Zulkifli, Berndt, Williams, Samain advance to the finals in Barcelona from Squads 4-7

    07/15/11

    2011 European Bowling Tour #12

    Seven players crack top 10 on Thursday

    2011EBT04ZulmazranZulkifli.jpg2011EBT04MatsMaggi.jpgAnother four players joined the elite club of squad leaders Thursday at Bowling Pedralbes in Barcelona, Spain, who will be seeded into Sunday's finals of the 33rd Trofeu Internacional Ciutat de Barcelona.

    Zulmazran Zulkifli (pictured left) led Squad 4 on Thursday morning to shoot into the qualifying lead with 1430 and an average of 238.33 for six games. The long-time Malaysian national team member had games of 208, 223, 248, 225 and 247 before he closed things out with 279, the highest game of the tournament so far.

    2010EBT10MarcusBerndt.jpg2011EBT11AdrianAng.jpgMats Maggi (above right), Belgium, finished his series with 247 and 268 to land in second place with 1405. Squad 5 leader Marcus Berndt (left), Sweden, pushed Maggi to third after totaling 1424. Berndt had five games between 236 and 247 to start his series and needed a 221 game in the sixth to surpass Zulkifli for the qualifying lead but had to settle for second place behind a 214 last game.

    Previous leader Syafiq Ridhwan, Malaysia, slipped to fourth place with 1404 and is followed by compatriot Adrian Ang (right) in fifth place. Ang, who finished second to team mate Alex Liew (53rd, 1232) in the San Marino Open last weekend, was third in Squad 4 with 1387 including a high game of 269.

    2011EBT08PerttuJussila.jpg2011EBT08PaulMoor.jpgFinishing second and third in Squad 5 were Perttu Jussila (left), Finland, and Paul Moor (right), England, with 1383 and 1377, respectively, en route to leap into sixth and seventh place in the overall qualifying standings.

    PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss, United States, slipped to eighth place but is already qualified for the finals after winning Squad 3 with 1362. Two-year PBA exempt player Stuart Williams, England, (below left) finished Squad 6 on Thursday evening with back-to-back 247 to move into ninth place with 1355.

    2011EBT11StuartWilliams.jpg2010MWCJeanMarcSamain.jpgChristian Racpan, Germany, fell from third to tenth place with 1354. Squad 11 leader Jean Marc Samain (right), Belgium, missed the top 10 by 16 pins to sit in 11th place with 1338 featuring six games between 210 and 237.

    Places 12 and 13 belong to current European Bowling Tour ranking leader, Mai Ginge Jensen, Denmark, and Osku Palermaa, Finland. Jensen is the best of 42 women in the 136-player field from 26 countries with 1336 including 48 pins handicap. Palermaa, who targets his fourth victory in the EBT men's ranking, is one pin behind with 1335.

    Qualifying continues on Friday June 15 with Squads 8-11 scheduled for 9 a.m., 1, 5 and 9 p.m. CET.

    2011CiutatBarcelonaLogo_small.jpg The 33rd Trofeu Internacional Ciutat de Barcelona is the 12th stop of the 2011 European Bowling Tour and the fifth and penultimate EBT "Gold" tournaments this season.

    The tournament will be held from July 12-17, 2011 at 14-lane Bowling Pedralbes in Barcelona, Spain and offers total prize fund of 60.000 Euro with 12.000 Euro going to the winner, 6.000 to the runner-up and 3.000 to the third place finisher.

    2010EBT12GeryVerbruggen_small.jpg2011USWONinaFlack2_small.jpg In the 2010 stepladder finals, Gery Verbruggen of Belgium defeated PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss, United States, and eventual EBT ranking champion Dominic Barrett , England, to win the 32nd Trofeu Internacional Ciutat de Barcelona and the 12.000 Euro top prize. It was the 10th career EBT title for the 4-time European Bowling Tour ranking champion (2000-'03) and the first since 2008. Eventual women's EBT Ranking champion Nina Flack, Sweden, finished in 6th place and received 1.800 Euro for sixth place and a 1.200 Euro bonus for being the best woman in the tournament.

    Since the Viborg International in Viborg in 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 such as the Trofeu Internacional Ciutat de Barcelona 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 Trofeu Internacional Ciutat de Barcelona features a 41 feet Kegel lane conditioning pattern with 24.6ml volume oil total.

    A total of 48 players will advance to the finals on Sunday - the top 42 qualifiers including all squad leaders and an additional six women.

    Those 48 players will carry forward 50 per cent of their qualifying total and bowl four games to cut to the top 24, who will bowl another four games with the Round One total being carried forward. The top 3 players after Round Two qualify for the stepladder finals.

    The No. 3 seed bowls No. 2 and the winner takes on No. 1 to determine the champion in one-game matches.

     


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    Qualifying Standings after Squad 7/15


    A total of 42 players including all squad leaders (bold face) plus an additional six women will advance to the finals.

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