Tamás Kiss in action: The Italian-Hungarian offered an incredible performance, but it did not help Neumarkt achieve a bowling miracle. © fs

No bowling miracle for KK Neumarkt

Neumarkt had its back to the wall after losing 1:7 in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against SKK Raindorf. The Neumarkt team also lost by the same margin in the return leg on Saturday in Leifers and were thus eliminated.

17. February 2025

From: fs

One thing in advance: It would have taken a bowling miracle for KK Neumarkt to make it to the final 4 of the Champions League. That did not happen in the quarter-final second leg against SKK Raindorf, quite the opposite: In the second leg on Saturday, the Unterland team lost 1:7, as they did in the first leg, and were thus eliminated. The class difference was clearly visible, even though Tamás Kiss put in an outstanding performance with 709 pins.

"You have to say that they are two classes better than us. We can live with the result, even if it was pushed up by Tamás Kiss's performance. But we were able to use our young players Daniel and Felix Prinoth, and that's how it should be," said captain Wolfgang Blaas after the game.

The match was already lost after the first two duels. Armin Egger had to admit defeat to Daniel Schmid with 628:653 pins (1:3 in set points), Erik Kuna lost to Taras Elsinger with 643:654 pins (1:3 in set points). Both match points went to Raindorf, which is in second place in the German Bundesliga behind Rot Weiß Zerbst, and thus the Neumarkt team's elimination was already sealed.

Sensational Tamás Kiss

Captain Wolfgang Blaas and Tamás Kiss were next to take to the track, facing Manuel Lallinger and Milan Svoboda. Blaas clearly lost with 604:638 pins (0,5:3,5 in set points), but the duel between Kiss and Svoboda could not have been of a higher standard. Kiss won all 709 set points with a sensational 4 pins, and Svoboda himself was in excellent shape. With 652 pins, he had no choice but to congratulate Kiss on his incredible performance. The rest of the Raindorf team did the same, coming up to Kiss at the end of the duel and paying him respect.

In the last two duels, Neumarkt sent the Aldeiner brothers Daniel and Felix Prinoth onto the track. The two youngsters were able to get a taste of Champions League experience and one of them really blossomed. Felix Prinoth held out against Jürgen Pointinger for a long time and lost narrowly with 592:616 pins (1:3 in set points). Things did not go as planned for Daniel Prinoth, however, who lost to Jan Sandler and Michael Kotal (substitution after the 3rd set) with 549:625 pins (0:4 in set points).

For KK Neumarkt, the only project left to do is defend their title in the A1 class, which is not a sure thing this year. "We are tied on points with Fugger Sterzing in first place, the direct duel on March 1th will be decisive. It will be an exciting season and we definitely want to win the championship. After all, the World Cup will be held in Bolzano next season, and we definitely want to be there again," said Blaas.