The 5th Men's European Championships will be held from Aug. 16-26, 2012 at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria. 204 players from 34 countries are expected to bowl for gold, silver and bronze medals in Doubles, Trios, Team, All-Events and Masters.

Those 34 countries are Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Catalonia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Wales and the host country Austria.

This marks the second time after 2007 that the Austrian Bowling Federation has been awarded the MEC. Other hosts were Unterföhring, Germany (2011), Aalborg, Denmark (2009) and Moscow, Russia (2005).

The MEC also serves as qualifying event for the 2013 Combined World Championships which will be held from Aug. 18-31 at Sunset Station's Strike Zone bowling center in Henderson, Nev. in suburban Las Vegas, United States.

Each country receives ranking points in each discipline according to a system decided by the European Tenpin Bowling Federation Congress in 2011. The top 15 countries qualify for the 2013 Combined World Championships.

According to the ETBF Constitution (Article 5.5.8,) no substitutes will be send in case of withdrawals.

Each team consists of maximum six players, who compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in Doubles (12 games), Trios (6), Team (6), All Events (24-game total) and Masters (top 24 in All Events, single-elimination, best-of-three games).

The 2012 MEC will be contested on two oil conditioning pattern. Details will be announced by the Technical Delegate, Pini Hershkovitz of Israel, at the Team Managers' Meeting on Friday morning, Aug. 17.

For the complete information on the 2012 MEC please download
Bulletin No. 1 (MS doc)
Bulletin No. 2 (PDF file)

Preliminaries in Doubles will feature 12 games, in Trios and the five-player Team event six games with the top 4 teams advancing to the playoffs. No. 1 will bowl No. 4 and No. 3 will bowl No. 2 in the semifinals. The winners will bowl for the title while the losers share the bronze medal. All matches are single-game matches.

Defending Champions:
Doubles: Sweden (Karl Wahlgren, Dennis Eklund)
Trios: Norway (Svein Ake Ek, Glenn Morten Pedersen and Björn Einar Rudshagen)
Team: Denmark (Thomas Larsen, Anders Lousdal, Jimmy Mortensen, Mik Stampe, Jesper Agerbo, Frederik Øhrgaard)
All Events: Mads Sandbækken, Norway
Masters: Martin Paulsson, Sweden

Real action begins on Aug. 18 with the Doubles event with the first champions crowned on Aug 20. The Trios event will be held Aug. 21-22 and is followed by the Team event Aug. 23-24. The top 24 players in All Events will advance to the Masters finals in best-of-three games single-elimination match play which will conclude the championships on Saturday, Aug. 25.

 

Related Articles

2011 MEC in Unterföhring, Germany
2009 MEC in Aalborg, Denmark
2007 MEC in Vienna, Austria
2005 MEC in Moscow, Russia

 

2012 MEC - Schedule of Events