Palermaa shoots fourth perfect game in Brunswick Euro Challenge and overtakes qualifying lead
03/17/07
World Cup champion Osku Palermaa (left) rolled the fourth 300 game at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki en route to take the lead in the Brunswick Euro Challenge.
The Finn, who uses both hands to swing and bowl the bowling ball, started his six game block with 12 consecutive strikes, then added games of 236, 186, 248, 215 and 245 to beat out previous leader Paul Moor from England by two pins for the qualifying lead. Palermaa, who finished second in the 2006 BEC, felled 1430 pins over six games, an average of 238.33.
Moor from England and his female counterpart Britt Bröndsted (l.), Denmark, both three-time European ranking champions, slipped to second and third place with 1428 and 1406, respectively. Representing the host country of Greece, Leonidas Maragos (r.), is fourth with 1395, followed by Rodrigo Hermes, Brazil, with 1390.
L-R World Doubles champion Martin Larsen and Robert Andersson from Sweden ended the 19th of 27 qualifying squads in second and sixth position.
Larsen's 1390 pinfall total propelled him into sixth place due to the lower last game, 226 to 216. Andersson is currently in 36th place with 1280.
Positions 3 to 5 in the squad belonged to Palermaa's compatriots Kimmo Lehtonen (right, 14th overall with 1348), Kai Virtanen (17th, 1340) and Joonas Jehkinen, the youngest player ever to throw an approved 300 game in Finland (31st, 1303).
With 237 from 26 countries having completed at least one qualifying block, the cutoff number for 16th place is 1342 (Remy Ong, Singapore) and 1249 for 52nd place (Kostas Papakostas, Greece).
Qualifying continues on Friday and Saturday with the 27th and final qualifying squad scheduled for 8pm on March 17 followed by the Desperado Squad, the ultimate one-game chance to qualify for the finals on Sunday, March 18.
Bowlingdigital covers the event live from Thessaloniki all the way through to the TV finals on Sunday.
The BEC is the fifth stop of the 2007 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Majors". Since the cancellation of the Viernheim Open, the Brunswick Euro Challenge is the richest event on the 2007 European Bowling Tour.
The total prize fund for the Open Division, Women and B-Bowlers plus special prizes is 90.000 Euro (approx. US$116,600). The Open Division champion will pocket 16.000 €.
A total of 64 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, March 18:
The top 16 qualifying leaders will bypass the first round. The other 48 finalists roll six games starting from scratch. The top 16 will join the 16 qualifying leaders in the best-of-three games single elimination finals. The highest ranked player will bowl the lowest seed, etc.
The rounds of 32, 16 and 8 trim the field from 16, to eight, then to four. The remaining four players will be seeded 1 to 4 for the stepladder finals to determine the champion in three one-game matches: No. 4 vs. No. 3, winner vs. No. 2, winner vs. No. 1.
Squad 19 Results
Qualifying Standings
Latest Results
2007 European Bowling Tour #5
Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki, Greece (March 9-18, 2007)
World Cup champion Osku Palermaa (left) rolled the fourth 300 game at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki en route to take the lead in the Brunswick Euro Challenge. The Finn, who uses both hands to swing and bowl the bowling ball, started his six game block with 12 consecutive strikes, then added games of 236, 186, 248, 215 and 245 to beat out previous leader Paul Moor from England by two pins for the qualifying lead. Palermaa, who finished second in the 2006 BEC, felled 1430 pins over six games, an average of 238.33. Moor from England and his female counterpart Britt Bröndsted (l.), Denmark, both three-time European ranking champions, slipped to second and third place with 1428 and 1406, respectively. Representing the host country of Greece, Leonidas Maragos (r.), is fourth with 1395, followed by Rodrigo Hermes, Brazil, with 1390. L-R World Doubles champion Martin Larsen and Robert Andersson from Sweden ended the 19th of 27 qualifying squads in second and sixth position. Larsen's 1390 pinfall total propelled him into sixth place due to the lower last game, 226 to 216. Andersson is currently in 36th place with 1280.
Positions 3 to 5 in the squad belonged to Palermaa's compatriots Kimmo Lehtonen (right, 14th overall with 1348), Kai Virtanen (17th, 1340) and Joonas Jehkinen, the youngest player ever to throw an approved 300 game in Finland (31st, 1303). With 237 from 26 countries having completed at least one qualifying block, the cutoff number for 16th place is 1342 (Remy Ong, Singapore) and 1249 for 52nd place (Kostas Papakostas, Greece).
Qualifying continues on Friday and Saturday with the 27th and final qualifying squad scheduled for 8pm on March 17 followed by the Desperado Squad, the ultimate one-game chance to qualify for the finals on Sunday, March 18.
Bowlingdigital covers the event live from Thessaloniki all the way through to the TV finals on Sunday. The BEC is the fifth stop of the 2007 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Majors". Since the cancellation of the Viernheim Open, the Brunswick Euro Challenge is the richest event on the 2007 European Bowling Tour.
The total prize fund for the Open Division, Women and B-Bowlers plus special prizes is 90.000 Euro (approx. US$116,600). The Open Division champion will pocket 16.000 €.
A total of 64 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, March 18:
- Top 52 from the qualifying
- Top 6 from the qualifying squads conducted March 9-11 not among those 52
- Top 6 from the Desperado Squad.
The top 16 qualifying leaders will bypass the first round. The other 48 finalists roll six games starting from scratch. The top 16 will join the 16 qualifying leaders in the best-of-three games single elimination finals. The highest ranked player will bowl the lowest seed, etc.
The rounds of 32, 16 and 8 trim the field from 16, to eight, then to four. The remaining four players will be seeded 1 to 4 for the stepladder finals to determine the champion in three one-game matches: No. 4 vs. No. 3, winner vs. No. 2, winner vs. No. 1.
Squad 19 Results
Qualifying Standings
Latest Results