Maurizio Celli averages over 230 to take the early lead in San Marino

    07/12/15

    2015 European Bowling Tour #11

    11th Storm San Marino Open starts with 299, 300 and five 1300 series

    2015EBT11MaurizioCelli.jpg2015EBT11FrancoisSacco.jpg

    Forty-seven bowlers, 46 men and one woman, hit the lanes at Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle in Saturday's Squads 1 & 2 to kick off the 11th edition of the Storm San Marino Open. Maurizio Celli (pictured left) of Italy averaged 233.17 for six games to take the early lead in the European Bowling Tour "gold" tournament.

    Celli, who almost rolled the first 300 game of the tournament in game five, posted 242, 192, 211, 226, 299 and 229 in Squad 2 to overtake Francois Sacco (right) of France by 37 pins. The Squad 1 leader rebounded from a slow start (181) with games of 233, 276, 266 and closed out with 237 following a low game of 169 in the fifth to sit in second place with 1362 (227.00 average).

    2015EBT11NicolaPongolini300.jpgSacco was followed by Nicola Pongolini (left) of Italy, who bowled both squads on Saturday. He toppled 1341 pins (223.50) including six games between 239 and 207 to finish the first day of qualifying in third place.

    Pongolini started the second squad with four consecutive games under 200, before he closed with 240 and 300 for 1267 total. The top 3 from the squads conducted on Saturday and Sunday (Squads 1-4) will earn automatic berths into the finals if they don't finish in the top 35 in the overall qualifying standings.

    Piero De Cenzo of Italy and Yoan Alix of France also cracked the 1300-bar to sit in fourth and fifth place with 1325 and 1310, respectively. Sacco's wife, multiple French national champion Isabelle Sacco, is the lone woman so far in 12th place with 1240, including 48 pins handicap (8 per game).

    In an attempt to provide better lane condition for the participants of the San Marino and the European Champions Cup in October, the organizers have asked Bill Mongeau and his team from Lane Analytics Company to level the 18-laner.

    With over 30 years of experience in the bowling industry and a passion for the sport, Mongeau established Lane Analytics with the goal of 'leveling the playing field'. Using the Kegel Lane Mapper and an extensive knowledge of bowling and the science behind it, Lane Analytics specializes in utilizing the latest technology to assess lane conditions and improve the topography of every board on each lane.

    The result is a dramatic change in the surface and condition of the lanes and consistency in game play. Click here for more information.

    Qualifying continues Sunday, July 12, with Squads 3 & 4 scheduled to start at noon and 4 p.m. Central European Summer Time (CEST).

    2015EBT11SanMarinoLogo2.jpg
    The Storm San Marino Open is the 11th stop of the 2015 European Bowling Tour and the first out of three EBT "Gold" tournaments this season. The 11th edition will be held July 11-19 at 18-lane Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle, San Marino and offers total prize fund of 61.050 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.

    Qualifying of the San Marino Open (six-game series, unlimited re-entries) runs from Saturday July 11 through Saturday, July 18 with the last qualifying squad 20 scheduled for 7 p.m. CEST. The qualifying winner will receive a 1.000 Euro bonus.

    Qualifying concludes with the one-game Desperado Squad scheduled to start at 10 p.m. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game throughout the entire tournament, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour. The top three women based on the finals standings will receive 500, 350 and 200 Euro bonuses, respectively.

    Total 48 players will advance to the finals on Sunday, July 19, including the top 35 qualifiers plus the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 11-12, the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 13-14, the top 4 from the squads conducted on July 15-16, 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 the second round. Those 24 bowl another four games from scratch to cut to the top 10, who will join the top eight in a six-game round before the cut to the top 4.

    The four finalists 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.

    2015EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2015 European Bowling Tour currently consists of 17 tournaments in 13 countries featuring three "Platinum" events, three "Gold", three "Silver" and eight "Satellite" events. All 17 tournaments together offer total prize fund of 870.000 Euro or 961.500 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 12th San Marino Open.

     


    Related Articles


    11th Storm San Marino Open - Tournament Preview
    2015 European Bowling Tour Schedule, Champions and Money-breakdown
    2015 EBT Point Rankings by Bowlingdigital - Men and Women
    Dominic Barrett defeats Stuart Williams in all-English affair to win 10th San Marino

     


    11th Storm San Marino Open - Qualifying Standings after Squad 2/20


    Top 35 qualifiers plus the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 11-12, the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 13-14, the top 4 from the squads conducted on July 15-16, and the top 3 from the Desperado Squad will advance to the finals.

    300 games (1) - Nicola Pongolini.

    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."

    Â