Mirek Cifra and Karel Kutina (pictured left, r-l), both from the Czech Republic, teamed in the second qualifying squad Tuesday evening at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria, en route to overtake the lead in the Doubles competition of the 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open.

The duo combined for 2467 six-game total, an average of 205.58, to overtake Squad 1 leaders Thomas Gross and Walter Rieger, who had 2434.

Heading into the final game, Cifra had the highest individual series in the squad, leading Jens Grieger, Germany, by 23 pins, 1075 to 1052. Both players struggled in the last game and felled 194 pins each. Cifra's 1269 pinfall total earned him a spot in the Vienna Open finals on Sunday and the second place in the overall qualifying standings.

Squad 1 leader Franz Hahn (right), Austria, remained in the lead with 1286 and an average of 214.33. Zoltan Skorbrics, Hungary, finished his series with 242 to move into third place with 1248 followed by Grieger, who totaled 1246.

Stefan Schmid slipped to fifth place with Alexander Gabrielian in fifth with 1237 and Gross and Rieger, all from Austria, in 7th and 8th with 1225 and 1209, respectively. Luminata Farkas-Bucin, Romania, posted the fifth-highest total in Squad 2 to become the best woman in the field of 85 players with 1202 including 48 pins handicap .

Qualifying continues on Tuesday with Squad 3 at 8pm.

The 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open is the 11th stop of the 2009 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Majors". The tournament will be held from Tuesday Sept. 29 through Sunday Oct. 4, 2009 at the renovated 32-lane Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria.

More than 340 players from 27 countries will compete for an increased total prize money of 68.130 Euro - 57.900 € in Singles and 10.230 € in Doubles. The singles champion will receive the 6.000 Euro top prize while the doubles winners will split 1.600.

The picture shows two Americans, who are already here at the 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open. L-R Lucas Wiseman of USBC Communication, left, and John Janawicz, right, former Team USA member, multiple PABCON champion and two-time USBC Open champion, who is doing the lanes for Kegel, the official lane maintenance partner of the European Tenpin Bowling Federation.

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. Bigi Manico, Switzerland and Tanya Cuva (nee Petty) are the defending champion (on the left, r-l).

Qualifying runs from Tuesday through Saturday and ends with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad on Saturday night Oct. 3 slated for 11.30 pm local time (GMT +1). Women receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard on the European Bowling Tour

A total of 64 players will qualify for the Vienna Open finals on Sunday, Oct. 4:

 

• the top 52 players from the overall qualifying standings
• the first player each from Squad 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, who is not among the top 52 (total 6 players)
• and the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

The top 8 qualifying leaders will bypass the first round of the finals.

The other 52 players will bowl 6 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 22, who will join the top qualifiers in Round Two.

Those 30 players will bowl another 6 games starting from scratch after which the field will be trimmed to the top 18, who will carry their pinfall forward into Round Three. After another 6-game block the top 4 with the highest 12-game total will advance to the stepladder finals.

The No. 4 seed meets the No. 3 in the opening match and the winner takes on the No. 2 seed for the right to bowl the top seed for the title, 100 ranking points and the 6.000 Euro top prize.

 

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