Swede Christian Karlsson overtakes lead in 8th Istanbul Bowling Open

    05/10/11

    2011 European Bowling Tour #8

    2011EBT08ChristianKarlsson.jpg2011EBT08AyhanIskenderoglu.jpg

    The 8th Istanbul Bowling Open continued Monday evening with 21 players taking to the twenty lanes at Timeout Bowling Center in Istanbul, Turkey. Swede Christian Karlsson (pictured left) led Squad 5 behind games of 197, 154, 205, 253 (the highest game of the tournament so far), 213 and 172 to earn a 250 Euro bonus.

    Karlsson, who almost became the first player to crack the 1200 bar (200 average), overtook the lead in the overall qualifying standings after three days of competition with 1194 and an average of 199 over six games. Previous leader Habib Dogan slipped to second place but is still the top Turkish bowler with 1189.

    His compatriot Ayhan Iskenderoglu (right) was second to take the 100 Euro bonus for the top local bowler in Squad 5 with 1133, good for eighth place among the 82 players - 70 men and 12 women - from six countries. Gulhan Aksular, Turkey, is the top-ranked woman in fourth place with 1183 including 48 pins handicap.

    Jahangir Alihuseyinov of Azerbaijan currently holds the 38th and last spot to advance with 1002 or an average of 167.

    Qualifying continues on Tuesday with Squad 6 scheduled for 8 p.m. local time (7 p.m. CET).

    IstanbulOpenLogo2.jpgThe 8th Istanbul Bowling Open is the 8th stop of the 2011 European Bowling Tour and the second out of six EBT "Gold" tournaments this season. The tournament will be held from May 7-15, 2011 at 20-lane Timeout Bowling Center in the heart of Istanbul, Turkey and offers total prize fund of 70.000 Euro with 10.000 Euro going to the winner, 6.000 to the runner-up and 3.500 each to the third and fourth place finishers.

    2010EBT08RebeckaLarsen_small.jpg201011PBAMikaKoivuniemi_small.jpg 2010-11 PBA Player of the Year Mika Koivuniemi of Finland (pictured left), is the defending champion. Koivuniemi, the only multiple EBT champion this season, fired games of 258 and 290 to defeat Mykhaylo Kalika, Ukraine, 548-424, in the title match of the 7th Istanbul Bowling Open to pocket the 10.000 Euro top prize. Third place finisher Rebecka Larsen (right), Sweden, has won the IBO women rankings in 2010.

    Since the Viborg International in Viborg, Denmark, has been cancelled, the 2011 European Bowling Tour consists of 21 tour stops in 17 countries including two Platinum, six Gold, seven Silver and six Satellite tournaments.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event receive ranking points. The winner of a Platinum tournament receives 250 ranking points, the winner of a Gold tournament gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament earns 100, and the winner of a Satellite tournament gets 50 ranking points.

    The top 16 men and the top 16 women at the end of the 2011 season qualify for the fifth EBT Masters to be held at Dream-Bowl Palace in Unterföhring near Munich, Germany on April 30 and May 1, 2012. The event will become the first EBT Masters to be contested on single lane condition.

    The qualifying of the 8th Istanbul Bowling Open runs from Saturday May 7 through Saturday, April 14 with the last qualifying squad 20 scheduled for 8 p.m. (7 p.m. CET). Each squad winner takes 250 Euro while the top local bowler in each squad receives 100 Euro. Qualifying will conclude with the one-game Desperado Squad 2 slated for 11.30 p.m..

    The Istanbul Bowling Open features a 38 feet Kegel lane conditioning pattern with 27ml oil volume and a 2.11 ratio.

    A total of 48 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, May 15, including the top 38 players from the overall qualifying standings, the top two players from the combined standings of the first two days (Squads 1-4) which are not among the top 38 plus the top 2 from Desperado Squad 1 (Sunday, May 8) and the top 6 players from Desperado Squad 2 (Sunday, May 15). The top 8 qualifiers will earn three byes, qualifiers 9-18 will receive two byes and qualifiers 19-28 will bypass the first round of the finals.

    Rounds 1-5 consist of four games with each round starting from scratch. The field will be trimmed to 38, 28, 18, 8 and then four who will advance to the semifinals (Round 6). No. 1 bowls No. 4 and No. 2 bowls No. 3 with the two-game total pinfall to determine the winners, who will bowl for the title, the 10.000 € top prize and 150 ranking points.

     


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    Qualifying Standings after Squad 5/20

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