Overtakes previous leader Al-Suwaidi by 119 pins

Swede Martin Larsen (pictured left) averaged 256.67 in the 14th qualifying squad (Squad 13 was cancelled) to take a dominating lead in the qualifying of the 9th Qatar International Open Thursday at Qatar Bowling Center in Doha, Qatar.

The multiple World Champion fired games of 288, 245, 278, 247, 253 and 229 for 1540 six-game total to overtake previous leader Hussain Al-Suwaidi by 119 pins or almost 20 per game.

Another nine players from this squad positioned themselves among the top 38. Trailing Larsen by 150 pins to move into 4th place in the overall standings was Dane Jimmy Mortensen (right) with 1390. 3-time European Bowling Tour ranking champion Britt Brøndsted is the top-ranked of 15 women in the 138-player field in fifth place with 1384 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

Two-time defending men's ranking champion Osku Palermaa , Finland, is 13th with 1344, followed by Mads Sandbækken, Norway, with 1341 and current women's ranking leader Nicki Ainge (left), England, with 1339.

Tore Torgersen, Norway, leaped into 19th place behind a 1325 series, with Dane Thomas Larsen in 21st and defending women's ranking champion Nina Flack (right), Sweden in 22nd place with 1321 and 1320, respectively.

Paul Hutchinson, Denmark, cracked the top 38 with 1309, good for 29th place overall. With the last two squads top go on, Yousif Falah, Bahrain, holds the 38th and final place to advance with 1287 or an average of 214.50.

The 9th Qatar Open is the 15th and final event on the 2009 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Major's". The EBT has announced yesterday that the 2010 edition will be upgraded to "Platinum", the highest status of the Tour besides Gold, Silver and Satellite.

Qualifying ends on Thursday, Dec. 17 with the last qualifying squad 16 scheduled for 9 p.m. The single-game "Desperado Squad" will start around Midnight. A total of 48 players - the top 38 qualifiers and the top 3 each from Dec. 12 and 13 squads plus the top 4 from the Desperado Squad - advance to the finals on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 18-19, 2009.

The top 6 qualifiers will bypass the first two rounds, while places 7-12 will receive one bye. The other 36 players will bowl six games from scratch to cut to the top 18. Those 18 plus qualifiers 7-12 will bowl six games from scratch. The top 10 will advance and join the top six qualifiers in Round 3.

Those 16 will bowl six games from scratch to cut to the top 8, who will bowl another six games with the pinfall from Round 3 being carried forward. The top 4 will advance to the championship round. All matches over two games total pinfall.

No. 1 bowls No. 4 and No. 2 meets No. 3. The winners will advance to the championship match to bowl for the title and the 30.000 Euro top prize (approx. 43,865 U.S. Dollar). The runner-up will be consoled with 15.000 Euro.

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2009 Qatar Open - Qualifying Standings after Squad 14

 

 

300 games (2) - Mansoor Al-Awamy, Qatar; Tim Mack United States.