Finland's two-hander Osku Palermaa (pictured left) led the qualifying of the 5th QubicaAMF Open 2011 Saturday night at bowling center Gladiator Arena in Ljubljana, Slovenia as the field of 143 players - 112 men and 31 women - from 22 countries was trimmed to 40.

Palermaa, who will compete as a PBA Tour exempt player during the 2011-12 season after winning his first PBA Tour title in the 2010 GEICO Shark Championship, had games of 238, 268, 234, 279, 266 and 249 in Squad 11 of 13 to overtake previous leader Mathias Årup (right), Sweden, by four pins with 1534 six-game total and an average of 255.67.

Fresh off his victory in the Track Dream-Bowl Palace Open in Munich, Germany, last weekend, Palermaa targets to win back-to-back European Bowling Tour titles. He received a 1.000 Euro bonus for winning the qualifying.

World Doubles champion Årup, who had 1530 including a 300 game in Squad 6, finished in second place. Swede Dennis Eklund (left) landed in third place with 1522.

Mika Koivuniemi, Finland, who is the frontrunner in the PBA Player of the Year race after winning the $250,000 first-place check in the 2011 Tournament of Champions, was fourth with 1511. Koivuniemi posted the first 300 game of the tournament.

Thomas Larsen (right), Denmark, who has led the EBT men's rankings after five events, rolled a 1502 series in Squad 10 to become the fifth player who has surpassed the 1500-mark in this year's QAMF Open qualifying. Larsen had five games between 237 and 269 and a low game of 222.

Sixth place belonged to defending champion Wendy Kok (left), Netherlands, who was second to Palermaa in Squad 11 with 1442 scratch, a 240.33 average, and 1490 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

Rounding out the top 10, who earned two byes for Sunday's finals, were PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss, United States (7th; 1487 including a 300 game), Tore Torgersen, Norway (8th; 1483), Kamilla Kjeldsen, Denmark (1465; 9th) and Joline Persson-Planefors (right), Sweden (10th; 1464).

Former U.S. Open champion Robert Smith, United States, led the group of players, who received one bye for the finals in 11th place with 1463. Reigning World Games champion Krista Pöllänen (left), Finland, waited until the last squad to make the cut. Pöllänen used a 299 in the fifth game for 1447 pinfall total including handicap to jump into 13th place.

PBA and USBC Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III (right) had the tournament's fourth 300 in the second game of Squad 12 to crack the top 20 with 1413, good for 19th place. Klaus Lischka, Germany, took the 20th place with 1411, an average of 235.17.

Dutch international Nicole Sanders (left) hit the cutoff number for 30th place with 1373 or an average of 228.83 including handicap.

Joining the top 30 in the finals were the top six players from a separate leaderboard of the first six squads: Swedish national team members Peter Ljung and Nina Flack, Austrian national team members Alexander Rauscher and Roman Fürbacher, Giorgio Bodis of Hungary and the sole Slovenian bowler in the finals Milan Malek.

The last four spots went to the top 4 players from the Desperado Squad. $-time EBT ranking champ Gery Verbruggen (right), Belgium, led the one-game contest with 254 and was followed by World Youth champion Tina Hulsch, Germany (243 including 8 pins handicap) and European champion Mads Sandbækken, Norway (235).

Dirk Völkel (right), Germany, was the first to miss the first cut by five pins in 31st place to the very last spot to advance to the finals thanks to a 226 game.

The 5th QubicaAMF Open 2011 is the seventh stop of the 2011 European Bowling Tour and the fourth out of seven EBT "Silver" tournaments this season. The tournament will be held from April 5-10, 2011at 28-lane bowling center Gladiator Arena in Ljubljana, Slovenia and offers total prize fund of 43.400 Euro with 6.000 Euro going to the winner, 3.000 to the runner-up and 2.000 to the third place finisher.