MEN'S QUALIFYING, THIRD 6 OF 24 GAMES, SHORT OIL:
Thursday, Sept. 2 - 17:00

OLLI THE FLYING FINN

The second day of competition in the 27th European Cup Individual at the Rollhouse Bowling Center in Ankara, Turkey, concluded with the men's third set of six games bowled once again on the short oil condition.
Dimitrios Karetsos of Greece led the field after twelve games but faded to fourth position after tonight's squad, pole position being taken over by Olli Tainen of Finland (pictured), who played nip-and-tuck with Belgium's Ives van Eyken but forged ahead with a final three games of 236, 222 and 211.
"I like both the long and short oil conditions," said the 47-year-old right-handed bowling center proprietor from Riihimaki. "I don't normally play on the short pattern but I do practice it a lot in my center. I played the lanes from the outside, sometimes well outside the first arrow, which caused me to roll a gutter ball with my first shot of the last game."
Tiainen may be better known to some as the national Finnish team coach, but comes to Turkey in his own right as Finnish national champion. "After 30 years of practice, I finally made it to the top," he joked.
Turkey's Habib Dogan is now something of a national hero, consolidating his third position despite the more difficult lane condition with very consistent scoring.
Yesterday's early squad leader, Kenneth Arpa of Malta, seems to have lost his form and has now dropped down to 13th place and will have to fight hard to get back into the top eight who, after tomorrow's final squad, will qualify for the best-of-three game final on Saturday.
All competitors, without exception, are very impressed with the bowling center and Ankara. "The people are so kind here and we are all amazed at the wonderful Rollhouse center and impressed by the outstanding organization of the tournament," added Tianen.
The best six-game squad score tonight came from Israel's Moshe Sheinman who hit 1,318 over his six games with a high game of 257.
Competition continues Friday with the final six game squads for both the men and the ladies, then the cut for the top eight in each division will be made.