Diandra Asbaty, United States, posted the field-best 1334 six-game series, an average of 222.33, Sunday morning at Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France to lead the top 16 players into match play in the finals of the 90.000 € Brunswick Euro Challenge.

The two-time World Ranking and World Masters champion added 48 pins handicap, a standard on the European Bowling Tour, to finish the first round of the finals with 1382 pinfall, 88 pins ahead of her nearest competitor.

Kamilla Kjeldsen, Denmark, was second with 1294 including handicap.


Mark Siders (left), United States, who survived the first cut through the Desperado Squad, was third with 1281. Swedish national coach Tomas Leandersson was fourth with 1280, followed by Dominic Barrett, England, with 1272.

Thomas Gross (below, right), Austria beat out Andres Gomez, Colombia, for the 16th and final qualifying post by two pins, 1215 to 1213.

Those 16 will be seeded 17-32 to meet the top 16 from the qualifying in best-of-three games single elimination match play.

The highest seeded player bowls the lowest seeded player, the second highest seeded player takes on the second lowest seeded player etc.

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

Bowlingdigital is planning to tape the title match. The video should go online Sunday evening between 1-2 hours after the last ball was rolled. Stay tuned and check out our video section.

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.