The final qualifying day of the Brunswick Euro Challenge started with a 20-minute power failure but when everything was back to normal in Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France, two players should have secured their spots for the finals on Sunday.

Kévin Seve (left), France had a slow start with 157 and even a worse finish with 143 but averaged 245.50 for the other four games (257, 231, 236 and 258) to help grab the 30th place in the overall qualifying standings with 1282, an average of 213.67 for six games.

USBC silver level coach Andrew Frawley (right), Australia, head coach of the UAE national team, who finished fourth in the 2008 Denny's World Championship, a major on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour three weeks ago, was mere two pins behind to sit in 33rd position with 1280.

Krista Pöllänen (left, in action), who won the women's rankings in the Brunswick Ballmaster Open, the first event of the 2008 European Bowling Tour, was the only other player from squad #19, who moved into the top 52. The long-time Finnish national team member had 1255 including 48 pins handicap, a standard on the EBT for women, to leap into 49th place.

With 386 players from 26 countries in the books and three more qualifying squads to, Mike Mullin, United States, mans the 52nd and final qualifying spot to advance with 1253 (208.83).

Martin Larsen (right), Sweden, who overtook the lead in the 12th qualifying squad on Thursday afternoon, remained atop the leaderboard with 1448 pinfall total and an average of 241.33.

Among the top 16, who will bypass the first round of the finals are five players from the United States including the sole woman, Missy Bellinder, 4 players from Finland, 3 from Sweden and one each from Australia, Canada, England and Singapore. Finn Mika Heino holds the 16th spot with 1315 or an average of 219.17.


The Brunswick Euro Challenge is the fifth stop on the 2008 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "majors". The BEC offers total prize fund of 90,000 Euros (currently approx. $136,500) and offers special prizes that will be given in categories such as youth encouragement, "B" bowlers and ladies.

The 2008 Brunswick Euro Challenge sponsored by Brunswick Bowling is organized by Brunswick distributor Valcke Bowling.

Qualifying continues today with squads #20-22 scheduled for noon, 4 and 8 p.m. and ends with the ultimate Desperado Squad around Midnight.

A total of 64 players will qualify for the finals. The top 16 players will receive one bye into step 2 and will seeded 1-16.

The following 48 players will qualify for step 1:
- Players positioned 17-52 in the qualifying
- the top 6 from a separate standing for the squads conducted March 7-9, 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 field will be cut to 16, 8 and then four, who will determine the champion in a stepladder final.


Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Paris with updates after each squad and round, respectively, and exclusive video footage commencing Thursday, March 13 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, March 16.