TOURNAMENT NEWS & VIEWS:

ON THE LEVEL
Kegel's lane maintenance and conditioning expert Gus Falgein is on hand at the 2nd Istanbul Open to make sure that the playing conditions are superb, that reflected in the fine scores so far posted on the results board.
The stocky American takes readings of the pattern of conditioner on the lanes before and after play, running a special adhesive tape across the lanes which picks up the ultra-violet additive (pictured). This is put through a unique reader which will shows the levels of the conditioner in varying parts of the lane.
That conditioner is applied with an extremely complicated lane machine which completely cleans off the used pattern and then applies the new, all in one pass which takes around 90 seconds per lane (pictured, lower left).
Here Gus is seen with the Time Out center's lane technician Murat Cetiner, running the well-known Kegel Kustodian machine.
"They take very good care of their equipment here and the Kustodian machine, which I installed last year at the first Istanbul Open, is in excellent condition, much better than I normally see on my travels," commented Gus. "The pattern is holding up very well and I'm expecting to see the scores improve even further when the top players arrive over the next couple of days. The Turkish players have improved considerably since I was here last year."
Gus, 34, covers North American sales for Kegel but gets the occasional trip to Europe, having been to Turkey, Belgium, France, Netherlands and Spain so far. "I find it much more difficult to travel overseas than around the States," added Gus, "but I love meeting all the different people and try to get at least a couple of trips each year."

LEADING A GREAT CREW
There are certainly no complaints about the organization or anything else concerned with the running of the 2nd Istanbul Open and almost all of the participants from some 19 nations will have bookmarked this event on next year's calendar.
Thanks to the expertise of Tournament Coordinators Onder and Duygu Gurkan from Ankara (pictured), along with Gediz Ege, this is as smooth a running event as could be wished for, even running well on time, that is maybe until the really s-l-o-w players appear of the scene.
Many of the players will remember this great trio from last year's European Cup Individual, which was voted the most efficient tournament ever by many of the participants, and this efficiency has been carried forward to the Istanbul Open.
Onder and Duygu are supported by a well-experienced and friendly Time Out Bowling staff and that makes the event a pleasure for all.
"This is a dream come true for all of us," remarked Onder. "It is wonderful to have many of Europe's top bowlers here in Turkey and a great privilege to be able to showcase top competition bowling to our people."
Onder, Duygu and Gediz are also a team with a web design business in Ankara and are responsible for the great logos being used for the European Bowling tour and the Brunswick Aalborg International. Onder will be a board member in the upcoming formation of the Turkish Bocce, Bowling and Darts Federation, where tenpin will be the major player.
Married some ten years but friends from the way back in high school days, Onder and Duygu are a wonderful asset to the promotion of European bowling and we all look forward to more participation from them on the international scene.

MEET THE BOSSES
Serdar Erdis and Ahmet Koman (pictured left to right) fell in love with tenpin bowling when the game arrived in Turkey way back in 1989. "We became really addicted to bowling and spent so much money playing, we decided that it would be cheaper to open our own center," joked Koman.
The dream became a reality with the acquisition of the 20-lane, AMF equipped Time Out center alongside the prestigious Profilo Shopping Mall in Mecidiyekoy, a suburb of the city, some six years ago.
"We didn't like the way many of the existing centers were being run. There wasn't very much in the way of sport bowling, so we decided that we could do a lot better," added Koman.
The partnership of Erdis, an economist, and architect Koman worked well. The half of the building containing the entry and lanes was an old factory that produced refrigerator doors and that with offices and pool tables is newly built. "Unfortunately we couldn't do anything about the low ceilings and pillars, but we do feel that we have created an intimate atmosphere," said Koman.
Despite high running costs and an 18 per cent sales tax, the center has flourished, although only a small percentage of the business is sport bowling. "We'd like to have more competitive bowling but sadly lack coaching," Erdis explained. "What we really need is a coach to teach coaches to take our keen players up to the 180-200 average. We also need to encourage more junior players to build for the future"
There is a light at the end of the tunnel in that respect as a new federation is currently being born, the Bocce, Bowling & Darts Federation, and once a financial base has been established it is hoped that some international coaching staff can be brought in to raise the standards.
Currently, the top price for a game runs around US$6.00, including shoe hire, but the pair are trying to get that down to $4.00. "Running  a center in Turkey, so far from the major suppliers, makes life a little difficult as it can take up to seven days to get spare parts and the like," said Erdis.
After attending several international tournaments like the Malta Open, 1999 World Championships, and the AMF Bowling World Cup in Thailand, Erdis and Koman made that big decision to promote the 1st Istanbul Open in 2004. That was an instant success, run with two divisions, male and female, and led to the second edition being switched to re-entry in just one division this year.
"We plan to update our format for the third Open next year and we also hope to get the sponsorship support to upgrade to an EBT major event, which we hope will bring in a lot more of the top players," said Koman. "We think that we are very warm and friendly people here in Turkey and we would like to demonstrate that to the bowlers and also show our people that bowling is a wonderful sport."
In addition, their tenpin empire will increase with the addition of a 16-lane center in Antalya, a popular seaside resort around 700 kilometers south of Istanbul. Maybe there could be an Antalya Open, too?

THE VETERAN SHOWS THE WAY
It is not unusual for a local bowler to top the leader board for the first couple of days of competition in the ETBF ranking tournaments around Europe, but it is quite unique when that leader holds pole position after the onslaught of the continent's top bowlers in the later qualifying rounds.
Here, in Istanbul, that prestigious slot was filled by Ayhan Bilge (pictured), 50, a local businessman who owns a company manufacturing bakelite parts. He hit the top spot early in the week and at the close of play on Friday night was still leading the pack.
"I am surprised that my score has stood at the top of the leader board for so long," remarked Bilge. "Of course, it is very important to be in the top 40, that's a very nice feeling, but the scores go back to zero in the next round. It will also be nice if my name stays at the top at the end of qualifying, but there are still a lot of good players to bowl."
Bilge was first introduced to bowling some 36 years ago. His father worked on the NATO base in Mons, Belgium, where there was a very popular tenpin center. He played there for two years but that was followed by a long bowling drought when he returned to his native Turkey. Then a center opened in Istanbul and Bilge was able to return to his favorite sport.
He has been active at home and internationally for twelve years and his best showing was as the Turkish representative in the AMF Bowling World Cup in Las Vegas, USA in 1999.
"I bowl in every Turkish tournament and also try to participate in a few of the European ranking events. I love bowling so much," he added.
Bilge is hoping that he is selected to be in the Turkish squad for the WTBA Men's World Championships in Moscow next year.
"I'd like to see a lot more professional coaching here in Turkey," Bilge said. "We really need to build for the future by teaching a lot of younger players."
Despite being self taught, Bilge has an easy style. "I think it is very important to really concentrate on your game, to be 100 per cent focused all the time. I don't let my game get too complicated and I think I bowl like pro bowler Walter Ray Williams, although I can't reach his scoring level, yet.
"Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next round on Sunday and I'm hoping for a lot of good luck."

A TWINKLING RUSSIAN STAR
Bowling in the Istanbul Open for the first time, 28-year-old Moscow housewife Elena Blagova is highly impressed with both the Time Out bowling center and the staff and organization of the tournament. Blagova is quite pleased with her performance as well, eventually finishing 24th in a strong and competitive field with an average of 206, and just two pins behind European star Martina Beckel of Germany in 23rd place.
Blagova has quite an impressive bowling pedigree despite only seven years experience. "I first started playing when I visited a newly opened center in Moscow," she said. "I averaged around 140 when I started with a house ball and I was told that I should take the sport seriously. I now can hold a 200-plus average and have had two perfect games. Sami Luoto from Finland and American Bill Hall have both helped my game tremendously and the best tournament average I have held so far is 212. I played on the Russian national team six times, but unfortunately am not on the team for the WTBA Women's World Championships in Denmark in August."
Women's bowling in Russia is not growing as fast as that enjoyed by the men, but a good base on the distaff side has many women competing in international events. Bowling is, like in so many countries nowadays, more of a recreation than a sport. "We do not have a tremendous amount of media interest but there is one TV sports' channel hat gives tenpin good coverage of domestic and international events," Blagova added.
Make a note of the name, you'll be seeing it a lot on major event leader boards in the future.
 

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For further information, contact Keith Hale: keithhale@btconnect.com