50+ Euro Bowling Open 2014

    08/21/14

    2014 ISBT #8

    Liliane Vintens, Ron Oldfield win second ISBT title this season in 50+ Euro Bowling Open

    2014ISBT08LilianeVintensRonOldfield.jpg Liliane Vintens of Belgium (pictured left) and England's Ron Oldfield (right) captured their second International Seniors Bowling Tour (ISBT) title this season in the 50+ Euro Bowling Open Sunday, August 17, at Euro Bowling in Deurne, Antwerp, Belgium.

    The eighth stop on the 2014 ISBT tour was scheduled to be in Brussels, but the tournament was unexpected cancelled by the organiser just four weeks before it was due to start.

    A last minute replacement was organized by Liliane Vintens and her husband Yves Delafonteyne, who got agreement from Euro Bowling to host the tournament. Due to Euro Bowling having fewer lanes on the downstairs level than the original location, some slight modifications had to be made to the format. However, 71 men and 20 women still took part.

    The format for the tournament was a single qualifying block of 8 games, with unlimited re-entries. For those not able to qualify through the main leaderboard, there were additional opportunities through Turbo games, and for the men a Desperado Squad.

    Age bonus started at age 51 (1 pin per game), then increased a pin for every additional year of age with no limit. As with all ISBT events, there was a separate division for ladies.

    The first squad saw the return to the ISBT of American Ed Roberts, who promptly won the squad with 1821 with age bonus. Liliane Vintens, Belgium, led the ladies with 1653.

    The second squad again saw Roberts in the lead with an increased total of 1927. Vintens again took the ladies top position with an improved score of 1713.

    The third squad saw the arrival of much of the English contingent with Ron Oldfield leading the way with 1869 from fellow Englishman Les Grant. An English bowler also took the ladies position, Karen Barfoot scoring 1599.

    Squad four saw Marcel Van Der Pot, Netherlands, lead with 1857, just ahead of Gunther Schollen, Belgium, with Gunther's partner Yvette Murrath, France, taking the ladies position with 1548.

    Joseph Bulzan, Belgium, took the next squad with 1895 to establish a position towards the top of the qualification list. The top three men would miss the first two finals round, so achieving a position at the top would guarantee a good final position. In this squad, Gisela Insinger, Germany, led the women with 1647.

    Squad six saw yet another nationality at the top, this time it was Raimo Palokoski of Finland with 1816, just two pins ahead of England's Lol Ellis. Hillevi Huhta, Finland, was top lady with 1567.

    Squad seven saw yet another couple leading the way, this time it was England's Keith Hodge in the men's section with 1901, and his wife Jan Hodge with 1663 in the ladies division.

    With just one squad to go, several bowlers were still trying to qualify, while others were trying to get higher positions and avoid one or two of the final rounds in the men's section.

    Marc Wildemeersch, Belgium, just failed to make the top three with his squad winning 1881, and in the ladies section, Angie Brown, England, found her form to score 1726 and take the overall lead in the qualification list.

    The top three men qualifiers who would miss the first two final rounds were Roberts, Hodge and Bulzan. Those positioned from 4th to 12th would miss one round, the lucky last bowler there was Grant. The final qualification position was 24th, this was taken by Christian Douchet, France, with 1789.

    In the women's section two English bowlers were trying to hang on to their qualification positions. Barfoot lost seventh place due to Brown's late qualification, and Kimberly Oakley had been hanging on in the Turbo qualification with 237, but this was snatched away by Claribel Muis, Netherlands, in the final game of qualification by a single pin.

    In the men's section, there were four Turbo qualifiers, which left two places to be filled through the Desperado Squad. Twelve bowlers took part, and after a shaky start Arthur Dähn, Germany, put together six strikes in a row to win, followed home by Krzysztof Olesinski, of Poland.

    The final stages were all held on Sunday, August 17, and all were simple four game shootouts.

    The Quaterfinal saw qualifiers from 13th to 24th place plus the Turbo and Desperado bowlers compete to make the top nine and continue in the competition. Roger Pieters, Belgium, won this round with 978, some distance ahead of Lol Ellis. The last bowler to progress further in 9th place was Ian Buckland of England.

    The next round saw these nine joined by qualifiers from 4th to 9th position. This time England led the way, with Lol Ellis, 998, from Ron Oldfield (937) and Alan Jenkins (930). André Geelen, Belgium, was the final bowler to make the final round in 9th place with 851.

    The men's final was close throughout, but by the third game Keith Hodge had opened up a substantial lead of 51 over Ron Oldfield. Hodge finished his game first, and saw Oldfield was on a big game.

    2014ISBT08Top3Men.jpg Oldfield, who won his first title this season in the Flanders Senior Open, needed a strike and a nine in the tenth frame to secure the win, but bowled a dreadful first ball which crossed Brooklyn and scored a strike. He made no mistake on the spare to secure victory by just two pins from Hodge, with Herman Wimmer, Germany, finishing in third.

    L-R Hodge (2nd), champion Oldfield and Wimmer (3rd).

    2014ISBT08Top3Women.jpg In the women's final, Liliane Vintens, who won the season-opening event in Reims, France, bowled well in each game to finish with a clear lead of 59 pins over Italian Alessandra Morra, with Jan Hodge finishing in third place.

    L-R Morra (2nd), champion Vintens and Hodge (3rd).

    The next stop on the International Seniors Bowling Tour is the Böblingen Senior Open, which will be held at Dream Bowl in Böbingen near Stuttgart, Germany, from the 3rd to 7th September. Full details are available at ISBTBowlingTour.eu.

    Courtesy of Tony Brown.

     


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