Katapulta Bowling Center in Moscow, Russia

Finland with Kimmo Lehtonen, Kai Virtanen, Petteri Salonen, Petri Mannonen and Lasse Lintilä broke the championship record for one game (1251), three games (3462) and six games (6782) en route to win the Team event at the 2005 Men's European Championships in Russia.

Petteri Salonen and Kimmo Lehtonen led the team with 1420, six-game total (236,66), while Lasse Lintilä posted a 1380 score. The three swept the medals in All Events. Salonen earned his 4th gold medal of the championships with 5546, 24-game total and an average of 231,08. Lintilä was second with 5494 and Lehtonen third with 5468. As Mannonen finished fifth behind French Nicolas Forestier, Finland has four bowlers among the top 16 that advanced to the Masters competition and targets to sweep all the gold medals.

Team Finland averaged 226,07 for six games and outaveraged their nearest competitor, Norway, by more than 11 pins. Per Kristian Eide, Lasse Ingebrigtsen, Glenn Morten Pedersen, Svein Roger Olsen and Petter Hansen felled 6429 pins and averaged 214,30 to claim the silver medal. Picture courtesy of Jan Edvardsen.

Austria (pictured) started the day in 7th position. Gerhard Fleischhacker, Alexander Rauscher, Rudolf Friess, Thomas Tybl and Thomas Gross shot an 1141-series in game #1 and added a solid 1036 in game #2. Heading into the final game, the Austrians led squad #2 trailing Finland by 1514 pins. Gold was out of reach, 1162 for silver or at least 1023 for bronze. The Austrians combined for 1056 to overtake Sweden and earn the bronze medal (pictured) with 6324 pinfall total (210,80).

The top 16 players in All Events will return on Sunday for 15 games round robin match play to determine the top 3 players for the stepladder finals. The winner will earn the coveted Masters title.

Besides the four Finns, Norway (3), Sweden (2) and Germany (2) brought more than one player into the finals. Belgium, England, France and the Netherlands are represented with one player each. For the other 145 players the championship is over. Picture courtesy of Thomas Tybl.

 

2005 MEC 5-Player Teams - Final Standings

Countries with position, 30-game total and average
Players with individual score and average

1. Finland, 6782, 226,07
Kimmo Lehtonen, 1420, 236,67/Kai Virtanen, 1284, 214,00
Petteri Salonen, 1420, 236,67/Petri Mannonen, 1278, 213,00
Lasse Lintilä, 1380, 230,00

2. Norway, 6429, 214,30
Per Kristian Eide, 1331, 221,83/Lasse Ingebrigtsen, 1227, 204,50
Glenn Morten Pedersen, 1215, 202,50/Svein Roger Olsen, 1277, 212,83
Petter Hansen, 1379, 229,83

3. Austria, 6324, 210,80
Gerhard Fleischhacker, 1243, 207,17/Alexander Rauscher, 1352, 225,33
Rudolf Friess, 1162, 193,67/Thomas Tybl, 1304, 217,33
Thomas Gross, 1263, 210,50

4. Sweden, 6290, 209,67
Robert Andersson, 1210, 201,67/Magnus Andersson, 1430, 238,33
Mikael Kanold, 1166, 194,33/Tobias Karlsson, 1252, 208,67
Anders Öhman, 1232, 205,33

5. Germany, 6227, 207,57
Achim Grabowski, 1247, 207,83/Jens Nickel, 1318, 219,67
Michael Krämer, 1172, 195,33/Oliver Morig, 1167, 194,50
Kai Günther, 1323, 220,50

6. Denmark, 6226, 207,53
Jesper Agerbo, 1307, 217,83/Jesper Nielsen, 597, 99,50
Bo Winther Pedersen, 1284, 214,00/Martin Wozny, 1180, 196,67
Mikael Braendeskov, 1313, 218,83/Martin Bögehave, 545, 90,83

7. England, 6205, 206,83
Paul Moor, 1357, 226,17/Jon Zadel, 570, 95,00
Paul Evans, 1299, 216,50/Steve Thornton, 1265, 210,83
Mike Quarry, 1141, 190,17/Iain McCorkindale, 573, 95,50

8. France, 6161, 205,37
Nicolas Forestier, 1286, 214,33/Thierry Sacco, 1232, 205,33
Laurent Plantard, 1213, 202,17/Patrick Rolland, 1218, 203,00
Francois Sacco, 1212, 202,00

9. Belgium, 6114, 203,80
Sven Van Eyken, 1224, 204,00/Koen Pellegroms, 1256, 209,33
Ives Van Eyken, 1140, 190,00/Jean-Marc Samain, 1289, 214,83
Jean-Marc Lebon, 1205, 200,83

10. Netherlands, 6051, 201,70
Wim van der Veen, 1254, 209,00/Marco van de Griend, 563, 93,83
Ron van den Bogaard, 1214, 202,33/Menno van den Heuvel, 1354, 225,67
Remco Verboon, 1080, 180,00/Wesley Selier, 586, 97,67

11. Russia, 6049, 201,63
Timur Madaminov, 1261, 210,17/Artur Adian, 1108, 184,67
Sergey Starchenkov, 1252, 208,67/Sergey Andreev, 1261, 210,17
Oleg Kozirev, 1167, 194,50

12. Spain, 5917, 197,23
Melvin Ocando, 1201, 200,17/Raul Galvez, 1123, 187,17
Juan C. Ramonde, 1190, 198,33/Manuel Martinez, 1088, 181,33
Erwin Pascual, 1315, 219,17

13. Greece, 5901, 196,70
Leonidas Maragos, 1266, 211,00/Giannis Stathatos, 1097, 182,83
Nontas Patsaouras, 1084, 180,67/Kostas Papakostas, 1269, 211,50
Dimitris Karetsos, 1185, 197,50

14. Iceland, 5798, 193,27
Bjorn Sigurdsson, 1138, 189,67/Steinthor Johannsson, 1180, 196,67
Kristjan Thordarson, 602, 100,33/Arnar Saebergsson, 1120, 186,67
Magnus Magnusson, 1246, 207,67/Arni Geir Omarsson, 512, 85,33

15. Hungary, 5778, 192,60
Tamas Holczer, 1178, 196,33/Zoltan Kiss, 1116, 186,00
Tamas Szabo, 1203, 200,50/Imre Foldvari, 484, 80,67
Zoltan Skobrics, 1274, 212,33/Istvan Soltesz, 523, 87,17

16. Israel, 5723, 190,77
Elior Ashkenazi, 1129, 188,17/Moshe Sheinman, 1097, 182,83
Gal Shemer, 526, 87,67/Or Aviram, 1270, 211,67
Dor Shpeizman, 1122, 187,00/Eliezer Sheinman, 579, 96,50

17. Poland, 5672, 189,07
Marek Przezpolewski, 1171, 195,17/Pawel Bielski, 1132, 188,67
Rafal Gladysz, 556, 92,67/Dawid Szpanski, 1225, 204,17
Mariusz Musialik, 1047, 174,50/Adam Martin, 541, 90,17

18. Estonia, 5662, 188,73
Raul Beekmann, 1211, 201,83/Aare Noormaa, 1140, 190,00
Janno Kannike, 1116, 186,00/Marko Molder, 1138, 189,67
Taimar Lank, 1057, 176,17

19. San Marino, 5610, 187,00
Fabrizio Biordi, 1087, 181,17/Ettore Baciocchi, 1192, 198,67
Luca Taddei, 978, 163,00/Adriano Santi, 1196, 199,33
Niko Gasperoni, 1157, 192,83

20. Latvia, 5608, 186,93
Juris Kalnracenis, 1013, 168,83/Edmunds Jansons, 1229, 204,83
Vladislavs Filimonovs, 1047, 174,50/Jurijs Volceks, 1138, 189,67
Nikolajs Ovcinnikovs, 1181, 196,83

21. Lithuania, 5574, 185,80
Jonas Krenevicius, 1136, 189,33/Vytautas Gykis, 1078, 179,67
Andrius Pocius, 1005, 167,50/Zilvinas Perminas, 1160, 193,33
Andrejus Puskariovas, 1195, 199,17

22. Belarus, 5508, 183,60
Heorhi Pryhozy, 1251, 208,50/Grigoriy Agalarov, 1127, 187,83
Dmitry Stepuk, 1016, 169,33/Siargei Kiselev, 984, 164,00
Siargei Tsiushkevich, 1130, 188,33

23. Turkey, 5448, 181,60
Yllmaz Unal Baytar, 995, 165,83/Tolga Sismanogullar, 1165, 194,17
Gediz Ege, 1033, 172,17/Omer Ayhan Bilge, 1171, 195,17
Mithat Siveliol, 1084, 180,67

24. Ukraine, 5445, 181,50
Sergey Gontar, 1094, 182,33/Oleksandr Kalika, 1110, 185,00
Mykhailo Kalika, 1080, 180,00/Valentyn Lobanov, 540, 90,00
Oleg Bondarenko, 1060, 176,67/Vitaliy Shylan, 561, 93,50

25. Bulgaria, 5320, 177,33
Alexander Lefterov, 1044, 174,00/Plamen Stanchev, 1162, 193,67
Assen Kirov, 1022, 170,33/Kiril Kirilov, 1109, 184,83
Valentin Vasilev, 521, 86,83/Raycho Raykov, 462, 77,00

Individual:
High Game: 299 - Lasse Lintilä, Finland
High 3-game series: 762 - Kimmo Lehtonen, Finland
High 6-game series: 1430 - Magnus Andersson, Sweden

Team:
High Game: *1251 - Finland (Kimmo Lehtonen, Kai Virtanen, Petteri Salonen, Petri Mannonen, Lasse Lintilä)
High 3-game series: *3462 - Finland (Kimmo Lehtonen, Kai Virtanen, Petteri Salonen, Petri Mannonen, Lasse Lintilä)
High 6-game series: *6782 - Finland (Kimmo Lehtonen, Kai Virtanen, Petteri Salonen, Petri Mannonen, Lasse Lintilä)

* Championship Record

Download the complete results here....

Finland leads Team event at halftime; targets 4th gold medal

Finland posted two championship records en route to build a commanding lead in the Team event after the first of two 3-game blocks. Kimmo Lehtonen, who led the field with 762, Kai Virtanen, Petteri Salonen, Petri Mannonen and Lasse Lintilä started the day with a 1251-game (250,2 average) and added 1064 and 1147 for 3462 pinfall total or an average of 230,8.

The Finns, who won the three previous events, outaveraged their nearest competitor Sweden (3293) by more than 11 pins. Defending champion England is third with 3289, with 1st squad leader Germany in fourth, 3206.

With three game to go, Lintilä overtook the lead in All Events with 4822 (229,62 average). Salonen (4818) is second, with Lehtonen (4810) third and Mannonen (4736) fifth. The top player from the rest of Europe is Nicolas Forestier, France, with 4778. Picture courtesy of Jan Edvardsen.

2005 MEC 5-Player Teams - Standings after the 1st Block

Countries with position, 15-game total and average
Players with 3-game pinfall and average

1. Finland, 3462, 230,80
Kimmo Lehtonen, 762, 254,00/Kai Virtanen, 659, 219,67
Petteri Salonen, 692, 230,67/Petri Mannonen, 641, 213,67
Lasse Lintilä, 708, 236,00

2. Sweden, 3293, 219,53
Robert Andersson, 661, 220,33/Magnus Andersson, 746, 248,67
Mikael Kanold, 625, 208,33/Tobias Karlsson, 639, 213,00
Anders Öhman, 622, 207,33

3. England, 3289, 219,27
Paul Moor, 742, 247,33/Iain McCorkindale, 573, 191,00
Paul Evans, 702, 234,00/Steve Thornton, 621, 207,00
Mike Quarry, 651, 217,00

4. Germany, 3206, 213,73
Achim Grabowski, 596, 198,67/Jens Nickel, 692, 230,67
Michael Krämer, 634, 211,33/Oliver Morig, 591, 197,00
Kai Günther, 693, 231,00

5. Belgium, 3166, 211,07
Sven Van Eyken, 594, 198,00/Koen Pellegroms, 688, 229,33
Ives Van Eyken, 615, 205,00/Jean-Marc Samain, 678, 226,00
Jean-Marc Lebon, 591, 197,00

(tie) Norway, 3166, 211,07
Per Kristian Eide, 705, 235,00/Lasse Ingebrigtsen, 610, 203,33
Glenn Morten Pedersen, 588, 196,00/Svein Roger Olsen, 627, 209,00
Petter Hansen, 636, 212,00

7. Austria, 3091, 206,07
Gerhard Fleischhacker, 584, 194,67/Alexander Rauscher, 667, 222,33
Rudolf Friess, 586, 195,33/Thomas Tybl, 625, 208,33
Thomas Gross, 629, 209,67

8. Denmark, 3074, 204,93
Bo Winther Pedersen, 591, 197,00/Jesper Agerbo, 642, 214,00
Martin Bögehave, 545, 181,67/Martin Wozny, 570, 190,00
Mikael Braendeskov, 726, 242,00

9. France, 3071, 204,73
Nicolas Forestier, 665, 221,67/Thierry Sacco, 601, 200,33
Laurent Plantard, 617, 205,67/Francois Sacco, 611, 203,67
Patrick Rolland, 577, 192,33

10. Netherlands, 3035, 202,33
Wim van der Veen, 568, 189,33/Ron van den Bogaard, 616, 205,33
Wesley Selier, 586, 195,33/Menno van den Heuvel, 663, 221,00
Remco Verboon, 602, 200,67

11. Russia, 3023, 201,53
Timur Madaminov, 619, 206,33/Artur Adian, 534, 178,00
Sergey Starchenkov, 638, 212,67/Sergey Andreev, 696, 232,00
Oleg Kozirev, 536, 178,67

12. Hungary, 2988, 199,20
Tamas Holczer, 606, 202,00/Zoltan Kiss, 556, 185,33
Tamas Szabo, 612, 204,00/Istvan Soltesz, 523, 174,33
Zoltan Skobrics, 691, 230,33

13. Spain, 2972, 198,13
Melvin Ocando, 606, 202,00/Raul Galvez, 542, 180,67
Juan C. Ramonde, 585, 195,00/Manuel Martinez, 555, 185,00
Erwin Pascual, 684, 228,00

14. Iceland, 2960, 197,33
Bjorn Sigurdsson, 581, 193,67/Steinthor Johannsson, 616, 205,33
Arni Geir Omarsson, 512, 170,67/Arnar Saebergsson, 602, 200,67
Magnus Magnusson, 649, 216,33

15. Estonia, 2946, 196,40
Raul Beekmann, 690, 230,00/Aare Noormaa, 605, 201,67
Janno Kannike, 541, 180,33/Marko Molder, 573, 191,00
Taimar Lank, 537, 179,00

16. Greece, 2938, 195,87
Leonidas Maragos, 647, 215,67/Nontas Patsaouras, 506, 168,67
Giannis Stathatos, 547, 182,33/Kostas Papakostas, 628, 209,33
Dimitris Karetsos, 610, 203,33

17. Israel, 2812, 187,47
Elior Ashkenazi, 505, 168,33/Moshe Sheinman, 566, 188,67
Eliezer Sheinman, 579, 193,00/Or Aviram, 597, 199,00
Dor Shpeizman, 565, 188,33

18. Poland, 2797, 186,47
Pawel Bielski, 606, 202,00/Mariusz Musialik, 524, 174,67
Marek Przezpolewski, 562, 187,33/Adam Martin, 541, 180,33
Dawid Szpanski, 564, 188,00

19. Ukraine, 2779, 185,27
Sergey Gontar, 578, 192,67/Oleg Bondarenko, 523, 174,33
Oleksandr Kalika, 543, 181,00/Mykhailo Kalika, 574, 191,33
Vitaliy Shylan, 561, 187,00

20. Turkey, 2771, 184,73
Mithat Siveliol, 547, 182,33/Tolga Sismanogullar, 619, 206,33
Gediz Ege, 484, 161,33/Omer Ayhan Bilge, 618, 206,00
Yllmaz Unal Baytar, 503, 167,67

21. Latvia, 2745, 183,00
Juris Kalnracenis, 467, 155,67/Edmunds Jansons, 604, 201,33
Vladislavs Filimonovs, 503, 167,67/Jurijs Volceks, 547, 182,33
Nikolajs Ovcinnikovs, 624, 208,00

22. San Marino, 2715, 181,00
Fabrizio Biordi, 558, 186,00/Ettore Baciocchi, 551, 183,67
Luca Taddei, 469, 156,33/Adriano Santi, 574, 191,33
Niko Gasperoni, 563, 187,67

23. Lithuania, 2709, 180,60
Jonas Krenevicius, 553, 184,33/Vytautas Gykis, 524, 174,67
Andrius Pocius, 483, 161,00/Zilvinas Perminas, 573, 191,00
Andrejus Puskariovas, 576, 192,00

24. Belarus, 2659, 177,27
Heorhi Pryhozy, 576, 192,00/Grigoriy Agalarov, 569, 189,67
Dmitry Stepuk, 509, 169,67/Siargei Kiselev, 473, 157,67
Siargei Tsiushkevich, 532, 177,33

25. Bulgaria, 2657, 177,13
Alexander Lefterov, 506, 168,67/Plamen Stanchev, 619, 206,33
Assen Kirov, 500, 166,67/Kiril Kirilov, 570, 190,00
Raycho Raykov, 462, 154,00

Individual:
High Game: 290 - Magnus Andersson, Sweden
High 3-game series: 762 - Kimmo Lehtonen, Finland

Team:
High Game: *1251 - Finland (Kimmo Lehtonen, Kai Virtanen, Petteri Salonen, Petri Mannonen, Lasse Lintilä)
High 3-game series: *3462 - Finland (Kimmo Lehtonen, Kai Virtanen, Petteri Salonen, Petri Mannonen, Lasse Lintilä)

* Championship Record