, the same "low man out" format applies. The last man standing will be declared the champion.

    2014EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2014 European Bowling Tour features 20 tournaments in 14 countries. In its 15th season, the EBT consists of two Platinum, six Gold, three Silver and nine Satellite tournaments. The total prize fund exceeds one million Euro.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event receive ranking points. Those points will be tabulated throughout the season to determine the top 12 men and top 12 women, who will compete in the eighth EBT Masters July 6, 2015 at Bowling Chamartín in Madrid, Spain, immediately following the III Brunswick Madrid Challenge.

     

     

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    10th San Marino Open - Standings after Qualifying and Desperado Squad


    The top 35 qualifiers plus the the top 4 from the squads conducted on July 16-17 (places 36-39), the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 14-15 (places 40-42), the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 12-13 (places 43-45) and the top 3 from the Desperado Squad (places 46-48) advance to finals on Sunday, July 20. The top 8 qualifiers receive two byes and qualifiers 9-16 get one bye.