Martin Paulsson ends 2011 Men's European Championships with victory in Masters

    06/18/11

    2011 MEC

    Swede claims his second career major title at Dream-Bowl Palace in Unterföhring, Germany

    2011MECMadsSandbakkenMartinPaulsson.jpgSwede Martin Paulsson (pictured right) captured his second major title at Dream-Bowl Palace in Unterföhring, Germany, when he capped off the 2011 Men's European Championships with victory in match play Masters. Paulsson, who won the Doubles gold medal (with Mathias Årup) at the Men's World Championships in Munich last year, swept All Events champion and No. 1 seed, Mads Sandbækken (left), in the title match, Norway, two-game-to-none.

    The top 24 players in All Events advanced to single-elimination match play in best of-three games format. The four countries, who had won most of the medals (all but one silver and one bronze) in the previous four disciplines, Doubles, Trios, Team and All Events, were represented in the semifinals.

    2011MECMadsSandbakkenThomasLarsen.jpgBoth finalists had some hard work to do before they advanced to the gold medal match. Sandbækken went the distance against Denmark's shooting star Thomas Larsen (pictured right), defeating the No. 2 in the European Bowling Tour ranking in the decider, 234-222.

    2011MECOskuPalermaaMartinPaulsson.jpgPaulsson lost his first game against European and World Cup champion and current European ranking leader, Osku Palermaa (pictured left), Finland, but rebounded with a 241-195 win in game two and ousted the PBA champion with a 231-225 win in the deciding third game.

    In the title match, Paulsson took a 1-0 lead with a 219-217 win in game one and sealed the victory with a close 179-177 win in game two.

    Paulsson's gold medal was the second for Sweden in this championships after the victory in Doubles. The Tre-Kronor team also bagged three bronze for second place in the medal tally. Norway led all 34 participating countries with two gold medals in Trios and All Events, three silver medals and 1 bronze medal. The Norwegians were the only country which medaled in each discipline.

    Denmark won the gold medal in the prestigious five-player Team event and also had two bronze medals. Finland left Munich without a title but one silver and two bronze medals. Belgium returned home with one silver medal while the host country Germany took one bronze.

    2011MECLogo.jpg 198 players from 34 countries competed for gold, silver and bronze medals in Doubles, Trios, Team, All Events and Masters. Preliminaries in Doubles featured 12 games, in Trios and Team six games with the top 4 teams advancing to the playoff finals.

    No. 1 bowled No. 4 and No. 3 bowled No. 2 in the semifinals. The winners advanced to the gold medal match while the losers shared the bronze medal. All matches were single-game matches.

    Medals were also given in All Events (combined results of the Doubles, Trios and Team preliminaries).The top 24 in All Events advanced to the Masters finals. The top 8 players bypassed the Round of 24 and were seeded into the Round of 16.

    The next Men's European Championships will be held Aug. 16.-26. 2012 at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria and serves as European qualifier for the combined World Championships in Henderson, Nev., United States in 2013.

    Photos and results courtesy of Deutsche Bowling Union (DBU).

     


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    2011 Men's European Championships - Medal Tally

     

     


    2011 Men's European Championships - Masters Championship Match


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    2011 Men's European Championships - Masters Semifinals


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    2011 Men's European Championships - Masters Quarterfinals


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    2011 Men's European Championships - Masters Round of 16


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    2011 Men's European Championships - Masters Round of 24


    Single-elimination match play in best of-three games format. Winners advance, losers eliminated.

     

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