Jemma Smith (left), England, waited until the squad 20 out of 22 to start qualifying in the Brunswick Euro Challenge at Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France, the fifth stop of the 2008 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "major".

The daughter of two-time World Cup champion Pauline Smith-Buck had games of 235, 198, 228, 218, 191 and 202 for 1272 scratch, 212 average, and 1320 including 48 pins women's handicap, the standard on the EBT, to propel herself into 15th place among 398 players from 36 countries.

Smith is currently second to Missy Bellinder, United States (7th, 1348), in the women's ranking and one of ten women among the top 52, who will qualify for the finals through their six-game total.

Diandra Asbaty (right), United States, who has won gold medals in all major championships in the sport of tenpin bowling, improved on a 1296 pinfall total to leap two spots from 21st to 19th with 1308 including handicap.

Mathieu Bergès, Switzerland, used high games of 235 and 236 to jump from 113th to 27th with 1292.

Darren Cundy (right), England, made a small but probably very important move from 1258 to 1269 to go from 46th to 40th place. Mathias Sarmadi, France, used a huge 268 in game #2 for a 1256 series en route to leap from 110th to 51st place.

Kristä Pöllänen, Finland, rolled the second consecutive 1255 series but had a higher last game in squad 22 than in squad 21 (226 to 214). However, the long-time Finnish national team member fell from 49th to the 52nd and final qualifying post.

With two squads to go, Martin Larsen, Sweden, continues to lead the qualifying with 1448 pinfall total and an average of 241.33.

Jason Belmonte, the two-hander from Australia, is second with 1398. PBA champions Mike Fagan and Sean Rash are in third and fourth place with 1390 and 1383. Rounding out the top 5 is Pasi Uotila, Finland, with 1382.

To view more pictures from the 2008 Brunswick Euro Challenge go to Bowlingdigital's Photo Album or watch our latest videos .

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 #21-22 scheduled for 4 and 8 p.m. and ends with the one-game 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.