Valgeir Gudbjartsson
The Brunswick Ballmaster Open 2022 was conducted in the famous Tali Bowling, Helsinki for the 52nd time during 6-16 January 2022 – number of entries were less than usual completely due to Covid-19 situation. Total of 513 entries by 334 athletes (where of 53 women) bowled during the week.
After the 2 round robin groups in final step 3 then the following 4 athletes were playing for the gold…
Group A: Pontus Andersson, Sweden and Thomas Kayhko, Finland.
Group B: Nicola Pongolini, Italy and Sanna Oksanen, Finland.
First up were Nicola Pongolini (IBF WC bronze medallist singles) and Thomas Kayhko (IBF WV silver medallist singles) This time Nicola Pongolini made the best of it and won 219 vs 214
Second semi-final match was then Pontus Andersson, Sweden against Sanna Oksanen, Finland, in this match then Pontus Andersson won 205 vs 189
In the final, between Pontus Andersson and Nicola Pongolini then that game was exciting until the 10th frame – but then Nicola Pngolini did better and won 189 vs 168.
This was the second EBT title by Nicola Pongolini.
The highest woman was of course Sanna Oksanen.
As the first tournament on the EBT 2022 (AIK Intl) was cancelled due to Covid-19 then this is the first tournament in the ranking for EBT2022, next tournament (Valcke Bronzen Schietspoel) has also been cancelled, so there is no tournament coming up during the next 2 moths or so.
Full ranking for men and women can be seen here.
New dates have been set for the European Mens Championships 2022, Helsinki Finland.
The Hosts of EMC2022, and EBF agrees with the decision, to set new dates for the postponed EMC2022 as 1 – 12 June 2022 in Helsinki, Finland.
Here we go again….
The Hosts of EMC2022 and EWC2022, and EBF agrees with the decision, have decided to postpone the European Men Championships which should be held in Helsinki, Finland 19-30 January 2022 and the European Women Championships which was planned to be held in Aalborg, Denmark 9-20 February 2021
This postponement comes due to the status of COVID-19 in both Host countries and many travel restrictions in place.
The Hosts and EBF are working hard to find alternative dates, and hopefully we can inform those dates as soon as possible.
The Leandersson Christmas Tournament 2021 was conducted in Mora Parken Bowling, Sweden, during 11 to 19 October 2021 – a total of 329 entries by 145 athletes (where of 17 women) bowled during the week.
After 3 finalsteps then top 4 played 3 more carousel games from scratch, and each time one athlete dropped out – results for top as follows:
1st to drop out: Filip Wilhelmsson, Sweden,
2nd to drop out: Carl Eklund, Sweden,
3rd to drop out: Oliver Dahlgren, Sweden
Winner: Pontus Andersson, Sweden
This was the 3rd win on the European Bowling Tour for Pontus Andersson, Sweden, first since 2018. Higest ranked woman was Nora Johansson, Sweden, for the first time.
For the Woman Ranking then there was no change on the top.
For the Men ranking then there was also no change on the top, and due to this then the winners of the EBT tour for combined 2020-2021 are Joline Persson Planefors on the womans side and William Svensson on the man side.½
Dear friends,
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing away of our friend and colleague, Tomas Leandersson on 2/11/2021. After a long fight against cancer, he, surrounded by his family died.
Tomas was a great athlete, champion, teacher and coach; dozens of people who were inspired by him to perform at their very best. He was such a wonderful man and he will be missed by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him. He will never be forgotten.
Our deepest sympathies to his family.
May he rest in peace.
Addie Ophelders
EBF President
The Norwegian Open 2021 by Brunswick, was conducted in Hönefoss bowlingsenter, Norway, during 8 to 17 October 2021;a total of 493 entries by 186 athletes (where of 38 women) bowled during the week.
After four finalsteps then top 8 played 3 more games carrying the scores forward from final step 4; the final only decided in the last game as only Norwegian in the group managed to cling the title. Results for top 3 as follows:
Glenn Morten Pedersen, Norway 1390
Jord van Weeren, Netherlands 1361
Peter Hellström, Sweden 1350
This was the first win on the European Bowling Tour for Glenn Morten Pedersen, highest ranked woman became Mika Guldbæk, Denmark.
For the Woman Ranking then there was no change on the top.
For the Men Ranking then there was little change, Arnar David Jonsson, Iceland managed to squeeze into the 3rd place…. Before small brake and only one tournament left on the tour; Leandersson Christmas Tournament in Sweden in December.
The 23rd edition of the Mediterranean Bowling Championships took place in Paris, France from 10th to 17th of October 2021. ESCAPE FACTORY bowling center hosted the event under the leadership of the France Bowling Federation. 14 federations with 53 athletes participated in 7 events, claiming 32 medals.
Women singles
1st place & Gold medallist, Israel with Tali Itzhak Abdu
2nd place & Silver medallist, Greece with Georgia Sagona
3rd place & Bronze medallist, France with Alexandra Lopes D’andrade
Tali Itzhak Abdu, from Israel, equalizing the previous record of Sue Abela from Malta 290 pins in singles/1 game
Men singles
1st place & Gold medallist, Italy with Walter Alessandro Santu
2nd place & Silver medallist, Greece with Konstantinos Kitsos
3rd place & Bronze medallist, Portugal with Paulo Lopes
– that’s was the first-ever medal from Portugal in the MBC
Walter Alessandro Santu from Italy, broke the record with 811 pins in singles/3 games
Mixed Doubles
1st place & Gold medallist, Israel with Tali Itzhak Abdu & Netanel Shimon Volpert
2nd place & Silver medallist, France with Alexandra Lopes D’andrade & Maxime Dubois
3rd place & Bronze medallist, Greece with Georgia Sagona & Konstantinos Kitsos
Tali Itzhak Abdu & Netanel Shimon Volpert from Israel, broke all three records at mixed doubles 1/game 536 pins, 3/games 1416 pins, and 6/games 2666 pins
Women Doubles
1st place & Gold medallist, Italy with Roberta Ferina & Melania Rossi
2nd place & Silver medallist, Malta with Sue Abela & Cynthia Frendo Luca
3rd place & Bronze medallist, France with Alexandra Lopes D’andrade & Emma Friant
Men Doubles
1st place & Gold medallist, Italy with Walter Alessandro Santu & Tommaso Radi
2nd place & Silver medallist, France with Maxime Dubois & Quentin Deroo
3rd place & Bronze medallist, Spain with Mickael Piccari & Alvar Cardona
Walter Alessandro Santu & Tomazo Radi from Italy broke Doubles 3/games with 1423 pins and doubles 6/games with 2734 pins
Team event
1st place & Gold medallist, France with Alexandra Lopes D’andrade, Emma Friant, Maxime Dubois & Quentin Deroo
2nd place & Silver medallist, Slovenia with Ziga Zalar, Tim Cerkvenik-Muzafirovic, Victoria Krivolutskaya & Alja Bergauer
3rd place & Bronze medallist, Italy withWalter Alessandro Santu, Tommaso Radi, Melania Rossi & Roberta Ferina
Walter Alessandro Santu from Italy bowled a perfect 300 game
Women´s all events
1st place & Gold medallist, Israel with Tali Itzhak Abdu
2nd place & Silver medallist, France with Alexandra Lopes D’andrade
3rd place & Bronze medallist, Greece with Georgia Sagona
Men´s all events
1st place & Gold medallist, Italy with Walter Alessandro Santu
2nd place & Silver medallist, France with Maxime Dubois
3rd place & Bronze medallist, Slovenia with Ziga Zalar
Women’s Masters
1st place & Gold medallist, Greece with Georgia Sagona
2nd place & Silver medallist, Slovenia with Alja Bergauer
3rd place & Bronze medallist, France with Alexandra Lopes D’andrade
3rd place & Bronze medallist, Malta with Sue Abela
Georgia Sagona from Greece broke the record at masters event 1/game 279 pins
Men’s Masters
1st place & Gold medallist, France with Maxime Dubois
2nd place & Silver medallist, Spain with Alvar Cardona
3rd place & Bronze medallist, Greece with Konstantinos Kitsos
3rd place & Bronze medallist, Italy with Walter Alessandro Santu
Marios Nicolaides/President
Mediterranean Bowling Confederation
The 4th Brunswick Open 2021, was conducted in Crystal Bowling, Wittelsheim, France during 28 September to 3 October 2021;a total of 422 entries by 170 athletes (where of 32 women) bowled during the week.
After three finalsteps and 8 person elimination round then 4 athletes competed in the semifinals and finals in the elimination round, total score over 2 games. Results as follows:
Semifinals:
Arnar Jónsson, ICE 483 vs Jesse Kallio, FIN 440
Carl Eklund, SWE 468 vs Mats Maggi, BEL 450
Final:
Carl Eklund, SWE 502 vs Arnar Jónsson, ICE 458
This was the first win on the European Bowling Tour for the young Carl Eklund, who is still only 15 years old, we will see more of him in the coming years.
Highest ranked woman became Roosa Lunden, Finland.
For the Woman Ranking then there was no change on the top.
For the Men Ranking then there was no change either on the top and we will now head to Norway for the Norwegian Open.
The 33th edition of the European Youth Championships was conducted on 10-19 September 2021 in Dolfijn, The Plays To Be, in Tilburg, Netherlands
In this first championship after Covid-19 then we saw athletes from 22 federations – 74 boys and 44 girls competing in singles, doubles, teams, all events and masters.
The 10 titles were distribute as follows:
5 titles in the girls division:
Singles: Alja Bergauer, Slovenia
Doubles: Alja Bergauer & Eva Krafogel, Slovenia
Teams: Vasilisa Rudakova, Polina Shutova, Daria Nedoseeva, Victoria Kashirskaya. Russia
All Events: Peppi Konsteri, Finland
Masters: Nora Johansson, Sweden
5 titles in the boys division:
Singles: Robin Ilhammar, Sweden
Doubles: Carl Eklund & Robin Ilhammar, Sweden
Teams: Carl Eklund, Alex Joki, Loke Molander, Robin Ilhammar, Sweden
All Events: Kenneth Ramos, Netherlands
Masters: Paul Purps, Germany.
Sweden became the best federations with 4 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze, Slovenia became the second best federation with 2 Gold, 0 Silver and 0 Bronze and Finland became the third best federation with 1 Gold, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze.
ETBF ACADEMY will host an international special 6-day combined Level-I and Level-II clinic for experienced coaches who are seeking Level II certification. Depending on qualifications coaches can enter a 2 day Level I clinic and continue to the Level II program or directly start the Level II program. Please check www.etbfacademy.eu for registration and details.
2021 Edition of ETBF Level III Coaching program and ETBF Level I Instructors program will also be hosted in Frankfurt Germany between 6-12 December.
We thank Bowl for Fun Bowling and ETBF Training Center for their cooperation.