Koivuniemi overtakes Hellström by one pin to take pole position in San Marino

    07/17/15

    2015 European Bowling Tour #11

    PBA star averages 248,83 to lead the field of 193 players with 1493; leaderboard gets new look as 9 players crack the 1400-bar in Thursday's squads 12-14; Germany's Marco Baade shoots third perfecto; score to make the cut in 35th place surpasses last year's mark with 1343 (223.83 average)

    2015EBT11MikaKoivuniemi.jpg2015EBT11PeterHellstrom.jpgThe qualifying leaderboard of the 11th Storm San Marino Open got a whole new look as nine players, three each from squads 12, 13 and 14, moved into the top 12 Thursday at Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle, San Marino.

    Mika Koivuniemi (pictured left), a Finnish native who lives in Hartland, Michigan, United States, overtook previous leader Peter Hellström (right) of Sweden by just one pin to lead the field of 193 players from 19 countries with 1493 total and an average of 248.83 for six games.

    2015EBT11AntonPersson.jpgThe two-time Professional Bowlers Association Player of the Year, who owns 15 PBA and 10 European Bowling Tour titles, sandwiched high games of 278 and 277 around games of 243, 224, 234 and 237.

    The 48-year-old right-hander needs a win in San Marino or the remaining six tournaments to keep alive his string of consecutive seasons with at least one title. He holds the EBT record at six years (2009-14).

    Hellström, who led the tournament since Squad 5, slipped one spot to second place with 1492. His compatriot Anton Persson (left) led the first squad on Thursday (12th overall) with 1456 including high games of 279 and 269 to jump into third place.

    2015EBT11DanielFransson.jpg2015EBT10JesperSvensson2.jpgDaniel Fransson, Jesper Svensson and Mattias Olsson led the "Swedish Squad (#13) with 1450, 1445 and 1408, respectively. Fransson (left), who finished second in the Roto Grip Polish Open in June, had six games between 220 and 267 to lead the squad and to move into fourth place in the standings.

    Fresh off his victory in the III Brunswick Madrid Challenge, current EBT men's point ranking leader Svensson (right), a 20-year-old two-handed lefty, took over sixth place, while Olsson tied Johnny Fronville of Belgium to round out the top 10.

    By virtue of finishing atop the standings of Squads 9-14, Koivuniemi, Persson, Fransson and Svensson have secured their spots in the finals. If any of the four (most probably all of them) will finish in the top 35, the automatic spot goes to the next qualifier in order.

    2015EBT04JaroslavLorenc2.jpg2014PBAWSOBStuartWilliams.jpgJaroslav Lorenc (left), Czech Republic, and Stuart Williams (right) of England were next to Koivuniemi in Squad 14 to finish the day in sixth and seventh place with 1428 and 1427, respectively.

    Yoan Alix of France fell from second to eighth place with 1421 and was followed by Marco Baade (below left) of Germany, who set another highlight in Squad 12 by rolling the third perfecto of the tournament in game four of his 1415 set.

    Baade's fellow countryman Dirk Dreyer was close behind and became the 12th player who surpassed the 1400-mark with 1401.

    2015EBT11MarcoBaade.jpg2015WBOMenNo2OskuPalermaa.jpgWith only 14 of 20 qualifying squads completed, the 11th edition of the San Marino Open has already exceeded the number of participants from 2014 (170 players) and also surpassed last year's qualifying cut (1337; 222.83).

    Osku Palermaa (right) of Finland, who won his fifth PBA title and more than $80,000 in the Bowling World Open last week, rolled a 1443 series (223.83 average) in his first attempt in Squad 13 to sit in 35th and last place to advance.

    Qualifying commences Friday, July 17, with Squads 15-17 scheduled to start at noon, 4 and 8 p.m. Central European Summer Time (CEST).

    2015EBT11SanMarinoOpenLogo2.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.

     


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    11th Storm San Marino Open - Qualifying Standings after Squad 14/20


    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 (3) - Nicola Pongolini, Davide Spagnoli and Marco Baade.

    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."