Four PBA champions advanced to the stepladder finals of the Brunswick Ballmaster Open at Tali Bowling Center in Helsinki, Finland. Three-time WTBA World Champion
Bill O'Neill (pictured), United States, finished the 23-game preliminaries with 5391 total to earn the No. 1 seed. Joining O'Neill in the shoot-out are two-time defending champion
Mika Koivuniemi, Finland; three-time EBT titlist
Mike Fagan, United States, and 2010 EBT ranking champion
Dominic Barrett, England. The winner will walk away with the 12.000 Euro top prize.
Jimmy Ravez (l.), Belgium, rolled a 1396 series in Squad 7 Sunday evening at Plaza Saint Maximin in Saint Maximin, France, en route to overtake the lead in the qualifying of the Brunswick Euro Challenge. Ravez had games of 267, 238, 206, 268 and 235 but missed the 1400-mark due to a final 182 game. Second-placed Amandine Jacques (r.) became the first woman this year to win a qualifying squad when the French bowler posted 1386 in Squad 5.
The 2012 Brunswick Euro Challenge got underway with three qualifying squads Saturday at Plaza Saint Maximin in Saint Maximin, France. Four-time European Bowling Tour Point ranking champion Gery Verbruggen (pictured) of Belgium had games of 210, 237, 226, 222. 234 and 246 to lead the field of 88 players from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia and United States with 1375 six-game total and an average of 229.17. Qualifying continues on Sunday, March 18, with Squads 5-7 scheduled for 9 a.m., 1 and 5 p.m. CET. 
The Brunswick Euro Challenge, a "Platinum" event on the 2012 European Bowling Tour, is also the seventh event of the 2012 World Bowling Tour. The 106.000 Euro tournament will be held March 16-25 at Plaza Saint St. Maximin near Paris, France and offers 15.000 Euro and a PBA title for the winner. As of today 439 players from 38 countries have registered. Bowlingdigital will provide Live Streaming of the BEC and the WTBA International Open stepladder finals.
The World Tenpin Bowling Association and Valcke Bowling have agreed that the stepladder finals of the WTBA International Open will be held March 21st at Plaza St. Maximin in France. Liz Johnson, Chris Barnes and Walter Ray Williams Jr. will bowl for the title and the $20,000 top prize. Bowlingdigital.com will provide live streaming of the stepladder finals starting Wednesday, March 21st at 3.30 p.m. CET (10.30 a.m. EST; 10.30 p.m. Hong Kong time).
Wim Claessens (l.) of Belgian won the qualifying of the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament 2012 to lead total 48 players - 34 men and 14 women - into the eliminator finals on Sunday at Dolfijn Bowling Tilburg in Tilburg, Netherlands. Claessens averaged 246 in the third of 14 qualifying squads to lead a field of 236 players - 161 men and 75 women - from 19 countries with 1476 pinfall total. Manuel Mrosek (r.), Germany, was second with 1449.
Four players cracked the 1400-mark in Friday's qualifying of the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament en route to move into top 8 in the overall standings. Manuel Mrosek (l) of Germany, and Jord van Weeren (r.), Netherlands, led Squads 9 and 11 with 1449 and 1398, erspectively, to pocket the last two Euro incentives by tournament sponsor Hammer. Qualifying ends on Saturday with Squads 12, 13 and 14 and concludes with the one-game Desperado Squad.
Long-time Belgian international Jean-Marc Lebon (pictured left) and Uwe Blank of Germany led Squad 7 and 8 Thursday at Dolfijn Bowling Tilburg in Tilburg, Netherlands en route to move into the top 10 in the overall qualifying standings of the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament. Lebon's compatriot Michael Coussens (right) had the first 300 game of the tournament in his 1350 series in Squad 8 which propelled him into 14th place. 
Mik Stampe (pictured), Denmark, pocketed the 1.000 Euro Hammer Big Bonus after leading Squad 6 of the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament Thursday afternoon at Dolfijn Bowling Tilburg in Tilburg, Netherlands. Stampe used games of 255, 245, 201, 209, 280 and 200 for a 1390 series (231.67 average), to beat out fellow countryman Lars Høberg for the incentive by 18 pins. With six out of 14 qualifying squads in the books, Wim Claessens of Belgium held on to the lead with 1476 total pins and an average of 246.
Forty players took to the lanes at Dolfijn Bowling Tilburg in Tilburg, Netherlands Wednesday evening for the fifth qualifying squad in the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament 2012. Another two Dutch women, Nicole Sanders and Ellen Jansen led the squad en route to move into the top 10 in the overall qualifying standings. Sanders (pictured) became the second player who cracked the 1400-bar with 1442 to move into second place behind Wim Claessens, Belgium (1476). 
Three Dutch women, Wendy Kok, Ghislaine van der Tol and Lisanne Breeschoten, led the qualifying of the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament Tuesday night at Dolfijn Bowling Tilburg in Tilburg, Netherlands en route to finish in the top six of the Squad 1-4 standings. Kok (pictured) rolled a 1392 series with handicap (224 average) including two 267 games to lead Squad 4 and to jump into second place overall. Wim Claessens, Belgium, leads the field of 97 players from six countries with 1476 and an average of 246.
Wim Claessens, Belgium (r.), led the third qualifying squad at Dolfijn Bowling Tilburg in Tilburg, Netherlands Monday night with 1476 total to easily overtake the lead in the qualifying of the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament and to earn a 250 Euro bonus from tournament sponsor Hammer. Daniel Dol , Netherlands, checked in with 1385 to move into second place. Former Dutch women's national team member Lisanne Breeschoten (l.) totaled 1362 including handicap to leap into fourth place.
Roel Mol, Netherlands, posted a 1367 series to kick off the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament 2012 Sunday afternoon at Dolfijn Bowling Tilburg in Tilburg, Netherlands. Defending HBS champion Gery Verbruggen (pictured), Belgium, led Squad 2 to sit in second place with 1341. Another three Dutch bowlers cracked the 1300-bar bar on the first day of qualifying. Qualifying continues on Monday, Feb. 13 with Squad 3 scheduled for 8 p.m.
CET. The winner of Squad 3 will receive a 250 Euro bonus.
PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss (l.), United States, won three consecutive matches en route to win his third career European Bowling Tour in the sixth International Wroclaw Open by Hammer Sunday evening at bowling center Galeria Rozrywki Miraz in Wroclaw, Poland. In the title match, Voss defeated two-handed Latvian Daniel Vezis (r.), the No. 1 seed, 453-429, to claim the 4.250 Euro top prize. Mikael Kanold, Sweden, and Jouni Helminen, Finland, finished third and fourth, resp.
Swedish international Mikael Kanold (l., 1361) and local favorite Łukasz Zjawiony (1360) led the top 40 players into the finals of the 6th International Wroclaw Open by Hammer Sunday in Wroclaw, Poland. Paul Stott Jr. (r.) of Ireland had the highest series on Saturday to leap into third place in the overall qualifying standings with 1331. The top 40 players from the qualifying advanced to the finals with the qualifying pinfall being carried forward. 
In all-American affair, three-time WTBA World Champion Bill O'Neill (l.) defeated fellow PBA champion Mike Fagan (r.), 236-224, to win the 42nd Brunswick Ballmaster Open Sunday, Jan. 15 in Helsinki, Finland, and the 12.000 top prize. O'Neill and women's ranking winner Krista Pöllänen, Finland,
became the first leaders of the men's and women's ranking in both the
2012 European Bowling Tour and the 2012 World Bowling Tour rankings. 
Mike Fagan (l.), United States, used back-to-back 279s games to lead Final Round One in the Brunswick Ballmaster Open Sunday morning at Tali Bowling Center in Helsinki, Finland. The two-time PBA champion knocked down 1839 pins, an average of 229.88 for eight games, to lead the top 16 players into round robin match play. Three-time Ballmaster champion Pasi Uotila (r.), Finland, was mere six pins behind in second place with 1833.