TalkTenpin - Online International Tenpin Magazine

Reports

Saturday 17th -Gery good for Verbruggen

Fifteen players from around Europe took to the Plaza lanes in the first squad of the 2012 event. It was not long before the 1300 barrier was broken as Germany's Michael Holzapfel started badly with 147 but raised his game to add 217,214,248,279 and 224 for 1329 and took the opening squad. Second place went to another German Dirk Dreyer with 1311 and third was Dutch bowler Daniel Dol with 1280.

Like a fine wine some things age well and Belgium's Gery Verbruggen is no exception, The four time EBT rankings champion took the overall lead in the second squad of the day with games of 210,237,226,222,234 and 246 for a total of 1375. Runner up was Frenchman Pierre Montagne with 1303 and third went to Frenchwoman Alexandra Combes with 1272 including her 48 pin ladies bonus.

The last squad of day one play did'nt really live up to the scores of the previous squads and Frenchman Jerome Durupt lead the way with 1289 thanks to a 279 in  the fifth game. Second was Belgium's Oliver Leroy with 1286 and Dutch bowler Mark Jacobs placed third with 1278.

In the first squad of the Sunday play French woman Amandine Jacques showed some good form by leading the way with games of 211,225,246,194,224 and 238 with ladies bonus making a total of 1386, In second was French male Jonathan Lefevre with 1350 including a 267 in game two and third place went to Belgium's Jimmey Ravez with 1318 and a nice cheecky 279 in game three.

Onto the middle squad of the day and we very nearly saw the first 300 game as Frenchman Yoan Alix fired a 299 on the way to a squad winning 1336, Second was Belgium's Gery Verbruggen who hd another run out and ended with 1328. Third went to Frenchwoman Laurene Bouillier with 1318 including her 48 pins ladies bonus.

In the final squad of the day Belgium's Jimmey Ravez made sure it was a second day his country took the days high score as he posted 1396 to jump into the overall lead. Second was Mathias Sarmadi from France with 1324 and third went to another Frenchman Xavier Lotthe wiith 1324.

Monday 19th - Walter Ray upstaged by the French

The playing field on monday of twenty bowlers were all excited to find out the twenty first bowler on the playing list was non other than PBA legend Walter Ray Williams who is in France mainly for his appearance in the WTBA International stepladder finals being held on Wednesday. Taking a chance to get some practice Walter Ray entered the squad and soon learned how different the European game is to the PBA game as he struggled to a 1232 with games of 214,193,190,256,167 and 212 and third in the squad. Taking the scalp of the legend in first place was Frenchman Paulo Vial with 1318 followed by Alexander Medveditskov from Russia with 1243 and both can now remember the day they beata PBA uber legend in a European squad.

Just one squad was bowled and it  soon became super tuesday as no less than five American PBA stars dominated the squad. Tom Hess who failed to make the cut in the Kuwait Open last week made sure that was not going to happen again as he blasted games of 255,254,221,257,289 and 257 for 1533 and straight into the overall lead. In second place was American Dino Castillo with 1531 including a 277 and 276. Sean Rash back from Kuwait also placed third with 1488 and fourth was Weber cup team member and Japan Cup winner Tommy Jones who rolled the best game of the squad with a 294 and 1420 total.Walter Ray Williams was much improved in fifth with 1357 and further back in 10th Kuwait Open runner up Thomas Smallwood hit 1263.

A packed first squad of Wednesday could easily have been called the all stars squad as top players from all over the World laced up and took to the French lanes. A much improved Thomas Smallwood for the USA headed the list with 1465 including a 298 in game three. Second was Malaysian national team member Nur Aiman with 1412 despite a shaky start of 197 and 190. Third was PBA star Walter Ray Williams who earlier in the day finished third in the WTBA International Open stepladder finals being held at the Brunswick Euro Challenge. Walter Ray finished with 1388 including a 277 game.

The second and last squad of Wednesday saw yet another American win the squad. Josh Blanchard hit a 298 in game five to post 1428 as Canadian Dan MacLelland placed second with 1394 and Finland's Mika Koivuniemi was third with 1317. The English viewers out there may have noticed English veteran George Patel place sixth after games of 212,227,197,220,201 and 198 for 1255, George is a former winner of the Brunswick World Open held back in the 1980's.

Thursday 22nd - Fagan picks a pocket

A busy day started with the first squad and another bumper list of stars. It was a surprise then to see Anders Lousdal from Denmark outscore the rest of the field with 1439 including a 289 in gameone. Second went to WTBA International Open runner up Liz Johnson from the USA with 1417 including her 48 pin ladies bonus and third was Malaysian female Zandra Aziela with 1415 again with her bonus. Further back a few top names struggled a little including American Mike Fagan back in 17th and England's Stuart Williams in 22nd.

The American PBA star Mike Fagan may have struggled in the first squad of the day but more likely he decided after a couple of games to experiment a lite because come the very next squad he smashed in games of 255,256,258,231,269 and 245 for 1514 and into the overall top five in third place. Second in the squad was a much improved Stu Williams from England who started with a 290 game and ended with 1475 this despite a fifth game of 184. Stu moved into fifth overall in an American dominated top 10. Third in the squad was Malaysian Zulmazran Zulkifli with 1417.

World bowler of the year and WTBA rankings winner for 2011 Mika Koivuniemi from Finland lead in the next squad posting 1453 to break into the top 10 but not before Sweden's Karl Wahlgren became the first player this year to roll a perfect game. Second in the squad was Mika's national team mate an the in form Osku Palermaa who hit 1449 including a 279 in the sixth game. Third went to American Nathan Bohr with 1420.

Friday 23rd -Midnight cowboys

A busy Friday started at midnight with twelve players taking to the lanes for the midnight cowboys squad. In a low scoring squad Iran's Alexandre Vahidi came out on top with 1158 but nowhere near enough to challenge in qualifying. Second was Russian Oleg Sazonov who rolled the squad highest game along the way to 1156 as Spanin's Ion Acin placed third with 1154.

Results

Event Details