Anthony Pepe wins qualifying in 2010 Brunswick Euro Challenge

03/14/10

2010 European Bowling Tour #5

The first cut was made at 1407 (234.50 avg.); low to advance from Desperado Squad -259

2010EBT05AnthonyPepe2.jpg2010EBT05MikeFagan.jpgAnthony Pepe, United States, won the qualifying of the 2010 Brunswick Euro Challenge at Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France. The American overtook the lead in the 10th of 23 qualifying squads and never looked back. Pepe had games of 299, 258, 217, 245, 297 and 256 to lead the field of 448 players - 361 men and 97 women - with 1572 six-game total and an average of 262.00.

Defending champion Mike Fagan, United States, was second with 1555 including a perfect game and targets to make the stepladder final in the BEC for the third consecutive year. Third place belonged to 3-time EBT ranking champion Osku Palermaa, Finland,, with 1532.

2010EBT05NormDuke3.jpg2009VONinaFlack.jpgNico Joris, Belgium, had 1518 in Squad 3 to land in fourth place. PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke rleft) rolled one of seven 300 games in qualifying to take fifth place with 1515. Yoan Alix was the best French bowler in 6th place with 1495.

2008 women's EBT ranking champion Nina Flack (right), Sweden, waited until the 23rd and last squad before she qualified for the finals. Flack rolled games of 289, 258, 216, 223, 235 and 222 and added 48 pins handicap to become the top-ranked woman in the field in 7th place with 1491.

2009EBT04MathiasArup.jpg2010EBT03MikaelKanold.jpgHer compatriot Mathias Ã…rup (left) hit the cutoff number for 16th place with 1461 or an average of 243.50. The top 16 will bypass the first round of the finals.

Joining Flack in the finals from Squad 23 were Raymond Teece, England, with 1437 (34th), Fredrik Øhrgaard, Denmark, with 1436 (35th) and PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss, who closed out his series with 289 and 1425, good for 40th place.

Mikael Kanold (right), Sweden, beat out Priscilla Maaswinkel, Netherlands, for the 52nd and final spot to advance by one pin with 1407 pinfall total and an average of 234.50.

91 players entered the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad. Jason Yeong Nathan, Singapore and Barry Foley, Ireland, led the way with 277, immediately followed by Jens Muth, Germany with 276 and Joonas Jähi, Finland, with 269. Dirk Völkel, Germany, and Mark Buffa, Canada, took the last two spots with 259.

2010EBT05BECLogo.jpg The Brunswick Euro Challenge will be held from March 5-14, 2010 at 28-laner Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin near Paris, France. The tournament is the fifth event of the 2010 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Gold" tournaments.

Since the Ankara Open and the Austria Challenge have been cancelled, the 2010 EBT Tour features 2 EBT Platinum tournament (formerly Premier), 6 EBT Gold tournaments (formerly Major), 7 EBT Silver tournaments (formerly Challenger) and 4 EBT Satellite tournaments (new category).

Players will compete for total prize money of 90,000 Euro (currently about US$123,250), which includes special prizes for "Women" and "B Bowlers". The tournament winner will receive the 13.000 Euro top prize.

200910PBA11MikeFagan2_small.jpg2009VOMaiGingeJensen_small.jpg There is also a special side event called "300-Game Pot Play". All players who have paid a 50 Euro entry fee in advance and roll a 300 game during the tournament will determine the winner in a one-ball roll-off at the end of the tournament. The winner is guaranteed a minimum of 2,500 Euro.

2-time PBA champion Mike Fagan (left), United States, is the defending champion. The 29-year-old righthander will be targeting to make his third consecutive BEC title match. Mai Ginge Jensen (right), Denmark, finished third last year to win the women ranking.

ValckeBowling.jpg For the third consecutive year, the 2010 Brunswick Euro Challenge sponsored by Brunswick Bowling will be organized by Brunswick distributor Valcke Bowling.

In addition to sponsoring the event, Brunswick will be conducting seminar and training sessions for bowlers, coaches, center mechanics, center managers and proprietors. Click on the link to view the complete Seminar Schedule (pdf file).

The 2010 Brunswick Euro Challenge will be contested on a 39 feet long sport pattern of medium difficulty (MS Excel file).

A total of 64 players qualified for the finals on Sunday, March 14. The top 16 players received one bye and will seeded 1-16 in Round 2.

The following 48 players qualified for Round 1:
  • Players positioned 17th-52nd in qualifying
  • the top 6 from a separate standing for the squads 1-5 conducted March 5-7, who are not among the top 52
  • the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

Those 48 will bowl six games starting from scratch to cut to the top 16, who will meet the top 16 qualifiers in the first match play round. Match play is best-of-three games single-elimination. The No. 1 seed will take on No. 32, No. 2 bowls No. 31, etc.

The field will be cut to 16, 8 and then four, who will determine the champion in a stepladder final.

Eurosport2Logo_mini.jpgThe stepladder finals of the 2010 Brunswick Euro Challenge will be broadcasted live on Eurosport 2 Sunday, March 14 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. CET. Additional to the live broadcast, Eurosport 2 will air at least two more re-broadcasts in the weeks following the live coverage. Eurosport Asia-Pacific will also run the BEC 2010 final several times.

Due to TV requirements the schedule for Sunday, March 14, was adjusted to the following:
07:45 Final Round 1
11:00 Lane Maintenance
11:30 Final Round 2
14:00 Final Round 3
15:15 Final Round 5
16:30 Lane Maintenance
16: 55 Practice for Stepladder final
17:00-18:25 Final Round 5
18:25 TV Award Ceremony
18:30 300-Game Play Pot roll-off
18:45 Awards Ceremony

BowlingdigitalBanner.gif BowlingdigitalFlavioCuvaBeatGrauwiler_small.jpg Once again Bowlingdigital will cover the event live (commencing Thursday March 11) from Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin with results and updates after each round plus our much-anticipated high definition videos produced by Flavio Cuva and high quality photos by Beat Grauwiler (l-r).

Please use the left menu bar to get more information about format, schedule and prize money.

Click here to review Bowlingdigital's Live Coverage from the 2009 Brunswick Euro Challenge or click here to go straight to the video section. You will find more videos here.

 


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Standings after Qualifying and Desperado Squad


The top 52 plus the top 6 from the first weekend (places 53-58) and the top 6 from the Desperado Squad (places 59-64) advance to the finals.

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