Kirsten Penny (l.), England, and Peter Ljung (r.), Sweden held on to the lead in the women's and men's European Bowling Tour rankings after the Brunswick Aalborg International 2008, the seventh out of 18 events this season.

Penny, who won the women's rankings last year, has accumulated 274 ranking points. The former world and European champion is one of just three women, who have cashed ranking points in six events this season.

The others are Ghislaine van der Tol (l.) and Nicole Sanders (r.), both Netherlands. Van der Tol, third-place finisher in the 2007 rankings, currently sits in second place with 251 points, while Sanders is the No. 8 with 176.

Third place belongs to Tina Hulsch, Germany, who did not compete in Aalborg, with 238. Nina Flack, Sweden, moved from 7th to 4th place behind a second-place finish in the women's rankings in Aalborg. The World Champion in trios has 232 points. Next are 5. Krista Pöllänen, Finland, 222; 6. Wendy Kok, Netherlands, 190; and 7. Anne Lorraine Gales, Denmark, 182.

Aalborg ranking champion Helén Johnsson (l.) bowled her first EBT event this season and is tied for 22nd place with Brunswick Euro Challenge winner Missy Bellinder (r.), United States, at 100 points.

While the women's ranking winners in the seven events thus far came from seven countries - Finland, France, Netherlands, England, United States, Germany and Sweden - the titles were split between Finnish and Swedish men.

With Osku Palermaa's (l.) victory in Aalborg, Finland leads Sweden by 4 victories to three.

Peter Ljung, champion in the Brunswick Euro Challenge, remained atop the leaderboard with 313 points, 11 ahead of defending ranking champion Palermaa, who moved to second place with 302.

Dominic Barrett, England, is third with 282 points, with Tore Torgersen, Norway, five points behind in fourth, 277. Martin Larsen, Sweden, champion in Luxembourg, is fifth with 264, While Istanbul champion Lasse Lintilä (r.), Finland, leaped into sixth place with 172 points behind a fourth-place finish in Aalborg.

Rounding out the top 8 are 2007 World Ranking Masters champion Stuart Williams (l.), England, with 153 points and Tilburg champion Mikael Kanold, Sweden, in 8th place with 152.

Palermaa, Barrett and Larsen are the only players, who have cashed ranking points in all seven events. Ljung, Torgersen and Williams are close behind with six cashes, while Kanold made the top 50 five times. Lintilä is the most efficient top 8 player with three cashes only.

The top eight men and the top eight women at the end of the ranking season will qualify for the 2009 World Ranking Masters in Naples, Italy. In addition, the top 16 men and the top 16 women will qualify for the EBT Masters in May 2008 in Aalborg, Denmark.

The next stop of the 2008 European Bowling Tour, the Brunswick Belgian Open, a Challenger event, is already underway at Bowling De Meibloem in Gent, Belgium (May 24 - June 1, 2008).