Five players crack top 8 in qualifying at 2009 Ankara Open

    09/12/09

    2009 European Bowling Tour #10

    Rollhouse Bowling Center in Ankara, Turkey (Sep. 5-13, 2009)

    2009EBT10AaronKong.jpg2009WGOskuPalerrmaa.jpgAaron Kong (pictured left) held on to the lead in the qualifying of the 2009 Ankara Open Friday at Rollhouse Bowling Center in Ankara, Turkey. The Malaysian national team member leads the field of 161 players - 125 men and 36 women - into the final day of qualifying with 1446 six-game total and an average of 241.00.

    Five players cracked the top 8 during Friday's qualifying squads 21-24. Two-time defending European Bowling Tour ranking champion Osku Palermaa (right), Finland, moved into second place with 1443 after finishing his series with 255 and 279 games.

    Kong's team mate Adrian Ang fell one spot to third with 1417. Erik Andersin, Sweden, also rolled a 279 in his 1417 set, which propelled him into fourth place.

    2008BWCJimmyMortensen.jpg2009NODominicBarrett2.jpgJimmy Mortensen (left) was the fifth player, who reached the 1400-bar. The Dane used two 257 games for 1402 pinfall total to move into fifth place. Dominic Barrett (right), England, and Pasi Uotila, Finland, were close behind in 6th and 7th place with 1399 and 1396.

    Rounding out the top 8 is Daniel Lim, Malaysia, with 1392. Wendy Kok (right), Netherlands, the top-ranked woman with 1384 including 48 pins handicap, slipped all the way out of the top 8 to 9th place.

    2009EBT10HabibDogan.jpg2009EBT10EmreBulbul.jpgHabib Doğan (left) is the best of just three Turkish bowlers in the top 40 in 13th place with 1372. Emre Bülbül (right) is 36th with 1299 and Adem Güran is 38th with 1298. Rikke Holm Rasmussen, Denmark, currently holds the 40th and final spot to advance with 1296 including handicap.

    The Ankara Open is the 10th stop of the 2009 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Major" tournaments. As reported earlier, the Ankara Open has changed its EBT status from Premier to Major due to reduced prize money as a consequence of the global financial crisis.

    The tournament offers total prize money of 70.000 Euro instead of 100.000. The winner will receive the 10.000 Euro top prize instead of 15.000.

    Qualifying ends on Saturday, Sep. 12, with four more squads and the ultimate Desperado Squad scheduled for early Sunday morning. A total of 56 players will advance to the finals including the top 40 qualifiers, the top six players each from Squads 1-6 (Sept. 5&6) and Squads 7-12 (Sept. 7&8) and the top 4 from the Desperado Squad.

    The top 8 qualifiers will earns three byes, places 9-16 receive two and places 17-24 will get one. The remaining 32 players advance to the first of four rounds over 4 games total pinfall starting from scratch.

    Once the field is cut to 8 players the format will change to single-elimination match play in bracket format; each match over two games total pinfall. The field will be trimmed to four then two players, who will bowl for the title worth 10.000 Euro and 100 EBT ranking points.

     


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    Qualifying Standings after Squad 24

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