After an exhaustive round of qualifying in 18 squads, the top 42 bowlers plus the six highest scoring ‘Desperados’ (seeded 43-48) advanced to the final rounds of the Istanbul Bowling Open, with Australia’s Jason Belmonte leading the field going into the semi-final stage of the event.
“Jason has been up and down the leaderboard throughout this event like the proverbial yo-yo but the cream came to the top in the final round,” reported BJI’s European editor, Keith Hale from the Time Out Bowling Centre in Istanbul.
Belmonte and fellow two-handed bowler, Osku Palermaa from Finland, plus Europe’s #2 ranked bowler Paul Moor and surprise semi-finalist Mathieu Berges from Switzerland battled it out for the title this evening.
In the first of the semis, Palermaa denied Moor the opportunity to avenge last weekend’s defeat at the hands of Belmonte at the World Tenpin Masters, overcoming the English star 249-189 to advance to the grand final. In the second semi-final match, Berges shadowed Belmonte frame by frame, ultimately losing by just a single pin, 225-224, but the keenly awaited Palermaa/Belmonte match resulted with Palermaa emerging victorious 258-195 in the sudden death grand final.
The Istanbul Bowling Open is a “Major” on the 2007 European Bowling Tour and tonight’s result as runner-up gives Australian bowler, Jason Belmonte, a handy 80 points in his first appearance this year on the European Tour. Palermaa’s win leapfrogs him over Moor into first position on the EBT rankings, after six tournament placings on the Tour to date.
Belmonte, Palermaa and Moor will now be packing their bowling bags to fly to the United States for next week’s WTBA WORLD RANKINGS MASTERS where the eight top ranked male and female bowlers from all three Zones of the sport will compete in the World Tenpin Bowling Association’s showcase event. It will be the third time in the seven-year history of the WTBA World Ranking Masters Championship that the event will be held at the renowned Kegel Training Center in Lake Wales, Florida.
Story thanks to Lynne Clay
“Jason has been up and down the leaderboard throughout this event like the proverbial yo-yo but the cream came to the top in the final round,” reported BJI’s European editor, Keith Hale from the Time Out Bowling Centre in Istanbul.
Belmonte and fellow two-handed bowler, Osku Palermaa from Finland, plus Europe’s #2 ranked bowler Paul Moor and surprise semi-finalist Mathieu Berges from Switzerland battled it out for the title this evening.
In the first of the semis, Palermaa denied Moor the opportunity to avenge last weekend’s defeat at the hands of Belmonte at the World Tenpin Masters, overcoming the English star 249-189 to advance to the grand final. In the second semi-final match, Berges shadowed Belmonte frame by frame, ultimately losing by just a single pin, 225-224, but the keenly awaited Palermaa/Belmonte match resulted with Palermaa emerging victorious 258-195 in the sudden death grand final.
The Istanbul Bowling Open is a “Major” on the 2007 European Bowling Tour and tonight’s result as runner-up gives Australian bowler, Jason Belmonte, a handy 80 points in his first appearance this year on the European Tour. Palermaa’s win leapfrogs him over Moor into first position on the EBT rankings, after six tournament placings on the Tour to date.
Belmonte, Palermaa and Moor will now be packing their bowling bags to fly to the United States for next week’s WTBA WORLD RANKINGS MASTERS where the eight top ranked male and female bowlers from all three Zones of the sport will compete in the World Tenpin Bowling Association’s showcase event. It will be the third time in the seven-year history of the WTBA World Ranking Masters Championship that the event will be held at the renowned Kegel Training Center in Lake Wales, Florida.
Story thanks to Lynne Clay
