Men from Kokkola are in good form in Ballmaster Open qualification. Matti Knutar of CPS took the lead on Saturday and now his club mate Veli-Matti Tissarinen was the best in squad 4 with 1388 and zoomed to second place. 

Veli-Matti Tissarinen says that Kokkola men do not have any special secret. “For myself I can say that I got just lucky. There is no reason to deny that”, he said frankly. “Matti (Knutar) bowled good scores already before Christmas. I am not at all surprised about his result”, Tissarinen continued.

The two of them are combined by something else than just the club. “We have been working together for more than a year. I am not a coach to Matti, but some kind of advisor”, Veli-Matti reveals. “And it should be that he is ahead of me. That is just right”.

Veli-Matti Tissarinen’s tournament ends here, because he is not able to come to the final next weekend. “I have been a housefather for more than six years. My wife is working next weekend and I take care of the children. I have known that for a long time”, father of four told.

Tissarinen rolled the 1388 on his second outing. In the first squad on Sunday he only made 1139. He then paid heed to that. “I kept on moving deeper inside and played as straight line as possible to the pocket. My release is not strong enough for anything else; they are other men, who turn the ball”, Veli-Matti laughed.

There was also some trouble in the fourth squad. Patricia Luoto hurt her leg after few frames and her tournament ended there. We do not have better information about Patricia’s injury, but she is definitely unable to play in this tournament.

The tournament continues on Wednesday at 11 AM with a special senior squad.

- seija lankinen