TOP SEED TOPPLED
One of the biggest shocks of this fascinating ECI Championships came with the defeat of top seed Olli Tiainen of Finland, 2 - 1, by Righi Domenico of the tiny Republic of San Marino. Tiainen won the first game, 212-194, but opened the door for Domenico to come back, 185-161, in the second game and then hit 257 - 207 to clinch the match.
Turkey's Habib Dogan is still on a roll, pleasing a packed concourse by wiping out Moshe Sheinman of Israel  over two games, 209 - 159 and 207 - 181.
Greek heavyweight Dimitrios Karetsos had a two-game victory over Remco Verboon of the Netherlands, 204 - 198 and 253 - 213, and will meet Domenico in the semifinals.
Last match to finish was Belgium versus Sweden and the three-gamer went to Belgium, 2 - 1, as Ives van Eyken took the last two games after a poor opener. Ahlberg took the first, 202-187, but then faltered at the next two hurdles, 195 - 243 and 180 - 196. Van Eyken meets the valiant Turk in the semifinals.

MEN'S TOP EIGHT:
The highest seed has the choice on lane condition for the first game:

Match 1 (Long - short oil):

Match 2 (Short - long oil):

Match 3 (Long - short oil):

Match 4 (Long - short oil):

SEMIFINALS:

PETTY IS STILL NUMBER ONE
Tanya Petty of Germany coasted through to the final, winning the quarter and semifinals in just two games each, coolly and calmly taking out Christina Fotinia of Greece first and then destroying Norwegian's hope Ingunn Oien in the semi's.
Petty will face Italian Roberta Ferina, who took three games to defeat Bigi Manico of Switzerland in the first match and went the full distance again against Krista Pollanen of Finland to book a place in the final.
The onward march of Righi Domenico of San Marino continues as he surprisingly had an easy victory over the burly Dimitrios Karetsos of Greece in the semifinals after destroying top seed Olli Tiainen's hopes in the first match.
The Ives van Eyken of Belgium versus home favorite Habib Dogan was a roller-coaster ride of peaks and valleys as the Belgian took the first game by 61 pins, but the gritty Turk came back to level the match with a 67 pin second game margin. The huge crowd of home supporters willed Dogan to victory and a place in the final but the Belgian had other ideas about that and came out the victor.

Sd	Name	1	2	3	Won	vs	Sd	Name	1	2	3	Won
8	Righi Domenico San Marino	193	211		2		6	Dimitrios Karetsos Greece	158	200		0

FINAL:

SAN MARINO REIGNS
One of Europe's smallest Republics can celebrate well into the night with the amazing victory of San Marino's Righi Domenico. The 53-year-old right-hander defeated one of the tournament favorites, Ives van Eyken from Belgium, 202 - 182 in the first game of the final and clinched the best-of-three game match with a 187 - 157 in the second.
"A victory is always a very pleasant surprise," commented Domenico after the final duel. "I always seem to bowl well in tournaments and I was very pleased with the way things went today. I changed balls for the three matches today as I have not been bowling so well on the short oil condition, so that was much to my advantage. That helped me topple Olli Tiainen in the first match. It is always tough to take out the top seed. Now I can have a couple of beers and phone home to my family."
 

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