Finland holds 50-pin lead as Boys Team Preliminaries reach halfway point

    03/31/15

    2015 EYC

    With three more games to go on Wednesday Germany, England and Sweden hold the remaining three spots for the medal round

    2015EYCBoysFinland.jpgDoubles gold medalists Niko Oksanen and Emil Strömberg teamed with bronze medalists Tomas Käyhkö and Lauri Sipilä (pictured left) to take the lead in the European Youth Championships boys Team preliminaries after the first of two three-game blocks Tuesday at Bowl Play in Leipzig, Germany.

    2015EYCBoysGermany.jpg The Finnish foursome sandwiched a pair of 923 games around an 807 in game two to lead the field of 21 teams with 2653 total and an average of 221.08. Käyhkö led the team with 698 and was followed by Strömberg (688), Oksanen (653) and Sipilä (614).

    Trailing Finland by 50 pins to sit in second place were Giancarlo Reyes, Lukas Müller, André Michow and Christoph Schurian from host country Germany (right).

    The Germany rebounded from a slow start (745) with 906 and finished with 952, the highest game of the first day of the Team event, for 2603 total and an average of 216.92.

    2015EYCBoysEngland.jpgThere is already a 133-pin gap between second and third place as the Germans out averaged England's Jamie Elliott, James McMinn, Samuel Martin and Brandon Roberts (left) by more than 11 pins. The English boys totaled 2470, or an average of 205.83.

    2015EYCBoysSweden.jpgWith three more games to go on Wednesday before the cut to the top 4 for the medal round, Sweden's Doubles silver medalists Benjamin Jonsson and Robert Lindberg and their teammates Emanuel Jonsson and William Svensson (right) held fourth place with 2464 (205.33)

    Just outside the box looking in were the team from the Netherlands (2442), Israel (2434) and Denmark (2408), who averaged over 200 and were 56 and less pins off the pace for the medals.

    Nico Oksanen continued to lead the 97-player field in All-Events (combined scores in Singles, Doubles and Teams) with 2134 total and an average of 237.11 for nine games. Giancarlo Reyes leaped two spots into second place with 2038 (226.44), while Lauri Sipilä dropped to third place with 2032 (225.78). Jamie Elliott jumped from eighth to fourth place with 2024 (224.89) behind the field-best 713 set today.

    The girls teams will roll their first three-game block later on Tuesday. The top 4 girls and boys teams after the second block on Wednesday will advance to the medal round starting at 5.30 (semi-finals) and 6.30 p.m. (championship) Central European Summer Time (CEST).

    2015EYCLogo_small.jpg The 28th European Youth Championships will be held from March 27 through April 6, 2015 at Bowl Play, a 30-laner in Leipzig, Germany.

    The Championships drew 155 players, 97 boys and 58 girls, from 29 member countries of the European Tenpin Bowling Federation (ETBF) - Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine.

    Up to four boys and four girls per country who must not be born before September 1, 1996 will bowl in separate divisions for gold, silver and bronze medals in five disciplines: Singles, Doubles and four-player Teams, All-Events and Masters.

    The 2015 EYC will be played on a 41-foot lane conditioning pattern with 25.56 mL volume oil total. Click here to view the Kegel LaneMap™ Guide of Bowl Play Leipzig.

    Singles, Doubles and Team preliminaries feature six games with the top 4 advancing to the medal round. No. 1 bowls No. 4 and No. 2 takes on No. 3 in the semi-finals. The winners bowl for gold and silver while the losers share the bronze medal. All matches will be decided in one game.

    The three players with highest 18-game total of the Singles, Doubles and Teams preliminaries earn the medals in All-Events. The top 24 in All-Events determine the Masters champion in single-elimination match play in best-of-three games format.

    Competition kicks off with the Boys Doubles preliminaries on Sunday, March 29, and concludes Sunday, April 5, with the Boys and Girls Masters finals followed by a farewell banquet.

    Photos courtesy of German Bowling Federation.

     


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