Mika Koivuniemi, Cherie Tan triumph in 4th European Bowling Tour Masters 2011

PBA star Mika Koivuniemi (pictured left), a native Finn who lives in Hartland, Mich., USA, and Singapore international Cherie Tan (right) claimed the men's and women's titles in the 4th European Bowling Tour Masters, the season-ending event of the 2010 European Bowling Tour, Tuesday at Gladiator Arena in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Koivuniemi, who led the 16-player field after day one, battled it out for the men's title with qualifying leader Martin Larsen of Sweden. The frontrunner in the 2010-11 PBA Tour Player of the Year race and sole two-time EBT winner this season led the round robin match play field of 8 after five games (23 overall).

Larsen (left) regained the lead when he fired the tournament's second 300 game but the first on mixed lane conditioning pattern in the penultimate game. Koivuniemi finished in style and rebounded with a perfecto in the last game to finish with 6075 pinfall total including a 6-1 won-loss record and a scratch average of 243.

Larsen countered with a 243 game but lost against Parker Bohn III (right, 266) and had to settle for second place with 6020 (240.80) including a 3-4 match play record. Bohn, a 32-time PBA Tour champion, landed in third place with 5918 (236.72, 4-3).

Cherie Tan, who participated in just one tournament on the 2010 European Bowling Tour, earned 250 ranking points for winning the women's rankings in the EBT Platinum Brunswick Ballmaster Open. Ranked 20th in the 2010 EBT rankings, Tan made it to the Masters due to several withdrawals in the women's division.

The Singaporean made the best out of it, finishing second on medium, first on long and third on mixed oil to earn the No. 1 seed for round robin match play. Tan won her first six games with 220, 267, 201, 237, 235 and 267 to wrap up the title before the final game. Despite losing the seventh game to Mai Ginge Jensen (left) of Denmark, 191-224,

Tan finished atop the women's leaderboard with 5771 pinfall total including 120 bonus pins and an average of 230.84 scratch. Jensen won all but one match in which she was tied with compatriot Kamilla Kjeldsen at 227 to finish second with 5599 (223.96) including 130 bonus.

Joline Persson-Planefors (right), Sweden, who has won two of three qualifying blocks on medium and mixed oil, finished third with 5477 (219.08, 3-4). Kjeldsen, who has won the first three EBT Women's Masters titles, finished in eighth place.

All 16 men and 16 women bowled 18 games preliminaries, six each on medium, long and mixed oil conditioning pattern, to cut to the top 8 for the match play finals. Those 8 men and 8 women determined the champion in seven games round robin match play with the pinfall total from the preliminaries being carried forward.

The players with the highest pinfall total after 25 games including bonus points (20 for a win, 10 for a tie) were crowned men's and women's EBT Masters champion and earned 4.000 Euro each.

 

Martin Larsen, Cherie Tan led top 8 mane and women into match play finals
Mika Koivuniemi, Cherie Tan lead fourth EBT Masters after 12 games preliminaries

 

1. Mika Koivuniemi (center), Finland, 4.000 Euro
2. Martin Larsen (left), Sweden, 3.000 Euro
3. Parker Bohn III (right), United States, 2.000 Euro
4. Gery Verbruggen, Belgium, 1.000 Euro
5. Mike Fagan, United States, 900 Euro
6. Osku Palermaa, Finland, 850 Euro
7. Tore Torgersen, Norway, 800 Euro
8. Mathias Årup, Sweden, 750 Euro
9. Paul Moor, England, 500 Euro
10. Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 500 Euro
11. Perttu Jussila, Finland, 400 Euro
12. Dennis Eklund, Sweden, 400 Euro
13. Mads Sandbækken, Norway, 400 Euro
14. Chris Loschetter, United States, 300 Euro
15. Peter Ljung, Sweden, 300 Euro
16. Jesper Agerbo, Denmark, 300 Euro

Qualifying leader: Gery Verbruggen, Belgium, 400 Euro
Block 1 leader: Osku Palermaa, Finland, 400 Euro
Block 2 leader: Martin Larsen, Sweden, 400 Euro
Block 3 leader: Martin Larsen, Sweden, 400 Euro

 

1. Cherie Tan (center), Singapore, 4.000 Euro
2. Mai Ginge Jensen (left), Denmark, 3.000 Euro
3. Joline Persson-Planefors (right), Sweden, 2.000 Euro
4. Lisanne Breeschoten, Netherlands, 1.000 Euro
5. Krista Pöllänen, Finland, 900 Euro
6. Birgit Pöppler, Germany, 850 Euro
7. Wendy Kok, Netherlands, 800 Euro
8. Kamilla Kjeldsen, Denmark, 750 Euro
9. Nina Flack, Sweden, 500 Euro
10. Helén Johnsson, Sweden, 500 Euro
11. Ghislaine van der Tol, Netherlands, 400 Euro
12. Tina Hulsch, Germany, 400 Euro
13. Rebecka Larsen Jr. Sweden, 400 Euro
14. Nicole Sanders, Netherlands, 300 Euro
15. Rikke Holm Agerbo, Denmark, 300 Euro
16. Nina Manninen, Finland, 300 Euro

Qualifying leader: Joline Persson-Planefors, Sweden, 400 Euro
Block 1 leader: Cherie Tan, Singapore, 400 Euro
Block 2 leader: Joline Persson-Planefors, Sweden, 400 Euro
Block 3 leader: Cherie Tan, Singapore, 400 Euro