Uwe Tscharke from Germany flirted with perfection in qualifying squad 24 in the Maribor Open, firing 11 strikes to start his six-game series Saturday morning before finishing with a 297 game.

He added games of 254, 214, 224, 239 and 199 en route to move into sixth place in the overall qualifying standings with 1427 pinfall total and an average of 237.83.

L-R The picture shows Tscharke with compatriot and fellow lefty Klaus Lischka, who sits in 33rd place with 1292.

Gianluca Badali (left), Italy, also had a chance to reach the 1400-plateau but left a 4-7-10 split on his fill ball to finish with 1399 (233.17), good for 7th place overall.

German international Robert Wölki was sandwiched between Swedes Ulf and Kim Bolleby, father and son. Kim checked in with 1385 (8th),

Wölki (right) had 1364 (10th) and Ulf had 1358 (12th).

Robert Kendall, England, was the sixth player in squad 24, who cracked the 1300-bar with 1337 to leap into 18th place.

Martin Larsen (left) continued to lead the field of 91 players with 1512 series and an average of 252.00.

The Swede has a 40-pin cushion over compatriot Tony Fransson, who is second with 1472.

Third place belongs to Pasi Uotila, Finland, with 1467. Rounding out the top 5 are World Ranking Masters champ Stuart Williams (right), England (1448) and Thomas "Dynamite Harry" Tybl, Austria (1431).

Qualifying continues with two more squads and ends tonight with the one-game Desperado Squad. A total of 56 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, Sep. 16: The top 52 in the overall qualifying standings and the top 4 Desperados. The cut for the top 52 is currently 1234, a 205.67 average, by Eros Origlia, Italy.

Qualifiers 1-14 will earn two byes and will earn at least 1.200 Euro. 3-time EBT ranking champion Paul Moor from England is the "man on the bubble" with 1352 (225.33). Qualifiers 15-28 will bypass the first round which guarantees them 800 Euro. Helmut Peinelt, Germany holds 28th place with 1313 (218.83).

The remaining 28 finalists, who have secured at least 500 Euro, will bowl 3 games starting from scratch. The top 14 will qualify for the second round and meet qualifiers 15-28. The top 14 after another 3-game set from scratch meet the top 14 qualifiers in Round #3.

The field will be trimmed to 16, 8 and then 4 in during the rounds 3 to 5 (same format as before). The four remaining players will bowl for the title and the 8.000 Euro top prize in a traditional stepladder format based on the standings after Round #5: No. 4 bowls No. 3, the winner meets No. 2 and the winner bowls No. 1 for the title.

Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Maribor all the way through to the finals on Sunday, September 16. The four-player stepladder finals will be broadcasted live on Slovenian television in a two-hour show from Strike Bowling Center.