Martina Beckel of Germany and Ron Oldfield of England concluded the 2017 International Seniors Bowling Tour season with victory in women’s and men’s Masters competition at Cristal Bowling in Wittelsheim, France. It was the fourth Masters title for Oldfield and the third for Beckel and the second in-a-row.Every year, the top competitors from the ISBT series of tournaments are invited to participate in the ISBT Masters Finals featuring the top 32 men and 12 women from the previous year’s rankings.

There is no entry fee to participate. The prize fund of over 9.000 Euro is generated from the tournaments run during the year. For the 2017 year, the tournament was held during the Track Alsace Senior Open.

All players played a four-game qualifying block, then the top 5 ladies and top 15 men would go forward to a further four-game final block. Age bonus started at age 51 (1 pin per game), then increased a pin for every additional year of age with no limit.

In the men’s qualifying round, Roger Pieters from Belgium was top with 950 including age bonus, ahead of Helmut Ulber from Germany and Christer Danielsson from Sweden. The cut for the final was 853, going to Uwe Tscharke from Germany.

In the ladies’ section, defending Masters champion Martina Beckel from Germany was top with 814, ahead of Kimberley Oakley from England and Bianca Völkl-Brandt from Germany. The top five was completed by Liliane Vintens from Belgium and Claribel Muis from the Netherlands.

In the men’s final round, several players were vying for the overall lead, and first of the leaders to finish was Ron Oldfield (center), posting a score of 949. Both Roger Pieters (left) and Hermann Wimmer (right) from Germany still had an opportunity to take the win by making the last few strikes, but neither succeeded, leaving Oldfield as the 2017 Masters’ champion, now with four ISBT Masters titles, ahead of Pieters and Wimmer.

In the ladies’ section, Bianca Völkl-Brandt (right) had a healthy lead going into the final game, but playing on the low-scoring lanes 3 and 4 she struggled, and was overtaken by good games from Martina Beckel(center) and Liliane Vintens (left), with Beckel taking her third ISB

BowlingDigital.com

International Seniors Bowling Tour all-time title leader Angie Brown of England and Finland’s Timo Mäkelä captured the women’s and men’s title in the 7th Track Alsace Senior Open Sunday at Cristal Bowling in Wittelsheim, France. It was the first title for Mäkelä and the 17th for Brown since the Tour started in 2010.The third stop of the 2018 season drew 112 men and 28 women from 13 countries The format for the tournament was two blocks of 6 games qualifying, with re-entries being allowed. For those not able to qualify through the main leaderboard, there were additional opportunities through Turbo games and a Desperado squad.

Age bonus started at age 51 (1 pin per game), then increased a pin for every additional year of age with no limit. As with all ISBT events, there was a separate division for ladies.

The opening squad on Thursday saw defending champion Christer Danielsson from Sweden start well with 1425 including bonus, ahead of Hermann Wimmer from Germany.

Martina Beckel from Germany took the top ladies spot with 1217, just ahead of Nadine Robert from France. Beckel has won the first two tournaments this season and the ISBT Masters for 2017, which was contested during the 7th Track Alsace Senior Open.

The second squad on Thursday was won by Valentin Fatu from Romania with 1389. In the ladies’ section, Angie Brown set the pace with 1226.

There were three squads on Friday, the first again went to Scandinavian bowlers. Petri Keituri from Finland was top with 1432, ahead of Ulf Lönngren from Sweden. English ladies led this squad, Kimberley Oakley had 1317, ahead of Angie Brown.

In the fourth squad, there was more English success, with Ron Oldfield, fresh off his victory in the Masters, hitting 1424, ahead of Auke Brokehuizen from the Netherlands. Petra Duplois from Germany had a solid block of 1280 to secure the squad win.

The final Friday squad was won by Dominique de Nolf from Belgium with 1377, ahead of Jean-Pierre Paugnat from France. Pépita Jacques from France led the ladies with 1266.

Helmut Ulber from Germany won the first of three squads on Saturday with 1412, ahead of Hermann Wimmer, while Liliane Vintens from Belgium was top lady with 1254.

Patrick Rolland from France took the second squad with 1479, ahead of England’s Lol Ellis and Frank Stander. There were a number of good blocks in the ladies section. Defending women’s champion Brigitte Fievet from France had 1333 and was followed by Martina Beckel, Marianne Pelz and Bianca Völkl-Brandt, all from Germany.

One squad remained for players to make their moves for a place in the finals. Ron Oldfield had another big block of 1472, but pride of place went to Valentin Fatu’s 300 in his fifth game (pictured left), ensuring him of a place in the final. In the ladies’ section, Angie Brown had another good block of 1323 to win the squad ahead of Pépita Jacques.

With qualification over, it was a clean sweep in the overall rankings for England, with Ron Oldfieldfirst, and Frank Stander second, an amazing result for Stander bowling a 194 average at the age of 87 years old. In third place in the men’s qualification was Patrick Rolland.

The top eight would get a bye into the second finals round, eighth place went to Valentin Fatu, with the final cut at 32 falling to Noël De Lazzer from France on 2638.

In the ladies division, Angie Brown (center, with Frank Stander, left, and Ron Oldfield, right) finished top with 2583, ahead of Pépita Jacques and Martina Beckel. Last qualifier from the overall standings was Kimberly Oakleywith 2495.

For those who had not qualified, the Desperado Squad remained an option. Only 8 men and 4 women took part with the top two men and top lady moving forward to the finals.

In the men’s section, Patrick Mochon from France started with the first seven strikes, while Robert Bruce from England had the front six. Both players had now done the hard work and closed the games out to qualify for the final stages.

The ladies Desperado was very close, with Lynne Walker from Wales having a solid closed game to finish with 198 with bonus. Françoise Augustine from France was also having a solid game, and although her scratch score was not as good, she became the Desperado qualifier by a single pin including age bonus.

The quarter final round was five games starting from scratch. Timo Mäkelä was the comfortable winner with 1228, ahead of Roger Pieters from Belgium and Christer Danielsson. Only the top 16 would go forward. Noël de Lazzer again hit the cutoff number with 1071.

The quarter final round saw the 16 bowlers from the previous round joined by the top eight from qualification. This round was another Scandinavian affair, with Ulf Lönngren and Timo Mäkeläleading with 1303 and 1222, respectively. Only eight players would make the round robin final, eighth place was Helmut Ulber from Germany with 1149.

After three games of the men’s round-robin final, Lol Ellis had a slight lead over Patrick Rolland. In the next game they played each other, and a win for Rolland put him into the lead.

However, Timo Mäkelä (center) was now scoring strongly, and a 247 scratch average over the last four games gave him a comfortable victory over Patrick Rolland (left) and Ulf Lönngren (right), the first ISBT podium finish for Timo Mäkelä.

In the women’s final, Angie Brown started strongest with a 265 first game, but Liliane Vintens was slowly pegging back the lead, and by the end of the third game they were level.

However, Angie Brown continued to score well and win her matches, and by the start of the last game had a comfortable 65 pin lead over the rest of the field. The last game started well from Angie Brown, but the last five frames were opened through splits or washouts, leaving her with a disappointing 149 game.

Targeting back-to-back titles in the Alsace Senior Open, Brigitte Fievet (left) looked like she might take advantage of this with a 233 game, but in the end, she fell 10 pins short to finish in second place, with Liliane Vintens (right) in third, leaving Angie Brown (center) to collect her record 17th ISBT title.

The fourth stop of the 2018 International Seniors Bowling Tour is the Italian Senior Open, which will be held at Reno Bowling, Bologna, Italy, from June 2-10. Full details are available at the ISBT website.

Story and Results courtesy of Tony Brown.

Results: 7th Track Alsace Senior Open

BowlingDigital.com

Liliane Vintens of Belgium and Serge Frouvelle of France took the women’s and men’s title in the Italy Senior Open, which was held June 2-10 at Reno Bowling in Casalecchio di Reno, Bologna, Italy.The fourth stop on the 2018 International Seniors Bowling Tour for bowlers age 50 and older attracted an entry list of 123 competitors, with the majority coming from Italy. Just 39 participants were from other countries.

The format for the tournament was two six game qualifying blocks, with re-entries allowing the lowest blocks to be replaced. For those not able to qualify through the main leaderboard, there were additional opportunities through Turbo games and Early Bird qualification.

Age bonus started at age 51 (1 pin per game), then increased a pin for every additional year of age with no limit. As with all ISBT events, there was a separate division for ladies.

The pattern selected by the organisers was different from that often seen on the ISBT, almost meeting the requirements for a sport condition with a 3.3 ratio. On paper, it looked like it might prove challenging for the competitors.

Qualifying started a week before finals day, and in total there were 21 qualifying squads.

The first Saturday of the tournament saw good scores from Italian bowlers in both divisions, with Gaziano Pachera leading with 1384, ahead of Erminio Vettoretti. In the ladies’ division, Daniela Buzzelli also started strongly, with blocks of 1276 and 1160, with Maria Grazia Locatelli also having a fine 1207.

On Sunday, Harry Mickelson from the US had a very strong block of 1465, well clear of second place Italian Loris Masetti who had 1261. Locatelli was top lady for the day, with 1132.

There were only two squads on each of the next four days, and Monday again belonged to the Italians, with Aurelio Briganti having a fine 1398, ahead of Luciano Lambertini. Tuesday was led by Dante Didonfrancesco from Italy with 1347, while Angie Brown from England was top lady with 1153.

Wednesday saw another Italian top of the day, with Luciano Marsero shooting 1394, and Beate Albert from Germany being top lady with 1208. Mickelson was again top of the men on Thursday scoring 1354, and Maria Rosaria Matrullo from Italy being top lady with 1173.

By now it was becoming clear that the pattern was proving very challenging to many of the bowlers, made even more difficult by the unusually hot and humid conditions after some unseasonable heavy rain.

There were three more squads on Friday. This proved a difficult day for many of the bowlers, Antonio Maddaloni from Italy was top with 1345, just a pin ahead of Alan Keddie from Scotland. Brown was again top lady and improved her overall total with a 1225 block.

There were four final squads on Saturday, top bowler of the day was Loris Masetti from Italy, who was the architect of the lane pattern that had challenged so many during the tournament. Just behind him was Helmut Ulber from Germany, and bowl owner Gabrielle Benvenuti. Matrullo had 1231 in the ladies’ section, to ensure her qualification place.

After completion of the 21 qualifying blocks, it was Harry Mickelson who took top spot with 2819, ahead of a trio of Italians Luciano Marsero, Luciano Lambertini and Loris Masetti. The cut for the top 24 was Jürgen Preuss of Germany with 2552. These 24 would be joined in the finals by six Early Bird and two Turbo qualifiers.

In the ladies’ section, defending champion Daniella Buzzelli was top qualifier with 2436, ahead of Maria Rosaria Matrullo and Angie Brown. Only the top five would proceed automatically to the finals, fifth place went to Maria Grazia Locatelli with 2339. Two Early Bird and one Turbo qualifier would also make the final round.

The 32 male players (pictured left) from qualifying were then divided into four groups of eight bowlers, each playing a round robin format. The top two from each group progressed to the grand final, which was another 8 game round robin.

In the blue group, Italians took the top places, with Franco Vanzella and Dante Didion going through to the final. In the green group Granziano Pachera from Italy and Georgio Desimio from Belgium were clear qualifiers. The red group saw Ed Roberts from the U.S. take top spot from Italian Aurelio Briganti. The red group was won by Serge Frouvelle from France, ahead of Italian Mirko Nannetti.

In the men’s final, it was close from start to finish, with Frouvelle having a slight lead over Desimio with one game left to play. Another solid game from Serge Frouvelle rewarded him with a very close win by eight pins ahead of Mirko Nannetti, with Ed Roberts just three pins behind in third place after a strong last game.

In the ladies’ final, it was close between Liliane Vintensfrom Belgium and Angie Brown throughout the final. After four games, Brown had a slight lead, but then had a poor game against Vintens in game five to go behind, with Maria Grazia Locatelli taking a slight lead over both of them.

A 231 in game six gave Brown a single pin lead, but Liliane Vintens had a better last game to take the title with Angie Brown in second place and Maria Grazia Locatelli in third place. L-R Brown, Vintens and Locatelli.

The next stop on the 2018 International Seniors Bowling Tour is the Böblingen Senior Open which will run from July 7-15 at Dream Bowl in Böblingen, Germany. Full details are available at the ISBT website.

Story and Results courtesy of Tony Brown.

Angela Laub of Germany and Roger Pieters of Belgium emerged as women’s and men’s champion, respectively, in the Senior Open Dream-Bowl Böblingen last Sunday at Dream-Bowl in Böblingen, Germany.It was the first victory on the International Seniors Bowling Tour for Laub, while Pieters won his third title.

The fifth stop on the 2018 ISBT was the second visit of the year to Germany. The seventh edition of the tournament attracted an entry list of 84 men and 25 women.

The format for the tournament was a single six-game qualifying block, with unlimited re-entries. For those not able to qualify through the main leaderboard, there were additional opportunities through Turbo games, Early Bird qualification, Scratch scores and a Desperado squad.

Age bonus started at age 51 (1 pin per game), then increased a pin for every additional year of age with no limit. As with all ISBT events, there was a separate division for ladies.

Bowling started the weekend before the finals day, with four squads being held. Robert Vallons from Belgium was the only non-German player in the top places, leading in the men’s section with 1437, including bonus, followed by Klaus Lischka with 1412, and Harald Laub with 1398.

In the women’s section, Martina Beckel had an impressive 1333 block, followed by Karin Lischka with distant 1230, both players now guaranteed finals places through the Early Bird qualification, if not through the overall ranking.

The Thursday squads were led by English bowler Steven Jeeves and Austrian Walter Domin, both scoring 1356. Christiane Clerc from France was top lady with 1212, ahead of Marianne Pelz from Germany.

Friday’s squads were led by Roger Pieters, going to the top of the leaderboard with a solid 1526, ahead of Hans-Jürgen Naumann from Germany with 1445. Highest lady was Angie Brown from England with 1200, just a pin ahead of German bowler Gisela Insinger.

There were three squads on Saturday. After the first two, André Geelen from Belgium had scored best with 1509, ahead of Gary Baker from England with 1456. Christiane Clerc improved with 1250, while Lynne Walker from England did enough for a qualification place with 1208.

The final squad of the day saw a number of bowlers trying to make the final cuts. Steve Carnall from England finally found a good block with 1404, ahead of Robert Bruce from Wales with 1381. In the ladies’ section, Angie Brown improved with 1243, no other women scored enough to change the overall leaderboard.

The final qualification standings showed Roger Pieters was top with 1526, ahead of André Geelen(1509) and Gary Baker (1456) The cut for the top 24 who would continue to the finals was Hermann Wimmer from Germany with 1351. To these 24 were added 5 Early Bird qualifiers, 7 scratch qualifiers, and two Turbo qualifiers. This left two places to fill from the Desperado squad.

The top 10 women would automatically progress to the finals, led by Martina Beckel (1333), Christiane Clerc (1250), and Angie Brown (1243). The cut in tenth place was Angela Laub with 1151. Two Early Bird, two Scratch, and one Turbo qualifier would also make the finals, to be joined by a single Desperado qualifier.

Only 11 men and 1 women took part in the Desperado Squad. Paul Lamon from Belgium was top with 221, a single pin ahead of Auke Broekhuisen from the Netherlands. As only 1 women took part, Uschi Diekhoff from Germany automatically qualified.

Overall qualifiers 19 to 24, plus all the other qualifiers from the other sections had an early start on Sunday, bowling a four-game block, with only 10 bowlers progressing to the next round. Valentin Fatu from Romania was the emphatic winner with 1001, well ahead of the rest of the field. 10th place, and last qualifier for the next round was Arthur Dähn from Germany with 838.

In the second final round over six games, the two top players from the qualification round continued to lead the field, André Geelen scoring 1309, ahead of Roger Pieters with 1291. Only 8 of the 28 players would make the next round, last bowler to make the cut was Steven Jeeves with 1373.

In the women’s section, Martina Beckel continued to look unbeatable, her score of 1336 was well ahead of Marianne Pelz in second place. Eighth place went to Kerstin Deterfrom Germany with 1164. Picture shows the top 8 men and women.

After a further three games with pinfall carried forward, just the top four would make the final round. The top three places of André Geelen, Roger Pietersand Manfred Zabel from Germany remained unchanged, but a charge from Steven Jeeves moved him from eighth to fourth place, to squeeze into the final.

In the women’s section, Martin Beckel easily retained first place, ahead of Marianne Pelz and Angela Laub. Almost up to the end, the important fourth place looked like being between Angie Brown and Gisela Insinger, but an amazing last game of 266 from Petra Duplois gave her the last finals place, making an all-German ladies final.

The final rounds were single-game elimination, all the remaining players played one game, and the lowest was eliminated. First to fall in the men’s section was Manfred Zabel, followed by Steven Jeeves in the next round. The final match was a battle between the two leaders since qualification, in the end Roger Pieters managed to outscore André Geelen, 247-215, including age bonus, to take his third ISBT title.

In the first game of the ladies’ section, previous leader Martina Beckel was unable to find a good strike line, and was struggling to keep with the others, eventually failing to progress, finishing in fourth place. Marianne Pelz was eliminated in the next game, leaving Angela Laub and Petra Duplois to contest the title. In a tight match, Angela Laub just took a five pin victory, 195-190, for her first ISBT title.

The next stop for the 2018 International Seniors Bowling Tour will be the Dutch Senior Open August 1-5 at Bowling Nieuwegein in Nieuwegein, Netherlands. Full details are available at the ISBT website.

Story and Results courtesy of Tony Brown.

Results: 7th Senior Open Dream-Bowl Böblingen