In the title match between two of the most decorated European bowlers, Martin Larsen (pictured left) of Sweden swept Norway's Tore Torgersen, 2-0, in best-of-three games format to win the gold medal in Masters at the 2015 Men's European Championships in Aalborg, Denmark.

Larsen rolled two solid games of 212 and 215, while Torgersen, who averaged almost 220 in the first four rounds, managed only 164 and 171 to settle for the silver medal.

The World and European champions finished in the top 24 in All-Events to advance to five rounds of Masters match play.

Torgersen, seeded 9th, went the distance in all rounds on his way to the gold medal match. He eliminated his compatriot Mads Sandbækken in the Round of 24, then came back from a 1-0 deficit to beat Tobias Börding of Germany, including a 278 game in the deciding third game.

In the quarterfinals, Torgersen (right) rolled a 256 game in the decider to oust Doubles champion Jesper Agerbo from Denmark and survived a close semifinal match against Agerbo's compatriot Mik Stampe (left) with a 224-222 win in game three.

Larsen, seeded 12th, flew past Mykhaylo Kalika, Ukraine, in the opening round winning both games by more than 100 pins. The three-time World Champion ousted Singles champion Thomas Larsen, 2-1, including a loss in roll-off in game two after a 248-248 tie.

The quarterfinal match against Ireland's Chris Sloan went into overtime in which Larsen defeated the two-hander, 158-147. Larsen met his compatriot, World Youth champion Markus Jansson (right), the son of legendary Swedish standout Raymond Jansson. Larsen swept the rising star, 234-213 and 237-219.

Jansson and Stampe shared the bronze medal. Nine of the 32 countries shared the medals.

The host country Denmark led the medal standings with three gold and two bronze medals with Finland in second on two gold and one silver and one bronze medal. Larsen's victory in Masters gave Sweden the sixth and last gold medal of the Championships in addition to one silver and three bronze medals.

 

Pos	Combined	      Gold    Â	    Silver  Â	   Bronze Â
1.	Denmark	3		2
2.	Finland	2	1	1
3.	Sweden	1	1	3
4.	England		1	1
5.	France		1
(tie)	Greece		1
(tie)	Norway		1
8.	Germany			2
9.	Netherlands			1
(tie)	Israel			1
	Total	6	6	11

The 6th Men's European Championships was held from June 3-14, 2015, at Lovvang Bowling Center in Aalborg, Denmark. 185 players from 32 countries competed for gold, silver and bronze medals in Singles, Doubles, Trios, Team, All-Events and Masters.

Competition got underway Friday, June 5, with the Singles preliminaries and concluded on Saturday, June 13, with the Masters finals.

For the complete information on the 2015 MEC please download the Bulletin (MS doc).

The preliminaries in Singles, Doubles, Trios and the five-player Team event featured six games with the top 4 teams advancing to the playoffs. No. 1 faced No. 4 and No. 3 took on No. 2 in the semifinals. The winners bowled for the title and the losers shared the bronze medal. All matches were single-game matches.

The 2015 MEC was played on a 41-foot lane conditioning pattern with 28.5 mL volume oil total. View also the Kegel LaneMapâ„¢ Guide about Lovvang Bowling Center.

Medals were also given in All-Events (combined scores in Singles, Doubles, Trios and Teams preliminaries). The top 24 players in All-Events advanced to the Masters finals in best-of-three games single-elimination match play format, which concluded the championships.

Photos courtesy of DBU.

 

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