Mika Koivuniemi (pictured left with tournament director Thomas Gross, left) defeated fellow Finn Pasi Uotila, 258-237, Sunday evening Oct. 6 at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria, to win the 11th Columbia 300 Vienna Open and the 7.000 Euro top prize.

Koivuniemi, a.k.a. the "big Finn", captured his 8th European Bowling Tour title and his 12th Professional Bowlers Association Tour title. The Vienna Open is also part of the World Bowling Tour.

The top 4 of 271 players from 25 countries advanced to the stepladder finals to determine the champion in front of a packed house.

 

In the opening match, Uotila, who rolled the tournament's fifth 300 game in the Round of 18 on his way to the No. 3 seed, eliminated No. 4 Mike Fagan (left), United States, who was looking for his 6th EBT title and 5th PBA title, 242-207.

Uotila, who won the gold medal with the Finnish men's team at the World Championships in Las Vegas last month, flew past seven-time EBT champion and one-time PBA titlist Dominic Barrett (right) of England, seeded second, in the semifinal, 272-187.

Uotila, who was the lone non-PBA member in the stepladder and therefore could not win a PBA title, averaged over 250 in the finals but had to settle for second place. However, he improved on his third-place finish in the tournament's second edition in the year 2004.

Uotila received 5.000 Euro for the feat. Barrett earned 3.500 Euro for third place and Fagan took home 2.500 Euro for fourth place.

Defending champion Chris Barnes (left), United States, who was the No. 1 seed for the stepladder finals in the past three years, winning two Vienna Open titles in 2010 and 2012, finished in ninth place.

Osku Palermaa (right) of Finland, who dominated qualifying with an EBT record 1614 series, an average of 269, and won the Doubles competition with Uotila, finished in sixth place.

Kelly Kulick (right), United States, was the best of 47 women in the field in 28th place en route to win the women's ranking in Vienna.

The 11th Columbia 300 Vienna Open was the 15th stop of the 2013 European Bowling Tour and the last of six EBT "Gold" tournaments (the second-highest category) this season. Players competed for total prize fund of 75.130 Euro or approx. $100,000 - 64.900 € for Singles and 10.230 € for the Doubles event.

Due to an agreement between the World Tenpin Bowling Association and the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), the 11th Columbia 300 Vienna Open also awarded a PBA international title if won by a PBA member or a PBA international member.

Qualifying (20 squads) ran from Monday, Sept. 30 through Saturday, Oct. 5 and concluded with the one-game Desperado Squad Saturday night. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard on the European Bowling Tour

A total of 64 players qualified for the finals on Sunday, Oct. 6. The top 8 qualifying leaders received a first-round bye. The other 56 players bowled six games starting from scratch. The top 22 joined the top 8 qualifiers in Round Two.

Those 30 players bowled another six games starting from scratch after which the field was trimmed to the top 18, who carried the pinfall forward into Round Three. After another six-game block the top 4 players with the highest 12-game total advanced to the stepladder finals.

The No. 4 seed meets the No. 3 in the opening match and the winner takes on the No. 2 seed for the right to bowl the top seed for the title, the 7.000 Euro top prize, 150 EBT ranking points and 50 WBT ranking points.

The 2013 European Bowling Tour consists of 19 stops in 13 countries including two Platinum, six Gold, four Silver and seven Satellite tournaments.

The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event receive ranking points. The winner of a Platinum tournament receives 250 ranking points, the winner of a Gold tournament such as the 11th Columbia 300 Vienna Open gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament earns 100, and the winner of a Satellite tournament gets 50 ranking points.

The top 12 men and the top 12 women at the end of the 2013 season qualify for the seventh EBT Masters to be held March 3, 2014 at Dolfijn Bowling in Tilburg, Netherlands immediately following the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament 2014.

The 11th Columbia 300 Vienna Open is also the 13th event of the 2013 World Bowling Tour, which actually got underway at the end of 2012.

The 2013 WBT consists of 14 tournaments in America, Arabia, Asia and Europe - six in the United States and one each in Austria, Finland, Germany, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Qatar and Thailand.

Players earn points based on how they finish in each event. The current points system is based on a continuous two-year cycle, so points include some events from 2011 and all events from 2012 in addition to the 2013 events.

The top three men and top three women will be invited to compete in the World Bowling Tour Finals presented by the Professional Bowlers Association which will be held in conjunction with the PBA World Series of Bowling V from Friday, October 25 thru Sunday, November 3, 2013 at South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas, Nev.

The World Tenpin Bowling Association, which is made up of 110 bowling federations, governs the sport throughout the world. For more information on WTBA and the World Bowling Tour, visit WorldTenpinBowling.com.

The 2013 European Bowling Tour continues with the Norwegian Open 2013 by Brunswick, which started yesterday at Veitvet Bowling Center in Oslo, Norway. Bowlingdigital.com will provide Live Coverage from the EBT Satellite event commencing Thursday Oct. 10 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, Oct. 13.