The 8th International Open “City of Torrevieja” culminated in Ozone Bowling on Sunday in a round-robin final between the eight best players of the tournament. At the end of the clashes, the leaderboard was topped by Ildemaro Ruiz, a professional player of the American PBA Tour.
Lorenzo Quereda of Club Eurobowling Torrevieja and director of Ozone Bowling was proclaimed runner-up. The Finn Sami Konsteri, champion of the tournament in 2016, clawed up to conquer third place.
The level of the tournament was very high. After the qualifying phase, during which six-game series were played, the cut to the finals rose to 1293 pins, an average of 215.50 per game. The first final step, with 32 players on the lanes, began Sunday at 08.30. After the initial four games, the top-16 bowled another four games, building on the previous score, to decide the final group of eight “survivors”.
They were Sami Konsteri, FIN, with an average of 224.54; Ildemaro Ruiz, VEN (223.91); Lorenzo Quereda, ESP (222.36); Otso Kahila, FIN (218.09); Mats Maggi, BEL (218.00); Kaaron Salomaa, FIN (217.45); Tero Virtanen, FIN (216,18) and Petri Keituri, FIN. (215.91).
In the round-robin matches, each victory gave 30 bonus points. The strength of Ildemaro Ruiz was his consistency. Although losing three of his seven matches, he continued throwing lots of strikes, his low game being a very acceptable 215 and his high game an excellent 259.
The bowler who won the most matches was Lorenzo Quereda, six of seven. In the last game, a thrilling fight for third place was seen between the Finns Petri Keituri and Sami Konsteri, the latter being the luckiest in the very last frame.
In the “amateur” categories B and C, awards were given directly without a final. Teresa Barriopedro of Madrid´s Capital Bowling won Category B with an average of 201.83 and Seppo Tuominen of Club Eurobowling Torrevieja won Category C with 196.33.
In comparison with 2018, the number of participants showed a growth of 25%, with more than 50% of the entries coming from other countries. This fact was carefully noted by the Town Hall, represented at the awards ceremony by the Councilor of Foreign Residents, Gitte Lund.
