Osku Palermaa overtakes lead in 2011 European Bowling Tour Men's Rankings

 

Three-time European Bowling Tour men's ranking champion Osku Palermaa (2007-09, pictured left) of Finland captured his ninth career EBT title and the first since February 2010 in the 2nd Track Dream-Bowl Palace Open Sunday at Dream Bowl Palace in Munich, Germany.

Besides the 10.000 Euro top prize, the two-hander received 100 ranking points for winning the EBT Silver event en route to leap from fourth to first place in the EBT men's ranking. After the sixth tournament of the 2011 EBT season, Palermaa has 334 total ranking points.

Previous leader Thomas Larsen (right), Denmark, slipped to second place with 308 pints after finishing 27th in the DBPO and 24th in the men's rankings, worth 16 points. Four-time EBT ranking champion Gery Verbruggen, Belgium (2000-03) and Syafiq Ridhwan, Malaysia, did not compete in Munich and fell one spot to third and fourth place with 262 and 250, respectively.

Three-time EBT ranking champion Paul Moor, overtook reigning ranking champion Dominic Barrett thanks to a third-place finish with 245 points, good for fifth place in the 2011 rankings. Barrett, who was injured in an accident during the Saudi Arabia International, did not compete.

On the women's side, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard (left), United States, remained atop the leaderboard with 320 ranking points. The Team USA member did not participate in the DBPO.

Mai Ginge Jensen (right), Denmark, finished third in the women's rankings (70 points) and 22nd overall to leap from fourth to second place with 287 points. Two-time World Champion Clara Juliana Guerrero, Colombia, who has won the EBT Platinum Brunswick Euro Challenge, slipped to third place with 278 points.

World Games champion Krista Pöllänen, Finland, fell to fourth place with 275 points. Rounding out the top five is reigning women's ranking champion Nina Flack, Sweden, with 205 points. Both Pöllänen and Flack did not compete in Munich.

Two-time EBT women's rankiung winner and three-time EBT Masters winner Kamilla Kjeldsen, Denamrk, led the rankings in Munich and received 100 ranking points, her first points of the season, to move into 17th place.

Since the Viborg International in Denmark has been cancelled, the 2011 European Bowling Tour features 21 tournaments in 17 countries, two Platinum, six Gold, seven Silver and six Satellite tournaments. The total prize fund of the 2011 Tour will exceed 1 million Euro.

2011 EBT champions, men's and women's ranking winners and schedule

The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each tournament of the European Bowling Tour cash ranking points no matter from which country or World Tenpin Bowling Association Zone (Europe, Asia, America) he or she comes.

The winner of a Platinum tournament receives 250 ranking points, the winner of a Gold tournament gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament such as the Track Dream-Bowl Palace Open earns 100, and the winner of a Satellite tournament gets 50 ranking points.

The top 16 men and the top 16 women in the EBT ranking will qualify for the 2012 EBT Masters to be held in conjunction with the 3rd Dream Bowl Palace Open in Unterföhring near Munich, Germany April 30 and May 1, 2012.

The 2011 European Bowling Tour will be in Ljubljana, Slovenia, this week for the 5th Qubica/AMF Open 2011 to be held at Bowling Center Gladiator in Ljubljana, Slovenia from April 5-10. Immediately following the touranemt ist he 4th EBT Masters.