Chris Oates moves into second place in 9th International Wroclaw Open by Hammer

    02/21/15

    2015 European Bowling Tour #4

    Englishman rolls highest of four 1400-series in Friday's qualifying; Irish two-hander Chris Sloan holds on to the lead with 1503; defending champion Kamilla Kjeldsen is the top-ranked woman in 11th place; score to make the cut in 40th place raises by 80 pins to 1262 (210.33 average)

    2015EBT04ChrisSloan.jpg

    2015EBT04ChrisOates.jpgIrish two-handed player, Chris Sloan (pictured left), continued to lead the field of 100 players from 12 players heading into the final qualifying day of the 9th International Wroclaw Open by Hammer Saturday at Galeria Rozrywki Miraz bowling center in Wroclaw, Poland. Sloan knocked down 1503 pins, an average of 250.50.

    Four players cracked the 1400-bar in Friday's qualifying squads 9-12, bringing the total number of 1400-series to eight. Chris Oates (right) of England led all players on Friday posting a 1460 series, a 243.33 average, in the last squad to jump into second place in the overall standings.

    Oates rebounded from a slow start (201) with games of 245, 276, 269, 225 and 244 to overtake Danish two-handed player, Markus Bergendorff, by 13 pins. Bergendorff slipped to third place with 1447.

    2015EBT04PontusAndersson.jpg2015EBT04DavidCooper.jpgPontus Andersson (left) of Sweden led the morning squad with 1434 to leap into fourth place. The World Youth champion in Doubles (with last week's EBT Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament 2015 winner Markus Jansson), started his series with a near-perfect 299 and added games of 211, 228, 245, 195 and 256.

    Squad 11 leader David Cooper (right) of England and runner-up Ludwig Ingerskog of Sweden were the next players who moved into the top 10. Cooper closed out his 1415 series with back-to-back 250s to overtake seventh place. Ingerskog's 1405 series was boosted by a 289 in game five and propelled him into ninth place.

    2015EBT04JaroslavLorenc.jpg2015EBT04KamillaKjeldsen.jpgLast year's runner-up Jaroslav Lorenc (left), Czech Republic, and defending champion Kamilla Kjeldsen (right) of Denmark were next to Andersson in Squad 9 with 1398 and 1396 total, respectively, to finish the day in 10th and 11th place.

    Kjeldsen, who receives eight pins handicap each game, defeated Lorenc in last year's title match, 449-390, for her first victory on the European Bowling Tour. The 2014 EBT women's point ranking leader rebounded from a 167 opening game with five games between 249 and 213 and is the best of 16 women in the field.

    Vytautas Gykis (below right) of Lithuania led the 10th qualifying squad with 1323 and sits in 28th place, comfortable 61 pins above the cut line. With four more squads to go, former world champion Mai Ginge Jensen of Denmark holds the 40th and last spot to advance to the finals with 1262 or an overall average of 210.33.

    2015EBT04VytautasGykis.jpgQualifying concludes on Saturday, February 21, with Squads 13-16 scheduled to start at 10 a.m., 1.30, 5 and 8.30 p.m. CET. Bowling fans will be able to follow the qualifying live and free of charge on IWO's online video streaming service (click here)

    2015EBT04IWOLogo_small.jpg The 9th International Wroclaw Open by Hammer is the fourth stop of the 2015 European Bowling Tour and the second of nine EBT "Satellite" events this season, the lowest of the four EBT categories.

    The IWO will be held from Wednesday, Feb. 18 through Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015 at Galeria Rozrywki Miraz bowling center, a 10-laner in Wroclaw, Poland.

    As in the past four years, participants will compete for total prize money of 26.000 Euro with 4.250 Euro going to the winner, 2.750 Euro to the runner-up and 2.100 and 1.800 Euro to third and fourth place finishers, respectively. Low to cash is 40th place (250 Euro).

    Qualifying (6 games, unlimited re-entries) runs through Saturday, Feb. 21, and ends with Squad 16 scheduled to start at 8.30 p.m. CET. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game (maximum score is 300), an equality handicap provided to women in all EBT events.

    The tournament will be contested on a 39-ft. lane conditioning pattern with 23.28ml volume oil total. Click image for larger view.

    The top 40 players from the overall qualifying standings will advance to the finals on Sunday Feb. 22. Qualifying pinfall carries over. The finalists will be divided into two squads (places 21-40 and 1-20), who will bowl a four-game block after which the field will be cut to the top 20.

    Those 20 will bowl another four games to cut to the top 8 who advance to seven games of round robin match play. All pinfall carries over into round robin, where bowlers earn 20 bonus pins per win, 10 for a tie, and 5 bonus pins for each game between 250 and 300. The top 4 will advance to the stepladder finals.

    The No. 4 seed bowls the No. 3 seed, the winner takes on the No. 2 seed and the winner of that match earns the right to bowl the No. 1 seed for the title. The opening match and the semifinal match will be decided in one game, while the championship match features two games decided by total pinfall.

    2015EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2015 European Bowling Tour currently consists of 18 tournaments in 14 countries featuring three "Platinum" events, three "Gold", three "Silver" and nine "Satellite" events. All 18 tournaments together offer total prize fund of roughly 900.000 Euro (approx. 1.024 million U.S. Dollar).

    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 9th EBT Masters July 25, 2016 at Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle, San Marino following the San Marino Open.

     


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    9th International Wroclaw Open by Hammer - Qualifying Standings after Squad 12/16


    Top 40 qualifiers will advance to the finals on Sunday, Feb 22.

    300 games (1) - Jesper Svensson.

    Tie Rules (Qualifying)
    In case of a tie in the qualifying, "the highest positioned player will be the player scoring the highest total of all counting qualification games minus the score of the lowest game. If a tie still exists, the highest positioned player will be the player with the highest total of all counting qualification games minus the score of the two lowest games, etc."