Super six 2010: Tomas Leandersson wins second title

The 44-year-old Leandersson used all his experience to defeat 21-year old Mattias Wetterberg, 234-217, in the title match.
“I opened with a six-bagger, a dream for any bowler in a stepladder final. So all the pressure came to Mattias and I could stay relaxed throughout the match,” said Tomas Leandersson after walking away with the 40 000 Swedish Kronor top prize (approx. USD 6 000).

Tomas Leandersson with the trophy Photo: Hans Karlsson

The other matches in the stepladder were a bit tighter. Tomas first defeated his Team Pergamon teammate Robert Andersson by 212-179. It was a close game for the first five frames, but Tomas then threw three strikes in a row to take control and secure the victory.
In the next match it was Leandersson against former Norwegian national team member Glenn Morten Pedersen. After six frames Pedersen had a narrow lead by three pins, but a double strike from Tomas in frames 7 and 8 and a split by Glenn Morten in the eigth frame turned it around. Tomas then closed out the match with strikes in frame 9 and 10, winning it by 238-218.

Much earlier in the day, Leandersson had a lot of time to think about an early exit. In the first step of the finals, things were not working out at all and after six (out of eight) games he was in 27^th place and needed a strong finish to stay alive. The top 16 after eight games continued on to the quarterfinals.
“I made a ball change and suddenly I couldn´t stop striking”, said Tomas.
He closed out the morning session with games of 279 and 268 to finish in eighth place.

During the first three games of the quarterfinals, Tomas kept his striking touch alive and with games of 255, 259 and 279 he ran to the top of the leaderboard. At that point his last five games totaled 1339, an average of 267.8.
“I can´t remember such a high score over five games ever in my career,” said Tomas.
He finished the block with a modest game of 189 and had to settle for third place after 12 games.

Step finalists in Malmö: from left Mattias Wetterberg, Tomas Leandersson, Glenn Morten Pedersen and Robert Andersson.

Leandersson had several reasons to celebrate. As the coach of the Swedish men´s national team he was happy to see strong performances by Team Sweden players. Runner-up Mattias Wetterberg and 19-year-old Johan Helldén (5th place) are new to the team while former World Double Champions Robert Andersson (4th) and Martin Larsen (6th) bring much needed experience.

In connection with AIK Tournament, the first stop of the Super Six Tour 2011, the finals of the 2010 tour will be played. The Super Star final will be a shootout with the top six players in the rankings, namely Tomas Leandersson, Martin Larsen, Tobias Karlsson, Mikael Roos, Mattias Wetterberg and Martin Paulsson.
The VBS Ladies Tour final will also be a shootout with six players, namely Helén Johnsson, Rebecka Larsen Jr, Veronica Lantto, Nina Flack, Malin Glendert and Isabelle Hultin.

Results, Kulldal Super Six at Baltiska Bowlinghallen, Malmö:

Step ladder:
Leandersson-Andersson  212-179
Leandersson-Pedersen    238-218
Leandersson-Wetterberg   234-217

All results are available at  http://supersix2010.kulladalsbs.se/dynamic/start.asp