In an all-lefty affair, tournament leader Nick Froggatt, England, defeated Tony Fransson, Sweden, in the title match of the inaugural Maribor Open Strike Tournament, 227-207, en route to win the title and the 8.000 Euro top prize.

L-R Franssen (2nd), Larsen (4th), champion Froggatt and Andersin (3rd). Click on the image to enlarge it.

Fransson, the No. 4 seed, ousted two compatriots on his way to the title match. In the opening match, Franssen defeated World Doubles champion Martin Larsen, 217-205, the eliminated No. 2 seeded Erik Andersin in a close semi-final match, 228-223.

Fransson received 6.000 Euro for his runner-up finish, Andersin received 4.000 Euro and Larsen pocketed 3.000 Euro.

The 2nd Maribor Open is on the schedule for the 2008 European Bowling Tour and will run from September 6-14, 2008.

A total of 56 players qualified for the finals of the 1st Maribor Open Strike Tournament on Sunday, Sep. 16 at Strike Bowling Center in Maribor, Slovenia: The top 52 in the overall qualifying standings and the top 4 Desperados.

Qualifiers 1-14 earned two byes, while qualifiers 15-28 bypassed the first round. The top 14 from Final Round One advanced and met qualifiers 15-28 in Final Round Two. The top 14 after another three games from scratch qualified for Round 3 and bowled against the top 14 qualifiers.

From Round 3 on the pinfall was carried forward and the field was trimmed to 16, then 8 and 4 (all rounds over three games). The four remaining players bowl for the title. in a traditional stepladder format based on the standings after Round 5.

Bowlingdigital covered 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 airing at 6 p.m. local time (GMT +1) from Strike Bowling Center in Maribor, Slovenia.