Pasi Uotila shoots into lead in Ebonite Lahti Open

    10/16/09

    2009 European Bowling Tour #12

    Lahti Bowl in Lahti, Finland (Oct. 10-18, 2009)

    2009EBT12PasiUotila.jpg2009EBT08MikaKouvuniemi.jpgLongtime Finnish national team member Pasi Uotila (pictured left) became the first player in the Ebonite Lahti Open who cracked the 1400-bar when he rolled a 1404 series in Squad 7 on Thursday evening at Lahti Bowl in Lahti, Finland.

    Uotila had games of 216, 259, 221, 246, 224 and 238, an average of 234.00 over six games, en route to shoot into the lead in the overall qualifying standings.

    "The 140 I posted this morning [in squad 6] was a hint that playing outside is not the right thing for me," Pasi said. "And all the 10 pins. It’s easy to hit the pocket here but to carry is the problem. Who knows what was different in this squad, I wasn’t the only one who made it."

    Danish national team member Thomas Larsen was 34 pins behind Uotila to leap into second place with 1370, while 8-time PBA champion Mika Koivuniemi (above, right), Finland, moved into third place with 1359. Norway's Mads Sandbækken checked in with 1337, good for fifth place overall.

    2009EBT12VanessaTimter2.jpg2009EBT12SamuValaranta.jpgVanessa Timter (left), Germany, was the surprise leader in Squad 6 when she posted a 1352 series, 1304 scratch (217.33) plus 48 pins handicap, to overtake previous leader Samu Valaranta (right), Finland, by 17 pins.

    "Bowling isn’t always fun and easy, but today it was", said Tinter afterwards. "I still can’t believe this. Lahti is a great place to bowl, no matter what other people might say."

    Tinter slipped to fourth place after Squad 7 but is the top-ranked female bowler in fourth place. Second-placed Jarmo Ahokas (1336) overtook Valaranta by one pin to sit in sixth place while Valaranta fell to 7th with 1335.

    Sari Ohrimovitsch-Tyynelä, Finland, currently holds the 36th and final spot to advance with 1237 pinfall total.

    The Ebonite Lahti Open is the 12th stop of the 2009 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Challenger" events. The tournament will be held from Oct. 10-18, 2009 at Jouni Helminen's fully renovated Lahti Bowl in Lahti, Finland, and offers an increased total prize fund of 49.200 Euro, or about 72,500 U.S. dollars. The winner will receive the 8.000 Euro top prize.

    Qualifying runs through Saturday, Oct. 17, and ends with Squad 14 and the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad slated for 11.30 p.m. local time (GMT +3) on Saturday night.

    A total of 40 players - the top 36 from the qualifying (six games) and top 4 from the Desperado Squad - will advance to the finals on Sunday, Oct. 18. The top 8 qualifiers will earn one bye and will be seeded into Final Round 2.

    The remaining 32 players will bowl 6 games starting from scratch. The top 12 join the top 8 qualifiers and bowl 5 games from scratch with the top 10 advancing to Round 3. Those 10 players will bowl another 5-game series with the pinfall from Round 2 being carried forward to cut to the top 4 who will advance to the stepladder finals.

    The No. 4 seed meets the No. 3 seed, the winner takes on the No. 2 for the right to bowl the No. 1 for the title. All stepladder matches are single game matches.


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    Qualifying Standings after Squad 7/14

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