Greek leads a group of 22 players into Sunday's finals; Bettina Lund is sole woman remaining; Eric Evripidou finishes atop "B bowler" leaderboard, hits cutoff number for 22nd place with 1267 (211.17 ave.); Orlanda, Mäkelä advance through Desperado Squad
Giannis Stathatos (pictured) of Greece won the qualifying of the 3rd Bucharest Open en route to lead a group of 24 players into Sunday's finals in Bucharest, Romania. The top 8 players of the overall qualifying standings, who received one bye for the finals, remained unchanged on Saturday. Eric Evripidou of Cyprus hit the cutoff number for 22nd place with 1267. Joining the top 22 in the finals were David Orlanda of Romania and Juho Mäkelä of Finland, who led the Desperado Squad with 255 and 246, respectively.
Locals Catalin Gheorghe, Viorel Simut and Greek Vassilis Stefopoulos move into 2nd, 3rd and 4th place; Giannis Stathatos of Greece leads 119-player field into last day of qualifying; cut for 22nd place is 1240 (206.67 ave.)
The qualifying lead of the Bucharest Open almost changed hands in Friday night's Squad 20 when four players rolled scores of 1342 and better at IDM Club. Catalin Gheorghe (l.) of Romania used high games of 267 and 258 to lead the squad and to tie tournament leader Giannis Stathatos (r.) of Greece at 1375. The Greek national team member retained the pole position by virtue of the higher last game, 226 to 204.
Stathatos, local bowler Gagenoiu, PBA's Russell and England's Miller are automatically qualified for the Sunday's finals; cut for 22nd place surpasses 1200-mark (1202, 200.33 ave.)
Giannis Stathatos (l.) of Greece led a field of 104 players from 14 countries in the Bucharest Open with 1375 six-game total as qualifying has reached its half way point Thursday at IDM Club in Bucharest, Romania. By virtue of finishing 1-4 at the end of Thursday's qualifying, Stathatos, Romeo Gagenoiu of Romania (1336), Ronnie Russell, United States (r., 1323) and England's Matt Miller (1311) are automatically qualified for Sunday's finals.
Romanian shoots 1274 on day three qualifying to maintain third place; cut for 22nd place is now 1119 (186.50)
Catalin Gheorghe (pictured left) of Romania rolled a 1274 six-game series Wednesday at IDM Club in Bucharest, Romania, to maintain third place in the qualifying at the 3rd IDM Bucharest International Bowling Open. His fellow Romanian national team members, Romeo Gagenoiu (r.) and Marius Piticariu, continued to lead the field of 58 players from Cyprus, England, Greece, Israel and Romania with 1336 and 1298, resp.
Romanian shoots 1336 series to lead after day two qualifying; cut for 22nd place is currently 1046 (174.33)
Romeo Gagenoiu (l.) of Romania overtook the lead in the qualifying of the 3rd IDM Bucharest International Bowling Open when the Romanian averaged 222.67 in the seventh squad on Tuesday aftrenoon to become the first player who cracked the 1300-bar. Gagenoiu rebounded from a 174 opening game with 214, 263, 242, 211 and 232, to hold a 38-pin lead over compatriot Marius Piticariu (r.), who slipped to second place with 1298.
The 3rd IDM Bucharest International Bowling Open kicked off Monday at IDM Club in Bucharest, Romania. Marius Piticariu (pictured) led a field of 17 Romanian men with 1298 total and an average of 216.33. Viorel Simutwas 41 pins behind in second place with 1257. Ioan Ionescu and Romeo Gagenoiu led Squad 2 with 1242 and 1227 to finish day one qualifying in third and fourth place, respectively. Rounding out the top 5 was Squad 1 leader Marius Balan with 1212. Qualifying continues Tuesday with Squads 5-8.
U.S. team cruises to 17-7 victory for an overall 8-5 lead in the 13-year-old event
Europe represented by Finns Osku Palermaa and Mika Koivuniemi and England's Dominic Barrett and Stuart Williams was blasted in what was the worst loss - in terms of point differential - in the history of the Weber Cup when the United States's Mike Fagan, Tommy Jones, Bill O'Neill and Chris Barnes (l-r with the trophy) cruised to 17-7 victory for an overall 8-5 lead in the 13-year-old event.
Williams and Sweden's Dennis Eklund take the pole position in Doubles with 2790; six players of qualifying Squad 8 move into the top 8; cut for 52nd place improved by 30 pins to 1232 (205.33 average)
The eighth qualifying squad was the highest scoring squad so far at the 10th Columbia 300 Vienna Open with Stuart Williams (l.) of England taking the lead in Singles and Doubles with Swede Dennis Eklund (r.) Thursday evening at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria. Williams fired games of 228, 274, 228, 287, 259 and 268 for 1544 six game total, an average of 257.33, to overtake previous leader and fellow PBA bowler Dan MacLelland of Canada by 144 pins.
Former Finnish youth national team member Jesse Kallio of bowling club Pori Giants cracked the magic 1700-bar for six games Monday, Aug. 23, at Pupuhuhta bowling center in Jyväskylä, Finland. He totaled 1702, an average of 283.67. Kallio struck on 63 out of total 67 shots, a 94.03 strike percentage, and spared in four frames - three single-pin conversions and one two-pin conversion. Of course, no open frames. He had games of 278, 300, 278, 268, 278 and 300, but missed the Finnish record by five pins.
Bowling Center BeSeCo in Rümikon/Winterthur, Switzerland (Aug. 19-26, 2012)
Frank Weiermüller and Evangelos Tsorbatzoudis defeated Tanya Cuva and Dirk Völkel, 407-383, to win the 12th BC Strangers International Doubles Tournament 2012 and the 1.000 Swiss Franc top prize Sunday at Bowling Center BeSeCo in Rümikon/Winterthur, Switzerland. Cuva/Völkel received 700 SFR for second place and Nicole Heberle and Oliver Blase pocketed 500 SFR for third. The handicap tournament (based on 60% of 200) drew 39 doubles.
Nati Volpart and Tali Itzhak (l-r) won the Israeli World Cup Qualifier Saturday at "Bola" bowling center in Holon. For the first time in their career, the duo will represent Israel at the 48th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Wroclaw, Poland. 42 players participated in the 23rd running of the Israeli BWC Qualifier. All players, men and women, bowled 18 games of qualifying over three days to determine the top 8 men and top 8 women for the single-elimination finals.
Sarit Mizrahi, Or Aviram will represent Israel at the 2012 European Champions Cup
Sara Aviram and Lior Koren won the women's and men's titles in the 2012 Israeli National Individual Championships which were held at Nesher bowling center near Haifa. 41 players participated in the 23rd running of the event. In a change for 2012, the Israeli Bowling Federation (IBF) has decided, to send the male and female point ranking leader - Or Aviram and Sarit Mizrahi
- to the European Champions Cup, Oct. 15-22 at Dolfijn Bowling in The
Hague.
17-year-old defeats 14-year-old Tomáš Plechata in title match
Daniel Vezis (l.) won his first international tournament at the age of 17 when he captured the title in the 10th Czech Open in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
The former Latvian national team member, who is now playing under his English nationality, defeated 14-year-old Czech youth bowler Tomáš Plechata in the title match over two games total pins, 432-390, to pocket the 2.500 Euro top prize. Luminita Farkas-Bucin (r.) of Romania was the best woman in seventh place.
Champions to represent the Netherlands at the 2012 QubicaAMF World Cup in Poland
The finals of the 2011-12 NBF Federation Bowling Tour were held this past weekend at Claus Event Center in Hoofddorp. Daniëlle van der Meer and Michell Stinissen (r-l) won the women's and men's title in the highest division and will represent their country at the 2012 QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Poland. In the women's title match, Van der Meer defeated defending champion Wendy Kok, 2-1, while Stinissen topped Sven Steenbekkers, 2-1, for the men's title.
Swedes defeat Germany in the title match, 693-588; Latvia and Denmark share the bronze medals
Rebecka Larsen, Joline Persson-Planefors and Sandra Andersson (l-r) of Sweden posted two big games to win the gold medal in the Women's European Championships Trios event Tuesday evening. In the title match, the top seeded Swedes flew past No. 2 Patricia Luoto, Birgit Pöppler and Janine Gabel of Germany, 693-588, to wrap up the title. It was the second gold medal in the second event for Sweden. The Championhips continues Wednesday and Thursday with the five-player Team event.
Daria Kovalova of Kiev and Mikhail Kalika of Odessa (pictured left, r-l) emerged as women's and men's champion in the 12th Ukrainian National Championships when the 10th and last tournament concluded June 1 at Terminal Club in Brovary, town near Ukraine's capital city of Kiev. It was the sixth career national title and the fourth in a row for Kalika, while 17-year old four-time European Youth Champion Kovalova won already her third consecutive women's title.
Review the Live Stream of the semifinals and finals
Carlo Greulich (center) of Germany finished the seven-game finals of the 35th Grand Prix Zurich with a huge 278 game en route to win the title and the 1.110 Swiss Franc (930 Euro) top prize Sunday at Bowling Center BeSeCo in Rümikon, Switzerland. Gregor Ramsak (l.) of Switzerland, who had a comfortable lead heading into the final game. had to settle for second place, worth 910 CHF. Third place and 760 CHF went to Dirk Völkel (r.) of Germany.
GPZ provides live streaming of the semifinals and finals from 9 to 15.30 CEST
Simon Wildenhayn (pictured left) of Stuttgart, Germany, finished the qualifying of the 35th Grand Prix Zurich atop the 114-player leaderboard to led the top 42 players into the semifinals Sunday at Bowling Center BeSeCo in Rümikon, Switzerland. The deaf sportsman, who uses the two-handed delivery, rolled games of 238, 214, 209 and 219 before he almost achieved perfection in game #5. The GPZ will provide Live Streaming of the semifinals starting at 9 a.m.
and the finals from 1 to 3.30 p.m. CEST.
The 35th annual Grand Prix Zurich got underway Monday, May 28th, at Bowling Center BeSeCo, a 22-laner in Rümikon, Switzerland. The total prize fund ranges from 6.590 Euro (90+ players) to maximum 14.970 Euro (196 players). The singles event (men and women in one division) uses a 60 percent handicap of 200 with maximum 35 pins per game. Bowlingdigital's Flavio Cuva and Beat Grauwiler will provide Live Streaming of the semifinals and finals on Sunday, June 3rd, starting at 9 a.m. CEST.
Giannis Stathatos (pictured) of Greece won the qualifying of the 3rd Bucharest Open en route to lead a group of 24 players into Sunday's finals in Bucharest, Romania. The top 8 players of the overall qualifying standings, who received one bye for the finals, remained unchanged on Saturday. Eric Evripidou of Cyprus hit the cutoff number for 22nd place with 1267. Joining the top 22 in the finals were David Orlanda of Romania and Juho Mäkelä of Finland, who led the Desperado Squad with 255 and 246, respectively. 
Giannis Stathatos (l.) of Greece led a field of 104 players from 14 countries in the Bucharest Open with 1375 six-game total as qualifying has reached its half way point Thursday at IDM Club in Bucharest, Romania. By virtue of finishing 1-4 at the end of Thursday's qualifying, Stathatos, Romeo Gagenoiu of Romania (1336), Ronnie Russell, United States (r., 1323) and England's Matt Miller (1311) are automatically qualified for Sunday's finals.
Catalin Gheorghe (pictured left) of Romania rolled a 1274 six-game series Wednesday at IDM Club in Bucharest, Romania, to maintain third place in the qualifying at the 3rd IDM Bucharest International Bowling Open. His fellow Romanian national team members, Romeo Gagenoiu (r.) and Marius Piticariu, continued to lead the field of 58 players from Cyprus, England, Greece, Israel and Romania with 1336 and 1298, resp.
Romeo Gagenoiu (l.) of Romania overtook the lead in the qualifying of the 3rd IDM Bucharest International Bowling Open when the Romanian averaged 222.67 in the seventh squad on Tuesday aftrenoon to become the first player who cracked the 1300-bar. Gagenoiu rebounded from a 174 opening game with 214, 263, 242, 211 and 232, to hold a 38-pin lead over compatriot Marius Piticariu (r.), who slipped to second place with 1298.
Europe represented by Finns Osku Palermaa and Mika Koivuniemi and England's Dominic Barrett and Stuart Williams was blasted in what was the worst loss - in terms of point differential - in the history of the Weber Cup when the United States's Mike Fagan, Tommy Jones, Bill O'Neill and Chris Barnes (l-r with the trophy) cruised to 17-7 victory for an overall 8-5 lead in the 13-year-old event.
The eighth qualifying squad was the highest scoring squad so far at the 10th Columbia 300 Vienna Open with Stuart Williams (l.) of England taking the lead in Singles and Doubles with Swede Dennis Eklund (r.) Thursday evening at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria. Williams fired games of 228, 274, 228, 287, 259 and 268 for 1544 six game total, an average of 257.33, to overtake previous leader and fellow PBA bowler Dan MacLelland of Canada by 144 pins. 
Former Finnish youth national team member Jesse Kallio of bowling club Pori Giants cracked the magic 1700-bar for six games Monday, Aug. 23, at Pupuhuhta bowling center in Jyväskylä, Finland. He totaled 1702, an average of 283.67. Kallio struck on 63 out of total 67 shots, a 94.03 strike percentage, and spared in four frames - three single-pin conversions and one two-pin conversion. Of course, no open frames. He had games of 278, 300, 278, 268, 278 and 300, but missed the Finnish record by five pins.
Frank Weiermüller and Evangelos Tsorbatzoudis defeated Tanya Cuva and Dirk Völkel, 407-383, to win the 12th BC Strangers International Doubles Tournament 2012 and the 1.000 Swiss Franc top prize Sunday at Bowling Center BeSeCo in Rümikon/Winterthur, Switzerland. Cuva/Völkel received 700 SFR for second place and Nicole Heberle and Oliver Blase pocketed 500 SFR for third. The handicap tournament (based on 60% of 200) drew 39 doubles.
Nati Volpart and Tali Itzhak (l-r) won the Israeli World Cup Qualifier Saturday at "Bola" bowling center in Holon. For the first time in their career, the duo will represent Israel at the 48th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Wroclaw, Poland. 42 players participated in the 23rd running of the Israeli BWC Qualifier. All players, men and women, bowled 18 games of qualifying over three days to determine the top 8 men and top 8 women for the single-elimination finals.
Sara Aviram and Lior Koren won the women's and men's titles in the 2012 Israeli National Individual Championships which were held at Nesher bowling center near Haifa. 41 players participated in the 23rd running of the event. In a change for 2012, the Israeli Bowling Federation (IBF) has decided, to send the male and female point ranking leader - Or Aviram and Sarit Mizrahi
- to the European Champions Cup, Oct. 15-22 at Dolfijn Bowling in The
Hague. 
Daniel Vezis (l.) won his first international tournament at the age of 17 when he captured the title in the 10th Czech Open in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
The former Latvian national team member, who is now playing under his English nationality, defeated 14-year-old Czech youth bowler Tomáš Plechata in the title match over two games total pins, 432-390, to pocket the 2.500 Euro top prize. Luminita Farkas-Bucin (r.) of Romania was the best woman in seventh place.
The finals of the 2011-12 NBF Federation Bowling Tour were held this past weekend at Claus Event Center in Hoofddorp. Daniëlle van der Meer and Michell Stinissen (r-l) won the women's and men's title in the highest division and will represent their country at the 2012 QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Poland. In the women's title match, Van der Meer defeated defending champion Wendy Kok, 2-1, while Stinissen topped Sven Steenbekkers, 2-1, for the men's title. 
Rebecka Larsen, Joline Persson-Planefors and Sandra Andersson (l-r) of Sweden posted two big games to win the gold medal in the Women's European Championships Trios event Tuesday evening. In the title match, the top seeded Swedes flew past No. 2 Patricia Luoto, Birgit Pöppler and Janine Gabel of Germany, 693-588, to wrap up the title. It was the second gold medal in the second event for Sweden. The Championhips continues Wednesday and Thursday with the five-player Team event.
Daria Kovalova of Kiev and Mikhail Kalika of Odessa (pictured left, r-l) emerged as women's and men's champion in the 12th Ukrainian National Championships when the 10th and last tournament concluded June 1 at Terminal Club in Brovary, town near Ukraine's capital city of Kiev. It was the sixth career national title and the fourth in a row for Kalika, while 17-year old four-time European Youth Champion Kovalova won already her third consecutive women's title.
Carlo Greulich (center) of Germany finished the seven-game finals of the 35th Grand Prix Zurich with a huge 278 game en route to win the title and the 1.110 Swiss Franc (930 Euro) top prize Sunday at Bowling Center BeSeCo in Rümikon, Switzerland. Gregor Ramsak (l.) of Switzerland, who had a comfortable lead heading into the final game. had to settle for second place, worth 910 CHF. Third place and 760 CHF went to Dirk Völkel (r.) of Germany.
Simon Wildenhayn (pictured left) of Stuttgart, Germany, finished the qualifying of the 35th Grand Prix Zurich atop the 114-player leaderboard to led the top 42 players into the semifinals Sunday at Bowling Center BeSeCo in Rümikon, Switzerland. The deaf sportsman, who uses the two-handed delivery, rolled games of 238, 214, 209 and 219 before he almost achieved perfection in game #5. The GPZ will provide Live Streaming of the semifinals starting at 9 a.m.
and the finals from 1 to 3.30 p.m. CEST. 
Daniel Hürlimann (pictured) led the qualifying of the 35th Grand Prix Zurich after the first two squads have been completed at Bowling Center BeSeCo in Rümikon, Switzerland. Hürlimann, who received no handicap, had games of 206, 226, 188, 204, 183, 226, 214 and 215 to lead a field of 43 Swiss bowlers with 1662 pinfall total and an average of 207.75. Hürlimann was followed by a pair of Swiss junior bowlers, Michel Caré and Marc Jörg, who totaled 1656 and 1653, respectively. Qualifying ends on Saturday, June 2.
