38 players - 33 men and 5 women - from seven countries took to the lanes in the first of 14 qualifying squads in the Ebonite International Luxembourg Open Wednesday evening at X-Treme Bowling & Billard in Foetz, Luxembourg.

Alexander Tarsoly from Hungary led the squad with 1279 six-game total, an average of 213.17 and pocketed a 250 Euro bonus. The winners of qualifying squads 2-5 will also receive a 250 Euro bonus.

Places 2-4 belonged to Belgian bowlers. Long-time national team member Ives van Eyken was second with 1229, followed by Michael Coussens (1201) and Laurent Lecomte (1177).

Othello Pescarolo was the top contender from the host country in 10th place with 1121. Dutch national team member Kelly Plummen was the best woman in with 1074 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

The Ebonite International Luxembourg Open is the 13th stop of the 2009 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Challenger" events. The tournament will be held from Oct. 20-25, 2009 at X-Treme Bowling & Billard in Foetz, Luxembourg, and offers total prize fund of 35.000 Euro, or about 52,350 U.S. dollars. The winner will receive the 4.000 Euro top prize.

Qualifying runs through Saturday, Oct. 24, and ends with Squad 14 and the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad slated for 11.30 p.m. local time (GMT +3) on Saturday night.

A total of 50 players - the top 44 from the qualifying (six games) and top 6 from the Desperado Squad - will advance to the finals on Sunday, Oct. 25. The top 14 qualifiers will earn one bye and will be automatically seeded into Final Round 2.

The remaining 36 players will bowl 6 games starting from scratch. The top 18, seeded 15th-32nd, will join the top 14 qualifiers in single-elimination matches over two games total pinfall. The highest seed bowls the lowest seed, the second highest bowls the second lowest, etc.

The single-elimination finals start with the Round of 32. The field is cut to 16, 8, 4 and then 2 who will vie for the title and 4.000 Euro top prize.

Qualifying Standings after Squad 1/14

Pos	Player	Country	G1	G2	G3	G4	G5	G6	Pins	Avg.	Hc	Total
1.	Alexander Tarsoly	Hungary	212	229	211	193	192	242	1279	213.17		1279
2.	Ives Van Eyken	Belgium	248	224	157	190	179	231	1229	204.83		1229
3.	Michael Coussens	Belgium	190	197	203	169	226	216	1201	200.17		1201
4.	Laurent Lecomte	Belgium	182	211	175	197	203	209	1177	196.17		1177
5.	Phil Schuett	Germany	230	144	222	222	165	193	1176	196.00		1176
6.	Rafaël Janssens	Belgium	164	184	208	164	253	196	1169	194.83		1169
7.	Jeff Rodrigue-Bailey	United States	190	182	178	201	200	193	1144	190.67		1144
8.	Thomas Caldwell	Germany	210	184	232	169	201	145	1141	190.17		1141
9.	Christian Lanoy	Belgium	201	175	212	197	176	167	1128	188.00		1128
10.	Othello Pescarolo	Luxembourg	200	233	150	198	180	160	1121	186.83		1121
11.	Laurent Kaiser	Belgium	225	168	169	168	199	191	1120	186.67		1120
12.	Romain Oberweis	Luxembourg	186	212	198	118	214	179	1107	184.50		1107
13.	Ton Plummen	Netherlands	168	159	179	140	252	188	1086	181.00		1086
14.	Guy Caminsky	South Africa	165	165	160	198	194	202	1084	180.67		1084
15.	Luc Verjans	Belgium	183	155	178	172	211	183	1082	180.33		1082
16.	Harald Scheuer	Luxembourg	168	171	165	180	188	207	1079	179.83		1079
17.	Kelly Plummen	Netherlands	146	166	177	185	160	192	1026	171.00	48	1074
18.	Jeff Brons	Luxembourg	192	173	189	162	181	175	1072	178.67		1072
19.	Andy Willems	Luxembourg	191	203	184	137	186	169	1070	178.33		1070
20.	Sacha Vitali	Luxembourg	173	212	177	198	167	139	1066	177.67		1066
21.	Olivier Braine	Belgium	152	167	199	189	168	180	1055	175.83		1055
22.	John Schmitz	Belgium	173	153	174	168	168	214	1050	175.00		1050
23.	Noel De Lazzer	Luxembourg	171	177	163	171	189	172	1043	173.83		1043
24.	Heiko Küppers	Germany	188	256	148	126	138	186	1042	173.67		1042
25.	Jan De Wandeleer	Belgium	145	231	175	147	164	157	1019	169.83		1019
26.	David Manderscheid	Luxembourg	129	133	182	187	213	166	1010	168.33		1010
27.	Carina Benavente	Luxembourg	115	168	182	185	167	139	956	159.33	48	1004
28.	Piia Pearce	Luxembourg	180	142	146	174	164	149	955	159.17	48	1003
29.	Phil De Corte	Belgium	165	166	161	184	150	164	990	165.00		990
30.	Christophe Janse	Luxembourg	180	163	167	172	144	115	941	156.83		941
31.	Patrick Leitienne	Luxembourg	123	118	178	194	177	148	938	156.33		938
32.	Bryan Pearce	Luxembourg	135	143	135	168	208	141	930	155.00		930
33.	Jim Pearce	Luxembourg	132	148	145	130	168	200	923	153.83		923
34.	Michel Baars	Netherlands	131	152	175	144	130	187	919	153.17		919
35.	Mike Grandgenet	Luxembourg	132	142	149	184	159	147	913	152.17		913
36.	Claudia Benavente	Luxembourg	156	145	179	110	155	104	849	141.50	48	897
37.	Hendrik-Jan Van Vuure	Luxembourg	139	119	165	155	118	186	882	147.00		882
38.	Nora Turci	Luxembourg	152	161	136	119	118	102	788	131.33	48	836