In a battle between two World Cup champions, Osku Palermaa from Finland defeated Peter Ljung from Sweden, 255-222, en route to end the 2006 European Ranking Season with victory in the Kungsbacka International Tournament in Sweden. Palermaa, who ousted Marcus Nyberg, Sweden, in the semis earned 10.000 Euro for his efforts. Ljung, who eliminated the new Swedish head coach, Tomas Leandersson, pocketed 4.500 Euro for second. Leandersson and Nyberg received 2.000 Euro each for third and fourth place, resp.

Two-time defending ranking champion Britt Brøndsted closed out the first round of the Kungsbacka finals with games of 299 and 279 en route to win the 2006 Women's European rankings. The Dane finished with 1532 six-game total including 48 pins handicap, 247.33 scratch average, to become one of three women remaining in the Round of 32 match play finals.

Even if she will finish third in the women's rankings in Kungsbacka, Brøndsted will receive 70 ranking points and overtake current leader Zara Glover from England, who missed the cut in 86th place and received 30 ranking points. Brøndsted followed in the footprints of her male counterpart, Paul Moor from England, who sealed his third consecutive title in the men's rankings with his top-8 finish in qualifying.

Lasse Lintilä, Finland, led the players seeded 9th-48 after qualifying and Desperado Squad with a huge 1577 six-game total and an average of 262.83 including a perfect game in game #4. Lintilä will be seeded 9th in the leaders in the Round of 32 best-of-five-games match play finals. The two-time champion this season (Ballmaster, Aalborg Int'l) must finish third or better to beat out compatriot Kai Virtanen for eighth place in the rankings which is the final qualifying spot for the World Ranking Masters.

Swede Robert Andersson is out of the race as he missed the cut by 13 pins with 1350 (225.00) to finish in 26th place. Swede Mikael Roos hit the cutoff number for 24th place with 1363 (227.17)

Dane Jesper Agerbo in Game #2 and Swede Dennis Eklund in game #4 shot a 300 game each en route to make the cut in 13th and 16th place, resp.

The field will be trimmed to 16, 8 and then 4 players. Semi-finals and the title match will be one-game head-to-head matches.

Jason Belmonte finished the qualifying of Kungsbacka International Tournament in Sweden, the final event of the 2006 European Bowling Tour, atop the leaderboard. The Aussie, who uses the two-handed delivery, had games of 279, 264, 249, 247, 279 and 246 for 1564 six-game total and an average of 260.66.

Three more players cracked the 1500-bar. Pontus Halvarsson from Sweden was second with 1507, World Cup champion and European rankings runner-up Osku Palermaa, right, Finland, third with 1503 and Dane Mikael Brændeskov fourth with 1501.

Rounding out the top eight, who earned a bye into the Round of 32, were Paul Moor from England with 1496, and Swedes Martin Larsen (left, 1493), Mathias Årup (1491) and the new Team Sweden head coach Tomas Leandersson (1477, a 246.17 average)

With his top-8 finish in qualifying Moor, right, sealed his victory in the 2006 EBT men's rankings for the third consecutive year. Belmonte, who be the No. 1 seed in the Round of 32, secured his spot for the World Ranking Masters (2007 in Qatar) on the European Bowling Tour. He is currently seventh in both the Asian and the European rankings.

Heading into the final ranking event, women's ranking leader Zara Glover, left, also from England (669), had a 34-point cushion over two-time defending ranking champion Britt Brøndsted, right, (635) from Denmark. Glover missed the cut in 86th place with 1362 including 48 pins handicap.

If we have counted correctly the former 3-time World Champion will receive 30 ranking points which means Brøndsted has to finish among the top 3 in the women's rankings to make it three in a row.

Austria's Ivonne Gross, pictured left with husband Thomas, beat out Anja Ginge Jensen, Denmark, for eighth place in the women's rankings and final qualifying spot for the World Ranking Masters by 10 points.

Joining those three in the 2007 WRM in Qatar are Swedes Nina Flack, Helen Johnson and Anna Mattsson-Baard, Isabelle Saldjian, France and Patricia Schwarz, Germany.

In the men's rankings Moor, Palermaa and Belmonte (supposed he will not qualify through the Asian rankings) will be joined by Stuart Williams, left, England, Peter Ljung (right), Martin Larsen, both of Sweden, and Thomas Gross, Austria (he and his wife Ivonne are the first couple that qualifies for the World Ranking Masters in the same year).

World Doubles Champion Robert Andersson (left), who made the cut in Kungsbacka in 9th place, can beat out reigning World Games champion Kai Virtanen, Finland, for the eighth and final spot.

Virtanen missed the cut in 56th place and received two points for 338 ranking point total. If Andersson (258 points) finishes second, worth 80 points, he will tie the Finn and if he walks away the winner, worth 100 points, he will beat him by 20 points.

The top 44 from the qualifying and the top 4 from the 'Desperado Squad' (seeded 45-48th) advanced to the finals. Players seeded 9-48 will play six games starting from scratch to cut to the top 24, who will be seeded 9-32 with the eight qualifying leaders in the best-of-five-games match play finals. The field will be trimmed to 16, 8 and then 4 players. Semi-finals and the title match will be one-game head-to-head matches.