Finnish Winter League started with a tremendous excitement!
28 Nov 2016 at 12:17 | Published by: Ida | Views: 13810 | News search
Miko Tuominen at the new window lane (Photo by Ida Hiltunen)
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The first meeting of Winter League started as usual with the top 2 of last year's competition starting strong. Right from the start those two separated themselves from the others. Before the final round Manse 1 led SMGK by only 2 points. Battle for the lead was fierce but in the end, it was Manse that managed to get full points with a margin of 6 shots. Pori's MG-Aces tried to battle with the top 2 but since the team were missing some key players they found themselves in a strong 3rd place. Manse 2 was 4th and TaRGS was 5th.
There was a total of 26 players in this second competition held in Rahola on Saturday the 19th of November. From start to finish there was a very familiar face in the lead, named Kosti Salonen, Tantogårdens BGK. Salonen's total number of shots, 106, was enough for the win when the nearest competitions Aki and Markku Sillman managed to hit 109. In the final round Aki managed to get within a one point from Salonen who was able to hold the lead and even extend it in the end. Father and son needed to continue to play the sudden death for the second place. The replay ended rather quickly when Markku missed the first lane and Aki aced it. Juuso Tasku and Miko Tuominen completed the top 5. This was also E1's (Class 1's) top 5.
In E2 battle for the win was similar to E1. Tero Vaahtio from MG-Aces entered the final round with 2 points lead against Ida Hiltunen and 3 points against fellow teammate Juha Lehto. Tero managed to score 23 which was enough to get the victory. Lehto awarded with the second place for his steady game whereas 3rd place went also to a MG-Aces player, Jouni Pihlasalo. So, Ida was finally 4th after MG-Aces' domination in this class.
In E3 MGs couple Kenth and Carina Smeds changed the lead multiple times during the competition ending with Kenth on top this time. Behind these two the fight for the last podium place was maybe the fiercest. In his first E3 competition young Julius Myllymäki was in one point near the lead but didn’t quite reach the sensational finish. He scored though 25 with a 5! But in the final round he needed to settle for the 5th place when more experienced fellow competitors passed him narrowly. With one point Juha Suomela beat Julius and finished 4th and again with one point, Raimo Pessa beat Suomela. I think we can agree that there were more battles and intense fights than enough!
We asked Kosti about his thoughts and plans after a deserved win: "I tested out couple of things, other worked, the other one not so well. Otherwise pretty basic stuff. Of course win is always a win! Have to enjoy those when they happen! Now it’s a good time for a Christmas break and to focus on the upcoming Swedish Cup which is hold in Epiphany! First I need to rake the leaves from the yard now when the snow has temporarily melted, haha!"
Good luck to Kosti to the Swedish Cup and congratulations on winning!
Thank you to Aki Sillman and Ida Hiltunen for this article. » Results
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