European ranking champions overtake the lead in 6th Storm San Marino Open

07/09/10

2010 European Bowling Tour #11

Palermaa, Moor, Verbruggen in 1-3 after Thursday's qualifying squads

2010EBT11OskuPalermaa.jpg2010EBT05GeryVerbruggen2.jpgIn the 10-year history of the European Bowling Tour, just three players have won the Tour's men ranking, Gery Verbruggen, Belgium (2000-'03), Paul Moor, England (2004-'06) and Osku Palermaa, Finland (2007-'09). The trio has positioned themselves atop the leaderboard in the 6th Storm San Marino Open during Thursday's qualifying squads 12-14 at Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle.

Two-hander Palermaa (pictured left) had games of 238, 214, 279, 206, 269 and 247 in Squad 14 to take the lead in the 206-player field 180 men and 26 women - from 16 countries with 1453 six-game total and an average of 242.17.

Palermaa, currently the No. 3 in the 2010 rankings, topped Verbruggen (right) by 36 pins. The lefty from Belgium, currently ranked fifth in Europe, closed out his series with high games of 265 and 249 to jump into third place with 1417 (236.17).

2010EBT10MikaKoivuniemi2.jpg2010EBT11PaulMoor.jpgMoor (left) set the tone in Squad 12 on Thursday morning with 1421 including six games between 254 and 222 to finish the day in second place with 1421 (236.83). Moor, currently Europe's No. 8, had a 16-pin cushion over PBA Player of the Year 2003-04, Mika Koivuniemi (right), Finland, who checked in with 1405.

The 8-time PBA champion, who has won two EBT tournaments this season, the season-opening Brunswick Ballmaster Open and the 7th Istanbul Bowling Open, is currently the No. 2 in the rankings.

The "big Finn" had a high game of 267 and closed out with back-to-back 246 to move into 4th place in the overall qualifying standings.

2010EBT11PriscillaMaaswinkel.jpg2010EBT11MathiasArup.jpgPrevious leader Dietmar Krämer, Germany, fell four spots to 5th place with 1396 and is followed by the top woman, Priscilla Maaswinkel (pictured left), Netherlands, with 1368 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

Mathias Ă…rup (right), Sweden, used six games between 210 and 248 to lead Squad 13 with 1361 pinfall total and an average of 226.83 en route to leap into 7th place overall.

8th place belonged to Squad 2 leader Tommaso Radi, Italy, with 1349.

2010EBT10StuartWilliams2.jpg2010EBT10DominicBarrett.jpgRounding out the top 10 are two Englishmen, Stuart Williams (left) and Dominic Barrett (right). Williams, a past World Ranking Masters champion and PBA exempt player, finished with 256 and 268 to overtake 9th place with 1332.

Barrett, who leads the EBT rankings after winning the 4th International Wroclaw Open by Hammer and the Bowltech Aalborg International 2010, used a high game of 266 for 1326, good for 10th place.

With two qualifying days and 8 squads to go, Maurizio Celli, Italy, holds the 38th and final spot to advance with 1268 or an average of 211.33. Qualifying continues on Friday with Squads 15-18.

2010RSMOpenLogo_small.jpg The 6th Storm San Marino Open will be held from July 3-11, 2010 at Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle, San Marino and offers total prize fund of 60.000 Euro with 10.000 Euro going to the winner. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game. a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour

The tournament is the 11th stop of the 2010 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Gold" tournaments. Since the Ankara Open and the Austria Challenge have been cancelled, the 2010 EBT Tour consists of 19 events - 2 EBT Platinum tournament (formerly Premier), 6 EBT Gold tournaments (formerly Major), 7 EBT Silver tournaments (formerly Challenger) and 4 EBT Satellite tournaments (new category).

2009EBT08PaulMoor2.jpg2009EBT08GeryVerbruggen.jpg In the 2009 title match between two European ranking champions, 3.-time winner Paul Moor (left, 2004-06), England, defeated 4-time winner Gery Verbruggen (right, 2000-03), Belgium, 425-395, over two games total pinfall. Amanda Fagan, United States, was the top-ranked woman in 27th place and won the women's rankings.

A total of 48 players will advance to the finals on Sunday - the top 38 players from the overall qualifying standings plus the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 3-4, the top 4 from the squads conducted on July 5-7 and the top 3 from the Desperado Squad. The top 6 qualifiers will earn two byes, while qualifiers 7-12 will get one.

The other 36 players will bowl four games from scratch to cut to the top 18, who will meet qualifiers 7-12 in round two. Those 24 bowl another 4 games from scratch to cut to the top 10, who will join the top six qualifiers in single-elimination match play with the two game total pinfall determining the winner.

The highest seeded player bowls the lowest seeded, the second-highest seeded players bowls the second-lowest and so on. The field will be cut to 8, 4 then 2, who will bowl for the title and the 10.000 Euro top prize.

 


Related Articles


Priscilla Maaswinkel leads Day 5 Qualifying in 6th Storm San Marino Open
Dietmar Krämer takes over pole position in 6th Storm San Marino Open
Parapini, Mortensen add their names to the leaderboard in 6th Storm San Marino Open
Top 3 from the first weekend qualify for finals of 6th Storm San Marino Open

 


Qualifying Standings after Squad 14/22

Â