Finland defeats Sweden to defend Team title in Brussels

27 August, 2016

Championships

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In a title match between two of Europe’s powerhouses, second-seeded Finland defeated top-seeded Sweden, 1119-1095, to win the prestigious five-player team gold in the Men’s European Championships Saturday evening at Bowling Stones bowling center in Brussels, Belgium.

With the victory, Osku Palermaa, Jari Ratia, Joonas Jähi, Sami Lampo, Perttu Jussila and substitute Juhani Tonteri won the third consecutive team title for Finland. From left, Jussila, Jähi, Ratia, Lampo, Tonteri and Palermaa.

Swedes Peter Hellström, Martin Larsen, Jesper Svensson, Markus Jansson, Pontus Andersson and substitute Mattias Wetterberg, who set a championship record on the way to the No. 1 seed, had to settle for the silver medal.

In their semi-final match, the Swedes ousted fourth-seeded Denmark with Mik Stampe, Carsten Warming Hansen, Thomas Larsen, Markus Bergendorff, Jesper Agerbo and substitute Jimmy Mortensen, 1074-1017.

In the other semi-final match, Finland had some hard work to do before eliminating third-seeded Austria with Leopold Grundschober, Michael Loos, Daniel Hahn, Thomas Gross, Alexander Rauscher and substitute Patrick Stiel, 1098-1057.

Austria and Denmark shared the bronze medals.

The 2016 Men’s European Championships will be held from August 17-28 at Bowling Stones, a 36-lane QubicaAMF-equipped bowling center in Brussels, Belgium. The nine-day competition started on Saturday, August 20, and culminates with the masters finals on Sunday, August 28.

Record 218 athletes from 37 European Tenpin Bowling Federation (ETBF) member federations – Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Wales and the host country Belgium – participate in the event.

Each team consists of maximum six players, who compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in singles, doubles, trios, five-player teams, all-events and masters.

Singles, doubles, trios and team events features six games preliminaries with the top 4 advancing to the playoffs in one-game format, seeded 1 to 4 according to their position in the prelims. No. 1 bowls No. 4 and No. 2 takes on No. 3. The winners bowl for gold and silver and the losers share the bronze medals.

The top three players with the highest 24-game total (combined scores in the singles, doubles and team preliminaries) receive the medals in all-events.

The top 24 in all-events advance to single-elimination masters match play in best-of-three games format. The top 8 receive one bye.

In each round, the highest seeded player bowls the lowest seeded player, the second-highest seeded player bowls the second-lowest seeded player, and so on. Winners advance and losers will be eliminated. The remaining two players bowl for gold and silver and the losers of the semifinals share the bronze medals.

The 2016 Men’s European Championships serve as the qualifying event for male bowlers competing in the X World Games 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland. The top 5 countries with the two highest positioned players in All-Events qualify for the World Games. The bowling competition will be held July 20-24 at Sky Bowling.

The Championships also serve as the qualifier for the 2017 World Championships for men and women, to be held at Cozmo Bowling Center in Salmiya, Kuwait Dec. 4-18. The top 12 men’s teams in Brussels will qualify for the combined World Championships.

Photos courtesy of Gisela Göbel.

Sweden sets new record on the way to the top seed
Israel leads as A squad has completed Team preliminaries
Sweden leads Team preliminaries after Day 1
Swedes average 225 to take early lead in MEC Team event
Denmark escapes a couple close calls to win gold in Trios
Norway shoots big last game to win Trios preliminaries
Germany, Sweden, Finland crack top 4 in trios
Danish trio sets the pace as Squad 2 has completed preliminaries
Belgium leads after Day 1 in Trios preliminaries
Belgium takes over lead in Doubles after Squad2/3
Italy sets the tone in Squad 1 Trios after three games
Jähi, Palermaa cruise to the Doubles title
Finland, Denmark, Germany (2) to bowl for MEC Doubles title
Finns Palermaa, Jähi shoot into Doubles lead
Agerbo, Mortensen continue to lead Doubles preliminaries
Agerbo, Mortensen lead MEC Doubles prelims after Squad1/4
Jesper Agerbo shoots big games to win Singles gold
Jesper Agerbo leads Singles preliminaries after squad 2/4
2016 Men’s European Championships ready to go

2016 MEC Team event – Medal Round

Championship Round:
1. Finland (Osku Palermaa, Juhani Tonteri, Jari Ratia, Joonas Jähi, Sami Lampo, Perttu Jussila), 2217 (2 games)
2. Sweden (Peter Hellström, Martin Larsen, Jesper Svensson, Markus Jansson, Mattias Wetterberg, Pontus Andersson), 2169 (2 games)
3. Austria (Leopold Grundschober, Michael Loos, Daniel Hahn, Thomas Gross, Alexander Rauscher, Patrick Stiel), 1057 (1 game)
Denmark (Mik Stampe, Carsten Warming Hansen, Thomas Larsen, Markus Bergendorff, Jimmy Dan Mortensen, Jesper Agerbo), 1017 (1 game)

Playoff Results:
Semifinal Match 1:
No. 1 Svensson (224), Hellström (227), Jansson (226), Wetterberg (160), Larsen (237) def.
No. 4 Agerbo (167), Hansen (213), Stampe (195), Bergendorff (226), Larsen (216), 1074-1017
Semifinal Match 2:
No. 2 Lampo (220), Jähi (257), Ratia (207), Tonteri (241), Palermaa (173) def.
No. 3 Gross (223), Rauscher (181), Hahn (235), Grundschober (226), Loos (192), 1098-1057
Championship Match:
Lampo (206), Jähi (215), Ratia (214), Tonteri (253), Palermaa (231) def.
Svensson (258), Hellström (189), Jansson (256), Andersson (193), Larsen (199), 1119-1095.

Herbert Bickel