Semenov, Persson Planefors atop the European Champions Cup after Block Two Qualifying

    08/19/11

    2011 ECC

    German's Gabel, Iceland's Hardarson shoot highest block on long oil

    2011ECCLogo.jpg Joline Persson Planefors of Sweden continued to lead the women's division of the 34th European Champions Cup while Russia's Ivan Semenov took the pole position in the men's division after the second block of qualifying Thursday at Lahti Bowl in Lahti, Finland.

    The Swedish champion, who led the first block on short oil with 1706 rolled the sixth-highest eight-game block of 1682 on the 45 feet long oil pattern (pdf file) to retain the lead with 3388 and an average of 211.75 for 16 games.

    Lisa John, England, narrowed the gap to 13 pins behind the fourth-highest 1708 series today. John remained in second place with 3375. Defending women's ECC champion Krista Pöllänen, Finland, used the second-best 1738 series to leap from sixth to third place with 3264.

    Janine-Manuela Gabel, Germany, tied Pöllänen at 1738 but had the official high series due to the higher last game, 279 to 210. Gabel leaped five spots into fourth place with 3247.

    Places 5 through 7 belong to Georgia Sagona, Greece (3188), Sue Abela, Malta (3174) and Alena Korobkova, Russia (3157). With eight more games to go, Isabelle Sacco, France, holds the eighth and last place to advance with 3141 or an average of 196.31.

    Ivan Semenov started the day in fourth place with 1570 (196.25), 53 pins behind short-oil leader Anthony Fabre, France. Semenov was again the fourth-best player on long oil with 1789 (223.62) to move to the top of the men's leaderboard with 3359 and an average of 209.94.

    Swede Patrick Bohm had the second-highest 1804 series to move from seventh to second place with 3354. Hafthor Hardarson, Iceland, posted the field-best 1841 series, an average of 230.13, to jump from 17th to third place with 3335.

    Pascal Winternheimer matched Hardarson's leapfrog as the German moved from 18th to fourth with 3268. Defending men's ECC champion Svein Åke Ek rocketed from 22nd to fifth place with 3266 thanks to the third-best 1794 series.

    Fabre fell to sixth place with 3253 behind a 1630 series. Jean-Marc Lebon, Belgium, was one pin behind in seventh place with 3252. Rounding out the top 8 was Richard Teece, England, with 3246.

    Qualifying ends Friday with the third eight-game block on dual lane condition (one lane with short oil, the other with long oil).

    The ECC features the national champions or ranking leaders - one man and one woman per country - of the European Tenpin Bowling Federation member federations plus the defending champions.

    40 men and 38 women will bowl three eight-game blocks in the three-day preliminaries: Block 1 on short oil, Block 2 on long oil and Block 3 on dual lane condition (left lane long, right lane short oil).

    The top 8 players after 24 games preliminaries will advance to the single-elimination finals in best-of-three games format. In each round the highest seeded player will bowl the lowest seeded player, the second highest vs. the second lowest, etc., based on the standings after the preliminaries.

    Each match of the finals will be played on one pair of lanes, where the left lane will be dressed with long oil and the right lane with short oil. Each game in a match will be played on one of the two lanes (European style).

    The higher qualifier will have the advantage of selecting the lane conditioning pattern for the first game and whether he wants to start the first game or not. The second game will be played on the other lane condition and the order of players will be changed. An eventual third and deciding game will be played like the first game.

    The field will be trimmed to four, then two players, who will bowl for the title.

     


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