19 Aug 2009 at 20:16 | Published by: JJM | Views: 10253 | News search

Marcus Larsson, Sweden.  (Photo by Erik Tiekstra 2009)

Sweden is expected to win men’s team competition by more than 100 points, but the fight for silver can become very interesting between Austria, Germany, and possibly also Switzerland. A revanche from Vaasa 2001, with many of the same players in Austrian and German teams as were present in the 2001 tournament, where Austria took silver and left Germany on bronze.

Italy and Finland are within attacking distance from a highly respected 4th place, but chances for medals are probably gone. Behind Finland comes a big gap of more than 50 points, between countries who master the felt game and those who don’t master it.

MEN’S TEAMS after round 3, of total 8 rounds:

  1.   191   129   184   =   504   Sweden
  2:   208   144   207   =   559   Austria
  2:   214   139   206   =   559   Germany
  4.   225   147   199   =   571   Switzerland
  5.   222   146   219   =   587   Italy
  6.   230   150   212   =   592   Finland
  7.   245   164   241   =   650   Netherlands
  8.   253   160   251   =   664   Denmark
  9.   262   169   265   =   696   Slovakia
10.   283   199   286   =   768   Russia
11.   401   310   436   =   1147 China

Team Sweden has missed only 180 shots in the tournament so far, after 3 team rounds (324 lanes). The second best teams Austria and Germany have made 31% more mistakes in the competition than Sweden. China has used twice more total points than Sweden. Sweden is excellent on felt, but also on eternite clearly the best, without any contest so far. Germany and Austria may have chosen some players who are good on felt, but not the best possible on eternite.

TOP 5 IN MEN:

  1:   30   20   29   =   79   RYNER Carl-Johan (Sweden)
  1:   31   21   27   =   79   SVENSSON Filiph (Sweden)
  3.   29   22   31   =   82   OLSSON Anders (Sweden)
  4:   31   25   29   =   85   SPREIER Sascha (Germany)
  4:   32   23   30   =   85   PERSSON Fredrik (Sweden)
full scores of all players

Carl-Johan Ryner has found his own favourite colour, as usual in felt competitions. Filiph Svensson was voted as the most potential breakthrough maker of the year in our poll, and not without a reason. With four Swedish players in top 5 at this moment, and Jonas Gustafsson waiting 2 points behind the top five, we can only guess how many Swedish players will be on top of the leaderboard after 8 rounds.

Best player from outside of Europe:
56.   29   41   27   =   97   WEAVER Jason (Canada)

WOMEN’S TEAMS after round 3, of total 8 rounds:

  1.     71   106     68   =   245   Sweden
  2.     76   115     69   =   260   Germany
  3.     77   125     68   =   270   Austria
  4.     87   120     78   =   285   Switzerland
  5.     78   127     83   =   288   Italy
  6.     78   137     77   =   292   Netherlands
  7.     87   144     88   =   319   Denmark
  8.   104   162     95   =   361   Japan

Yet three more felt rounds are coming up, so it would be surprising to see Germany rising to a serious fight for the gold. Germany and Austria will probably decide the silver and bronze medals between themselves, unless Switzerland, Italy or Netherlands can dramatically improve their game on the felt course. Not a totally impossible scenario, so we will wait and see what happens.

TOP 5 IN WOMEN:

  1:   24   32   24   =   80   RENGBRANDT Jessica (Sweden)
  1:   22   37   21   =   80   WIKLUND Karin (Sweden)
  3.   23   34   25   =   82   KOBISCH Alice (Germany)
  4:   24   39   21   =   84   BERGER-RELLA Elisabeth (Austria)
  4:   23   31   30   =   84   van der LAAN Ingrid (Netherlands)
full scores of all players

Jessica Rengbrandt made her sensational breakthrough at European Cup 2007, where her blue total score on felt was the third best of all players, only behind Carl-Johan Ryner and Anders Olsson. She has played in Swedish national team three times before (2004–2006), with not very satisfying ranks 13th, 16th and 21st in women’s competition. 2009 seems to become her great breakthrough year in individual major tournaments.

Best female player from outside of Europe:
28:   31   47   31   =   109   MOTEGI Akiko (Japan)

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