Paul Moor wins the qualifying in Ebonite Lahti Open

    10/18/09

    2009 European Bowling Tour #12

    PBA stars Doug Kent, Bill O'Neill miss first cut

    2009EBT12PaulMoor.jpg2009EBT12MikeWolfe2.jpgPaul Moor (pictured left), England, led a field of 228 players - 188 men and 40 women - from 13 countries after 14 qualifying squads which drew more than 500 entries with 1413 six-game total or an average of 235.50. Moor leads the top 36 qualifiers plus the top 4 from the Desperado Squad into the finals on Sunday.

    Mike Wolfe (right), United States, bowled the highest series of the final four squads on Saturday. The 4-time PBA champion had games of 247, 237, 245, 230, 215 and 237 in the 14th and final squad but fell two pins short of the lead with 1411.

    Pasi Uotila was the best Finnish bowler in third place with 1404. Only the top three players hit the 1400-mark though the scores were much higher than last year, as a lot more really good bowlers participated.

    2009EBT12DominicBarrett.jpg2009EBT12JuhaImmonen.jpgDominic Barrett (left), England, and Mika Oksanen from Lahti were tied after five games in the penultimate squad but Barrett closed out his series with 213 to Oksanen's 208 to move into fourth place with 1395 with Oksanen in fifth at 1390.

    Squad 12 leader Juha Immonen (right), Finland,  totaled 1381 to leap into sixth place and to get one buy for the finals. "In Lahti you always need to be humble," said Immonen. "You don’t get anything for free. I polished my ball a bit and it worked out great. I’m glad I don’t have to get up so early on Sunday."

    Rounding out the top 8, who will bypass the first round o the finals are Thomas Larsen, Denmark, and 8-time PBA champion Mika Koivuniemi, Finland, in 7th and 8th place with 1370 and 1359, respectively.

    2009EBT12VanessaTimter.jpg2009EBT12PetteriSalonen.jpgVanessa Timter (left), Germany, was the best of four women, who made the first cut with 1352 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour. Multiple European champion Petteri Salonen (right), Finland, took the 36th and final spot to advance with 1297 or an average of 216.17.

    Samuli Tiainen, Finland, had a huge 279 to lead the Desperado Squad with Peter Ljung (268), Sweden, in second and Sergey Bogachev (248), Russia, in third. Norway's Tore Torgersen grabbed the fourth and last spot for the finals with 247.

    Among those failing to advance were Finnish standout Lasse Lintilä (41st, 1294), World games champion Krista Pöllänen (44th, 1292), Finland, Guy Caminsky (48th, 1286), South-Africa, PBA stars Doug Kent (49th, 1286) and Bill O´Neill (50th, 1285), both United States and European Bowling Tour women's ranking leader Nina Flack (71st, 1256), Sweden.

    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 ran through Saturday, Oct. 17, and ended with Squad 14 and the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad on Saturday night.

    A total of 40 players - the top 36 from the qualifying (six games) and top 4 from the Desperado Squad - advanced to the finals on Sunday, Oct. 18. The top 8 qualifiers earned 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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    Standings after Qualifying


    The top 36 and top 4 from the Desperado Squad (places 37-40) advance to the finals. The top 8 qualifiers earn one bye.

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