Iceland's Johannsson shoots first 300 game of the championship

Martin Larsen (pictured left), Sweden, rolled an 1871 series in the final block on dual lane condition to lead the top 8 men into the single-elimination best-of-three games finals in the 32nd European Champions Cup at Mega Place Bowling Club in Chania, Crete, Greece.

Larsen, a 3-time World Champion, totaled 5534 pins and averaged 230.58 over 24 games to lead Austria's Alexander Rauscher (right) by 59 pins. Rauscher posted a 1951 series Saturday on the dual lane condition (one lane with short and the other lane with long oil) to jump from 10th place to second with 5475 pinfall total (228.13).

The Austrian targets to follow in the footprints of fellow countryman Thomas Gross, who won the ECC in 2008 but missed the cut to the top 8 in 16th place with 5134.

Lluis Montfort, Catalonia, led Group B with and 1899 series and 5438 overall to take the third place. Day 2 leader Ryan Press, Northern Ireland, slipped to fourth place with 5438.

Press meets fifth-placed Michael Krämer (left, 5357), Germany, in the quarterfinal. Arturs Levikins, Latvia, landed in sixth place with 5320 and will take on Montfort.

Giannis Stathatos, Greece, finished with a huge 278 game to overcome a disastrous start with games of 168 and 162 en route to grab the 7th place with 5294. The local favorite will face Rauscher in the finals.

Darren Cundy (right), England, beat out Gennady Sidorov, Russia, for the 8th and final spot to advance by three pins, 5290 to 5287 and will bowl tournament leader Larsen.

Steinthor Johannsson, Iceland, posted the first 300 game of the championship but missed the cut with 5150 to settle for 15th place.

The top 8 men and the top 8 women will return on Sunday morning at 9am local time for the quarterfinals in single-elimination final in best-of-three games format. In each round the highest seeded player will bowl the lowest seeded player, the 2nd highest vs. the 2nd lowest, etc. based on the standings after the preliminaries.

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.

All players bowled three 8-game blocks (a total of 24 games) preliminaries over three days: Block 1 on short oil, Block 2 on long oil and Block 3 on dual lane condition (left lane short, right lane long). The top 8 players after the preliminaries qualified for finals.

 

 

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Men's Division - Standings after the third block on dual lane condition

The top 8 advance to the single-elimination finals