Gross becomes first woman to crack the 1400-bar; leads squad 6 to move into third place in Vienna

Ivonne Gross (left) set the pace in the third qualifying squad on Thursday, the sixth overall, en route to move into third place in the overall standings in the 5th Columbia 300 Vienna Open.

The Austrian national team member had three games over 240 and has not posted a game below 203 to win the squad with 1407 pinfall total including 48 pins handicap.

Frank Börner, Germany, had the highest scratch total with 1382, an average of 230.33, to overtake the sixth place. Börner and his team mate Hans Nitsch (on the right, l-r) were the best doubles of squad 6 with 2679 six-game total, good for fourth place overall.

Brian Farrugia, Malta, was third to leap into 8th place with 1379 or a 229.83 average. Martin Larsen (left), Sweden, currently the No. 3 in the European rankings missed the top 8 by four pins to sit in 9th place with 1375.

With six of 14 squads and 193 players in the books, Dominic Barrett (right) from England has positioned himself atop the leaderboard with 1425 six-game total and an average of 237.50. Mike Machnig, Germany, remained in second place with 1417.

Rounding out the top 8 are 4th Gal, Shemer, Israel and 5th Walter Gonaus, Austria, both with 1387 as well as 7th Ilya Krasitskiy , Russia with 1379. A total of 12 players from squad 6 bowled over 1300.

Two-time World Ranking Masters and World Championships Masters champion, Diandra Asbaty, and Mark Siders (l-r), both United States of America, tested the lanes at Plus Bowling center this evening.

The Americans both had slow start but managed 1285 and 1276 series. Asbaty added 48 pins handicap, a standard on the European Bowling Tour for female bowlers, to move into 23rd place with 1333. Siders is 47th. Both players will bowl two Squads on Friday.

The cut for 56th place is currently 1246 (Pavla Noskova, Czech Republic, pictured right).

Gal Shemer, Israel, and Christian Provaznik, Austria, held on to the lead in the Doubles event with 2743 six-game total and an average of 228.58. Mike Machnig, Germany, and Franz Hahn, Austria, remained second at 2726, with Dominic Barrett, England and Michael Mayer, Austria, in third place with 2714.

Ivonne Gross and Gabi Loos (l-r)  finished Squad 6 second to Nitsch/Börner with 2644 pinfall total including handicap to move into fifth place in the overall standings.

European Doubles champions Thomas Tybl and Thomas Gross bowled a solid 2485 block but could not match the pace from the Men's European Championships in July. Tybl (right) a.k.a. Dynamite Harry had 1240 and Gross added 1245 to land in 31st place out of 150 doubles thus far.

The qualifying for the Vienna Open finals is contested as a unique doubles tournament. 10.230 Euro or approx. US$ 14,510 from the overall prize fund of 60.530 Euro ($85,850) will be given to the top 20 teams.

Each team rolls one six-game block. Unlimited re-entries with different partners are possible but each player can only cash once with the same partner. The team with the highest total pinfall including handicap will be declared the winner (no finals will be played).

The winners of the Doubles event will split 1.600 Euro or approx. US$2,270. World champions Martin Larsen and Robert Andersson, Sweden, are the defending champions.

Qualifying runs from Wednesday through Saturday and ends with the ultimate Desperado Squad on Saturday evening, Oct. 20.

A total of 68 players from the qualifying will advance to the finals starting on Sunday, Oct. 21 at 8am:

• The eight players with the highest six-game blocks will earn one bye and will be seeded 1-8 in the match play round of 32
• players positioned 9th to 56th after qualifying
• the six leaders of Squad 1 through 6 not among the top 56 and
• the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

All but the top 8 qualifiers will bowl 6 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 24. Those 24 will be seeded 9-32 in the match play round of 32.

Match play rounds of 32, 16 and 8 are single-elimination, best-of-three games. The highest seeded player bowls the lowest seeded player, the second-highest seeded player vs. the second-lowest seeded player, etc.

The semi-finals and the championship match will be decided in one game. A major on the European Bowling Tour, bowlers will be competing for a top prize of 7.000 Euro ($9,930) and an overall prize fund of 60.530 Euro ($85,850).


Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Vienna with updates after each round commencing October 17 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, October 21.