Belmonte powers his way into the lead in 6th Columbia 300 Vienna Open
10/03/08
Jason Belmonte (left), the two-hander from down under, rolled the first 1400-plus series in the 6th Columbia 300 Vienna Open during the 9th qualifying squad Thursday evening at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria. Belmonte fired games of 236, 225, 246, 209, 218 and finished with 278 to shoot into the lead with 1412 six-game total and an average of 235.33.
Mikael Kanold (right) from Sweden felled 1385 pins including a 279 game to jump into second place in the overall qualifying standings. Previous leader Alexander Rauscher, Austria, fell to third place with 1367.
Michael Loos, Austria (1346), Uwe Tscharke, Germany (1332) and Michael Mayer, Austria (1326) fell two spots to fourth, fifth and sixth place, respectively.
Another players cracked the 1300-bar during Squad 9.
Local favorite Thomas Gross improved his previous high score to 1325 to sit in 7th place, immediately followed by Erik Andersin (left), Sweden, who was just two pins behind with 1323. Mario Parapini, Italy, was another pin behind with 1322 to leap into 9th place.
For the third time in as many squads on Thursday one player checked in with 1313. Finn Jari Ratia (right) tied Marcus Zuber and Achim Grabowski, both Germany. Zuber is in 10th place, Ratia 11th and Grabowski 12th due to the higher last game, 269-195-187.
With more than 50 per cent of the 17 qualifying squads in the books, Jimmy Mortensen from Denmark is the "man on the bubble" in 52nd place with 1200 pinfall total or an average of 200.
Anne Gales, Denmark, is the top-ranked woman in 29th place with 1253 including the 48 pins women's handicap, a standard on the European Bowling Tour. Formula One star Robert Kubica (pictured), Poland, had a slow start into the tournament but finished with 210 and 198 to land in 164th place with 1036.
Belmonte's fellow countryman and team mate on the Australian national team, Jason Walsh, had a 1261 pinfall total to help the Jasons to overtake the lead in the Doubles competition with 2673 pinfall total and an average of 222.75.
The Aussie have a 15-pin buffer over previous leaders Michael Mayer, Austria, and Uwe Tscharke, Germany, who slipped to second place with 2658 (221.50). Defending Singles champion Dennis Eklund and Erik Andersin, Sweden, overtook the third position with 2595 (216.25).
Photos Lars Müller.
Singles Results
Doubles Results
The Vienna Open, the 14th stop of the 2008 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Major", will be held from Sep. 30 - Oct. 5, in Vienna, Austria.
More than 290 players will compete for total prize money of 65.630 Euro - 55.400 € in Singles and 10.230 € in Doubles. The singles champion will receive the 6.000 € top prize while the doubles winners will split 1.600 €.
In last year's title match, Swede Dennis Eklund (pictured right) defeated Yoan Alix, France, 235-199, en route to win his first EBT title. Tina Hulsch, Germany, won the women's rankings.
Once again the qualifying for the Vienna Open finals is contested as a doubles tournament. Each duo rolls at least one six-game block. Unlimited re-entries with different partners are possible but each player can only cash once with the same partner.
The team with the highest total pinfall including handicap will be declared the winner (no finals will be played). The top 20 doubles will cash.
Stuart Williams, England, and Germany's Tina Hulsch are the defending champions (pictured left).
Qualifying runs from Tuesday through Saturday and ends with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad on Saturday night Oct. 4 slated for 11.30 pm local time (GMT +1).
A total of 64 players from the qualifying will advance to the finals starting on Sunday, Oct. 5 at 8am:
The top 8 players with the highest six-game qualifying result will earn one bye and will be seeded 1-8 in the match play Round of 32 players positioned 9th to 52nd after qualifying the six leaders of Squads 1-6 and the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.
All but the top 8 qualifiers (56 players overall) will bowl 6 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 24. Those 24 will be seeded 9-32 in the match play Round of 32.
The Round of 32, 16 and 8 will feature single-elimination match play in best-of-three games format. The highest seeded player bowls the lowest seeded player, the second-highest seeded player vs. the second-lowest seeded player, etc.
The semifinals (No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3) and the championship match will be decided in one game. A major on the European Bowling Tour, the top 50 men and the top 50 women will receive double ranking points.
For more information on the 6th Columbia 300 Vienna Open click here.
2008 European Bowling Tour #14
Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria (Sep. 30 - Oct. 5, 2008)
Jason Belmonte (left), the two-hander from down under, rolled the first 1400-plus series in the 6th Columbia 300 Vienna Open during the 9th qualifying squad Thursday evening at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria. Belmonte fired games of 236, 225, 246, 209, 218 and finished with 278 to shoot into the lead with 1412 six-game total and an average of 235.33. Mikael Kanold (right) from Sweden felled 1385 pins including a 279 game to jump into second place in the overall qualifying standings. Previous leader Alexander Rauscher, Austria, fell to third place with 1367. Michael Loos, Austria (1346), Uwe Tscharke, Germany (1332) and Michael Mayer, Austria (1326) fell two spots to fourth, fifth and sixth place, respectively.
Another players cracked the 1300-bar during Squad 9. Local favorite Thomas Gross improved his previous high score to 1325 to sit in 7th place, immediately followed by Erik Andersin (left), Sweden, who was just two pins behind with 1323. Mario Parapini, Italy, was another pin behind with 1322 to leap into 9th place.
For the third time in as many squads on Thursday one player checked in with 1313. Finn Jari Ratia (right) tied Marcus Zuber and Achim Grabowski, both Germany. Zuber is in 10th place, Ratia 11th and Grabowski 12th due to the higher last game, 269-195-187. With more than 50 per cent of the 17 qualifying squads in the books, Jimmy Mortensen from Denmark is the "man on the bubble" in 52nd place with 1200 pinfall total or an average of 200. Anne Gales, Denmark, is the top-ranked woman in 29th place with 1253 including the 48 pins women's handicap, a standard on the European Bowling Tour. Formula One star Robert Kubica (pictured), Poland, had a slow start into the tournament but finished with 210 and 198 to land in 164th place with 1036.
Belmonte's fellow countryman and team mate on the Australian national team, Jason Walsh, had a 1261 pinfall total to help the Jasons to overtake the lead in the Doubles competition with 2673 pinfall total and an average of 222.75.
The Aussie have a 15-pin buffer over previous leaders Michael Mayer, Austria, and Uwe Tscharke, Germany, who slipped to second place with 2658 (221.50). Defending Singles champion Dennis Eklund and Erik Andersin, Sweden, overtook the third position with 2595 (216.25).
Photos Lars Müller.
Singles Results
Doubles Results
Singles Squad 9
Doubles Squad 9
The Vienna Open, the 14th stop of the 2008 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Major", will be held from Sep. 30 - Oct. 5, in Vienna, Austria. More than 290 players will compete for total prize money of 65.630 Euro - 55.400 € in Singles and 10.230 € in Doubles. The singles champion will receive the 6.000 € top prize while the doubles winners will split 1.600 €.
In last year's title match, Swede Dennis Eklund (pictured right) defeated Yoan Alix, France, 235-199, en route to win his first EBT title. Tina Hulsch, Germany, won the women's rankings. Once again the qualifying for the Vienna Open finals is contested as a doubles tournament. Each duo rolls at least one six-game block. Unlimited re-entries with different partners are possible but each player can only cash once with the same partner.
The team with the highest total pinfall including handicap will be declared the winner (no finals will be played). The top 20 doubles will cash. Stuart Williams, England, and Germany's Tina Hulsch are the defending champions (pictured left).
Qualifying runs from Tuesday through Saturday and ends with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad on Saturday night Oct. 4 slated for 11.30 pm local time (GMT +1).
A total of 64 players from the qualifying will advance to the finals starting on Sunday, Oct. 5 at 8am:
All but the top 8 qualifiers (56 players overall) will bowl 6 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 24. Those 24 will be seeded 9-32 in the match play Round of 32.
The Round of 32, 16 and 8 will feature single-elimination match play in best-of-three games format. The highest seeded player bowls the lowest seeded player, the second-highest seeded player vs. the second-lowest seeded player, etc.
The semifinals (No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3) and the championship match will be decided in one game. A major on the European Bowling Tour, the top 50 men and the top 50 women will receive double ranking points.
For more information on the 6th Columbia 300 Vienna Open click here.