| The XXIV Individual European Bowling Cup, in which the best bowling bowlers from the Old World participated, ended in Moscow. Only one participant in the tournament, German Michaela Gebel, managed to set an absolute record. She scored 300 points, but even this was not enough to win the title of champion - after all, the tournament lasted for five days. Three athletes reached the finals. In addition to Gebel, they were the Danish Bettina Lund and the winner of the World Youth Games, which took place in 1998 in Moscow, Lisa John from England. The latter won gold in a bitter struggle. Lund was second, and the German only third. Last year's European Cup winner Isabelle Salzhan took fifth place, and Russian Zhanna Kuzmina from Vladivostok showed 19th result.
“I’m dissatisfied with my performance,” the athlete told a Vremya Novostei newspaper correspondent. — I achieved better results at internal competitions. Two things may have influenced my results. Firstly, this is my first time participating in competitions of this level, and secondly, unlike other masters, I am not professionally involved in this sport. I don’t get paid for it and I can only train in my free time, which naturally takes its toll.”
Also reaching the final of the men's part of the tournament were: Englishman Nick Froggatt from England, Kim Hagen from Norway and Dane Lars Euger. Froggatt won, and his main rival in the semifinals, Hagen, was forced to accept second place. Russian Alexander Silnichenko rounded out the top twenty. By and large, his current performance is his debut at such a high level. The fact is that the Muscovite is only 16 years old. “We hope that Sasha still has everything ahead,” said Sergei Lisitsyn, vice-president of the Russian Sports Bowling Federation. -- We rate the performance of Russian athletes at the Cup as four points. The fact is that this sport is relatively young in our country.”
After the completion of the competition, the President of the European Bowling Federation, Eddie Ophelders, did not hide his satisfaction at the end of the tournament, which, according to him, was organized at a high level. Ophelders promised to make every effort to ensure that in 2008 Moscow became the host of the World Bowling Championship. Olga ERMOLINA
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