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STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 16, SATURDAY 13:00
Now for the most unique piece of news of the San Marino Open, 2007.
Mark Buffa, 25, from Montreal, Canada came to the fore in Squad 16 by rolling the highest squad score of 1,450. But the surprising fact was that he did it with an ancient Columbia Yellow Dot ball, serial 8L.
"I found a bowling center in Montreal that still had a stock of really old balls, so I bought six. Other than Yellow Dots there were some Vector 1 and Vector IIs," Mark explained. "I wasn't bowling as well as I should be here in San Marino, so I tried the Yellow Dot this afternoon and it worked a treat."
Mark is the son of Frank Buffa, currently the coach to the Qatar Federation, so is pleased to see his father here in San Marino with his team. Frank is Italian born and there are quite a lot of family members over here. "I used to speak a lot of Italian but I haven't used it for many years, so I'm struggling a little here," Mark added.
"I am really liking bowling on the European Tour, I'm finding the people so much friendlier than anywhere else. I have also enjoyed bowling alongside Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong. I think he's the best player on short oil I have ever seen."

FOR CURRENT STANDINGS: www.sanmarinoopen.com

STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 17, SATURDAY 17:00
 The pinspotters take a rest after the penultimate squad and all that is left to claim fame and fortune for those still by the wayside is the 'last chance saloon', the final squad starting at 21:00 (yes, the squads all start on time) and that nasty Desperado squad after midnight.
The level of the cut seems to be an all-time record, but we'll have to wait for EBT director Kim Thorsgaard Jensen to come in tomorrow morning to verify that as, after all, his head is usually full of all the facts and figures.
One interesting fact is that all 13 players from Malaysia look like making the finals and Hong Kong's Wu Siu Hong and Vanessa Fung could be there, too (Sadly, Vanessa needed to strike in the tenth frame, and didn't). It will be interesting to see how many of the 29 nations have representatives.
It was Malaysia back in the frame at the conclusion of this squad with Zulmazran Zulkifli (pictured, no relation to Shalin) topping the scores with 1,453. The 22-year-old from Kuala Lumpur has been a national team player for seven years and he reckons that the high point of his career was winning his first ABF tour in the Philippines. That happened just after his father passed away, so he dedicated his win in his memory. The title match of this event could eclipse that.
"I had heard that the European Tour was good but I never realized just how high the standard of the events is," he Zulmazran remarked. "All the competitors seem to be very good bowlers. I predicted that the scoring was going to be high and I'm pleased that I was correct. I am very happy to have made the finals and now I hope I can win.
"I also very much enjoyed playing in the Czech Republic last week and I hope that we all demonstrated the standard they need to achieve to compete throughout Europe and the rest of the world. I'm sure many will work towards that."
There are places for 36 in the final squad and about 50 on the waiting list, so there will be some desperate characters fighting it out over the last six games.

FOR CURRENT STANDINGS: www.sanmarinoopen.com
FINAL QUALIFIERS:
 Shalin Zulkifli (pictured) was the sole qualifier from the final squad on Saturday night. The Malaysian sports physchologist and long-time national team member squeezed into the final 48 with 1,384, twelve pins over the cut at 1,372. None of the other 35 players on the squad managed to cross the line.
 The well supported Desperado squad, held in the wee small hours, saw Marco de Angelis of Italy head the standings with 278; Tim Mack of the United States in second with 270; and the final open spot to Denmark's Jesper Agerbo with 258.
 Focus now switches to the 48 qualifiers and competition opens with positions 13-48 playing four games, starting from scratch. The top 18 will be joined by positions 7-12 for a further four games, then the format will switch to head-to-head matches of two games, total pinfall, for the top 16. Finals conclude when the matches are down to the final pair.
P PLAYER NAT HND TOT AVR 1st CUT
     
1 Osku Palermaa M FIN 257 245 259 244 256 265 0 1,526 254.33 0 -154
2 Sharon Koh F MAS 205 215 259 259 246 266 48 1,498 249.67 -28 -126
3 Paul Moor M ENG 226 237 265 279 289 188 0 1,484 247.33 -42 -112
4 Siti Safiyah Amirah   F MAS 226 207 279 299 202 213 48 1,474 245.67 -52 -102
5 Serge Frouvelle M FRA 237 209 278 258 233 258 0 1,473 245.50 -53 -101
6 Alex Liew M MAS 258 289 196 247 235 248 0 1,473 245.50 -53 -101
7 Zulmazran Zulkifli M MAS 241 258 231 263 180 280 0 1,453 242.17 -73 -81
8 Mark Buffa M CAN 209 236 267 289 205 244 0 1,450 241.67 -76 -78
9 Adrian Ang M MAS 222 235 223 269 234 247 0 1,430 238.33 -96 -58
10 Ghislaine van der Tol F NED 277 217 216 216 246 207 48 1,427 237.83 -99 -55
11 Daniel Lim M MAS 257 191 258 248 243 226 0 1,423 237.17 -103 -51
12 Martin Larsen M SWE 233 202 257 299 191 240 0 1,422 237.00 -104 -50
13 Nunzio Romano M ITA 245 238 213 288 225 212 0 1,421 236.83 -105 -49
14 Abdulla Harroon M QAT 226 184 194 259 279 276 0 1,418 236.33 -108 -46
15 Ahmed Mohannadi M QAT 256 181 289 257 225 210 0 1,418 236.33 -108 -46
16 Zandra Aziela F MAS 247 257 210 197 269 189 48 1,417 236.17 -109 -45
17 James Gruffman M SWE 225 235 234 235 241 245 0 1,415 235.83 -111 -43
18 George Lambert M CAN 208 256 223 266 225 237 0 1,415 235.83 -111 -43
19 Mika Oksanen M FIN 207 247 226 268 266 201 0 1,415 235.83 -111 -43
20 Peter Ljung M SWE 210 237 223 238 268 236 0 1,412 235.33 -114 -40
21 Stuart Williams M ENG 235 224 192 258 255 246 0 1,410 235.00 -116 -38
22 Jean Marc Lebon M BEL 228 230 237 268 227 220 0 1,410 235.00 -116 -38
23 Xavier Lotthe M FRA 220 278 221 190 258 239 0 1,406 234.33 -120 -34
24 Choy Poh Lai F MAS 199 267 248 217 227 200 48 1,406 234.33 -120 -34
25 Veronica Lantto F SWE 246 201 205 201 236 268 48 1,405 234.17 -121 -33
26 Enrico Maddaloni M ITA 223 218 278 210 226 247 0 1,402 233.67 -124 -30
27 Christian Karlsson M SWE 198 207 197 289 227 278 0 1,396 232.67 -130 -24
28 Wu Siu Hong M HKG 288 249 236 237 180 201 0 1,391 231.83 -135 -19
29 Esther Cheah F MAS 241 195 225 247 187 247 48 1,390 231.67 -136 -18
30 Aaron Kong M MAS 237 256 214 207 246 230 0 1,390 231.67 -136 -18
31 Frode Aaneby M NOR 214 246 212 221 268 227 0 1,388 231.33 -138 -16
32 Shalin Zulkifli F MAS 168 256 197 249 221 246 48 1,385 230.83 -141 -13
33 Maurizio Celli M ITA 206 279 238 258 186 217 0 1,384 230.67 -142 -12
34 Ronald Dol M NED 218 211 258 235 239 221 0 1,382 230.33 -144 -10
35 Ebru Özoğluuntur F TUR 252 256 204 206 188 226 48 1,380 230.00 -146 -8
36 Melisa Belinder F USA 235 214 192 289 194 204 48 1,376 229.33 -150 -4
37 Jouni Helminen M FIN 189 220 248 243 237 238 0 1,375 229.17 -151 -3
38 Robert Andersson M SWE 199 214 188 268 245 258 0 1,372 228.67 -154 0
LAST 3 PLAYERS FROM DESPERADO SQUAD
39 Marco de Angelis M ITA 278                  
40 Tim Mack M USA 270                  
41 Jesper Agerbo M DEN 258                  
3 PLAYERS FROM A SEPARATE STANDING IN SQUAD 5 - 7
42 Dante Didon Francesco M ITA 269 216 234 218 245 183 0 1,365 227.50    
43 Glenn Morten Pedersen M NOR 222 237 174 192 297 238 0 1,360 226.67    
44 Wendy Chai F MAS 187 181 224 199 246 266 48 1,351 225.17    
4 PLAYERS FROM A SEPARATE STANDING IN SQUAD 1 - 4
45 Pier Fanizza M ITA 226 248 235 256 236 171 0 1,372 228.67    
46 Marco Zordan M ITA 190 192 217 269 230 255 0 1,353 225.50    
47 Marco Padovani M ITA 223 205 204 247 252 221 0 1,352 225.33    
48 Marco Reviglio M ITA 212 247 213 229 213 232 0 1,346 224.33    


For further information, contact Keith Hale: keithhale679@aol.com