Scandinavians set the pace in Doubles in the Men's European Championships

    06/07/09

    2009 MEC

    2009MECLogo_small.jpg The 2009 Men's European Championships started on Saturday with the Doubles event. The 86 doubles from 31 countries were split into four squads to bowl six games on short oil and six games on long oil.

    2009MECPetterHansenSveinRogerOlsen.jpgNorwegians Petter Hansen and Svein Roger Olsen (l-r) led Squad 2 with 2640 6-game total, an average of 220.00, and remained atop the leaderboard after the competition has reached its halfway point. Hansen had the field-best 1366 pinfall total (227.67) and is tied with Petteri Salonen, Finland, for the lead in All-Events (combined results in Doubles, Trios and Team) after 6 of 24 games. Olsen contributed 1271.

    Salonen and team mate Osku Palermaa (1223) were second in that squad and landed in third place overall with 2589 (215.75). Places 2, 4 and 5 belonged to the Swedish team.

    Martin Paulsson and Dennis Eklund topped Squad 3 en route to move into second place with 2600 pinfall total (216.67). The duo got out of the gates with the highest team game on short oil, 526. Paulsson finished with 1325 and Eklund added 1275.

    Mathias Ă…rup and Erik Andersin were the third-best team in Squad 2 with 2541, good for 4th place overall. Ă…rup led the team with 1288 and Andersin had 1253.

    2006 Doubles World Champions and 2007 MEC Doubles runner-ups Martin Larsenand Robert Andersson finished atop the leaderboard in Squad 4 to overtake fifth place with 2521 (210.08). Larsen, who won the Aalborg Int'l last month, had 1291 and Andersson 1230.

    Stuart Williams and Dominic Barrett, England, started their first block in Squad 3 with a 1384 3-game series including Barrett's 763 (258, 279, 226), the highest individual 3-game set, but the duo had to settle for six place with 2519 (209.92) after a sub-par 1135 second set. Barrett totaled 1286 and Williams, who has earned an exemption for the 2009-10 PBA Tour through the Tour Trials last week, added 1233.

    Greek veteran Dimitrios Karetsos and Ioannis Maroussis had a slow start with 1073 after three games but rebounded with 482, 504 and 454 (1440) to rocket into 7th place with 2513 (209.42). Maroussis had 1281 and Karetsos 1232 (478 and 754).

    Squads 1 and 2 will return for the second block on long oil on Sunday, while Squads 3 and 4 finish the job on Monday.

    The top 4 of the 3-day event will advance to the finals on Monday evening at Lovvang Bowling Center in Aalborg, Denmark. The No. 1 after 12 games will bowl the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 takes on No. 3 in the semifinals. The winners will bowl for the title and the losers will share the bronze medal. All matches are one-game matches.

     


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    High Games and Series on short oil


    Team:
    1 Game: Sweden, 526 (Martin Paulsson, 268/Dennis Eklund, 258)
    3 Games: Greece, 1440 (Dimitrios Karetsos, 754/Ioannis Maroussis, 686)
    6 Games: Norway, 2640 (Petter Hansen, 1366/Svein Roger Olsen, 1274)

    Individual:
    1 Game: Izhak Dekel, Israel, 299
    3 Games: Dominic Barrett, England, 763
    6 Games: Petter Hansen, Norway, and Petteri Salonen, Finland, 1366

     


    Doubles - Standings after the first Block on short oil

     


    All Events after 6 of 24 games


    The top 24 after 24 games (combined results in Doubles, Trios and Team) will advance to the Masters finals.

     

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