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Bowling News USA - July 13, 2010 Loschetter Downs Osku at 6th Annual Storm San Marino Open...

PBA exempt player Chris Loschetter, United States, had three top 10 finishes in the 2009-10 PBA Tour season but is still looking for his first PBA Tour title.

On Sunday, July 11th, Loschetter won his first title on the European Bowling Tour when he defeated 3-time defending EBT ranking champion and Storm staffer Osku Palermaa Finland, 412-358, to win the 6th Storm San Marino Open at Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle, San Marino.

The 30-year-old right-hander finished qualifying in 18th place averaging 220 over six games and had to survive two cuts to advance to the single-elimination final Round of 16. Loschetter led both rounds with 951 (237.75 avg.) and 920 (230.00) 4-game series to earn the No. 7 seed for the finals.

No. 1 thru 6 seeds were reserved for the top six qualifiers, Gery Verbruggen (Belgium), Dennis Eklund (Sweden), Palermaa, PBA and USBC Hall of Famer Pete Weber (USA), defending San Marino Open champion Paul Moor, England and PBA Player of the Year 2003-04 Mika Koivuniemi, Finland.

In all matches consisting of two games with total pins determining the winners, the highest seeded player bowled the lowest seeded player, the second-highest took on the second-lowest and so on.

Loschetter won his Round of 16 match against No. 10 Jimmy Mortensen, Denmark, by a whisker, 432-431 after being down by 15 pins after the first game. He then eliminated No. 9 Johan Helldén, Sweden, 440-381, to set up a semifinal match against top seeded Verbruggen.

Trailing the Belgian lefty, a 4-time European Bowling Tour ranking champion (2000-'03), by 5 pins after the first game (218-223), Loschetter rebounded with a comfortable 236-191 win to advance to the title match, 454-414.

In the other semifinal, No. 3 Palermaa defeated No. 6 Koivuniemi in an all-Finnish affair, 437-416.

Loschetter took a 38-pin lead after the first game (226-188) and cruised to the title with a 186-170 win in game #2, 412-358. He pocketed 10.000 Euro for the victory. Palermaa received 6.000 while Verbruggen and Koivuniemi each received 3.400 Euro for third and fourth place, respectively.

Two women reached the Round of 8, No. 12 Nicole Sanders and No. 15 Priscilla Maaswinkel both Netherlands. Sanders fell to Koivuniemi, 487-392, and Maaswinkel lost to Verbruggen, 448-391. As both were eliminated in the same round, Sanders earned the women's ranking title as she was the higher seeded player.

The 6th Storm San Marino Open was held from July 3-11, 2010 at Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle, San Marino and offered total prize fund of 60.000 Euro with 10.000 Euro going to the winner. Women received 8 pins handicap each game. a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour

The tournament was the 11th stop of the 2010 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Gold" tournaments. Since the Ankara Open and the Austria Challenge have been cancelled, the 2010 EBT Tour consists of 19 events - 2 EBT Platinum tournament (formerly Premier), 6 EBT Gold tournaments (formerly Major), 7 EBT Silver tournaments (formerly Challenger) and 4 EBT Satellite tournaments (new category).

A total of 48 players advanced to the finals on Sunday - the top 38 players from the overall qualifying standings plus the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 3-4, the top 4 from the squads conducted on July 5-7 and the top 3 from the Desperado Squad. The top 6 qualifiers earned two byes, while qualifiers 7-12 got one.

The other 36 players bowled four games from scratch to cut to the top 18, who met qualifiers 7-12 in round two. Those 24 bowled another 4 games from scratch to cut to the top 10, who joined the top six qualifiers in single-elimination match play with the two game total pinfall determining the winner.

The highest seeded player bowled the lowest seeded, the second-highest seeded players bowled the second-lowest and so on. The field was cut to 8, 4 then 2, who bowled for the title and the 10.000 Euro top prize.

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