Martin Larsen from Sweden, who led the field since Squad 17, won the qualifying in the 1st Maribor Open Strike Tournament at Strike Bowling Center in Maribor, Slovenia with 1512 six-game total, an average of 252.00.

The World Champion in Team (2003) and Doubles (2006) had games of 279, 248, 267, 248, 213 and 257 to become the sole player who cracked the 1500-bar in the tournament.

Nick Froggatt (right), who rolled a 1490 series in the penultimate qualifying squad ended up in second place. Larsen's compatriot Tony Fransson was third with 1472.

Fourth place belonged to Pasi Uotila (left), Finland, with 1467. Rounding out the top 5 was 2007 World Ranking Masters champion Stuart Williams, England, with 1448.

Early leader Thomas "Dynamite Harry" Tybl (right), Austria, landed in sixth place with 1431, Next were Uwe Tscharke, Germany, with 1427, followed by 3-time European Ranking champion Paul Moor, England, with 1405 and Jussi Lindgren, Finland, with 1400. Rounding out the top 10 was Gianluca Badali, Italy, with 1399.

Places 11-13 belonged to players from Sweden, Kim Bolleby (left, 1385), Pär Svensson (1372) and Dennis Eklund (1370). Robert Wölki, Germany, took the 14th place with 1364 and an average of 227.33.

A total of 56 players qualified for the finals on Sunday, Sep. 16: The top 52 in the overall qualifying standings and the top 4 Desperados. Vittorio Vaglia, Italy, took the 52nd and final qualifying post with 1251 and an average of 208.50.

Qualifying ended around half past midnight with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad.

Daniel Hellmich, Germany, who missed the cut in 53rd place by six pins rolled a 277 game to fly past his opponents en route to secure his spot in the finals. Also surviving were Guiseppe Alleluia, Italy with 244, Domenico Righi, San Marino, 225, and Uros Kus, Slovenia, with 208.

L-R The four Desperados: Kus, Alleluia, Hellmich and Righi. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Qualifiers 1-14 earn two byes and will earn at least 1.200 Euro. Qualifiers 15-28 bypass the first round which guarantees them 800 Euro. Klaus Lischka (left), Germany, hit the cutoff number for 28th place with 1329 (221.50).

The remaining 28 finalists, who have secured at least 500 Euro, will bowl 3 games starting from scratch. The top 14 will qualify for the second round and meet qualifiers 15-28. The top 14 after another 3-game set from scratch meet the top 14 qualifiers in Round #3.

The field will be trimmed to 16, 8 and then 4 in during the rounds 3 to 5 (same format as before). The four remaining players will bowl for the title and the 8.000 Euro top prize in a traditional stepladder format based on the standings after Round #5: No. 4 bowls No. 3, the winner meets No. 2 and the winner bowls No. 1 for the title.

Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Maribor all the way through to the finals on Sunday, September 16. The four-player stepladder finals will be broadcasted live on Slovenian television in a two-hour show from Strike Bowling Center.