Euro Challenge

Osku Palermaa from Finland, flew past Britt Bröndsted, 268-215, to win the Brunswick Euro Challenge in Thessaloniki, Greece. Palermaa, who led the tournament since the qualifying, pocketed the 16.000 Euro top prize. Jouni Helminen defeated Pasi Uotila, 192-159, in the opening match but fell to the Dane in the semi-final, 222-216. 

Swede Marcus Berndt continued hot hand and leads the top 16 players of the Round of 48 into the single elimination Round of 32 in best-of-three games match play format. Berndt, who led the 27th and final qualifying squad on Saturday evening, closed out his six-game set on Sunday morning with a huge 279 game to help grab the No. 17 seed with 1401 six-game total and an average of 233.50.

Swede Marcus Berndt, Piritta Kantola from Finland, Konstantinos Lyratzis, Greece and Michael Loos from Austria, waited until the 27th and final qualifying squad to book their spots for Sunday's finals of the Brunswick Euro Challenge at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki, Greece. Berndt had a high game of 266 and finished with three consecutive games over 220 to win the squad with 1357 six-game total and an average of 226.17.

Kimmo Lehtonen (l.) from Finland won the 26th qualifying squad in the Brunswick Euro Challenge. The Finnish lefty was targeting to overtake the qualifying lead but finished with a disappointing 180 game. Nikolay Ovchinnikovs (r.), Latvia, stole the show when he closed out his set with the fifth perfect game of the tournament. 

Shaun Ng (left) and Lee Yu-Wen (right), who shot the second and third of total four 300 games this week, led the 24th qualifying squad in the Brunswick Euro Challenge at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki, Greece en route to move into 17th and 18th position in the qualifying standings.

38 bowlers - almost a full squad - took on the 24 lanes at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki, Greece short after Midnight on early Saturday morning for the 22nd out of 27 qualifying squads. Dominic Barrett (pictured in action), the two-time English ranking champion, had a low start with 171, but added games of 258, 265, 217, 218 and 259 to move into 10th place with 1388 pinfall total and an average of 232.33.

Jouni Helminen, a former Finnish international and currently the President of the Finnish Bowling Federation, became the third consecutive Finnish bowler after Osku Palermaa, who continues to lead with 1430, and Reija Lunden, to win a qualifying squad in the Brunswick Euro Challenge at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki, Greece on Friday.

Reija Lunden (center), Mika Luoto (r.) and Pasi Uotila (l.), all from Finland, battled it out with American Tim Mack in the 20th qualifying squad in the Brunswick Euro Challenge in Thessaloniki, Greece. When the dust had settled, the three Finns emerged as squad leaders with Mack in fourth separated by five, nine and eight pins, resp.

World Cup champion Osku Palermaa rolled the fourth 300 game at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki en route to take the lead in the Brunswick Euro Challenge. The Finn, who uses both hands to swing and bowl the bowling ball, started his six game block with 12 consecutive strikes, then added games of 236, 186, 248, 215 and 245 to beat out previous leader Paul Moor from England by two pins for the qualifying lead.

Two-time World Champion Remy Ong (l.) from Singapore and Matt Giles (r.) from England cracked the top 16 in the qualifying of the Brunswick Euro Challenge in Thessaloniki, Greece, on Friday morning. Ong used a huge 289 in the opening game to leap into 13th place with 1342. Giles finished with 1330 to sit in 15th place.

Three-time men's and women's European Ranking Champions, Paul Moor from England and Britt Bröndsted from Denmark powered their way into the lead in the Brunswick Euro Challenge at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki, Greece. Moor (left), who has won two of the four European Bowling Tour events this season, had games of 257, 198, 247, 224, 235 and 267 to overtake the lead with 1428 pinfall total and an average of 238.00.

Some of Europe's and Asia's finest bowlers set the highlights in the 15th qualifying squad in the Brunswick Euro Challenge at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki, Greece this afternoon. Former World Cup champion Peter Ljung won the squad with a 1377 six-game series and an average of 229.50.  L-R Lee Yu-Wen and Shaun Ng, both Singapore, rolled the second and third perfect game of the tournament.

Ivan Semenov from Russia and Stuart Williams (pictured left), England, led Squad 14 in the Brunswick Euro Challenge at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki, Greece, en route to crack the top 5 in the qualifying standings. Semenov had high games of 246, 249 and 266 in games 2-4 to move into fourth place with 1327, a 221.17 average. Williams was close behind at 1321 including a 255 game, good enough for fifth place.

3-time European ranking champion Paul Moor (l.), Darren Cundy (r.) and Stuart Williams took on the lanes at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki, Greece, Wednesday evening. Moor felled 1292 pins, an average of 215.33, to move into 9th place in the overall standings. Cundy was second at 1284 (10th).

Rodrigo Hermes from Brazil and Nikita Koshelev, Russia, set the pace in the 11th qualifying squad in the Brunswick Euro Challenge en route to jump into second and third place in the qualifying standings. Hermes had high games of 245, 246, 258 and 266 but two sub-300 games cost him the lead as he finished with 1390 six-game total, mere five pins behind tournament leader Leonidas Maragos (left) from Greece.

Tim Mack, United States, booked a spot for the finals in the Brunswick Euro Challenge thanks to a perfect 300 game he fired during his first entry at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki, Greece, on Sunday evening. The former Team USA member moved into second place with 1319 pinfall total and an average of 219.83. Qualifying continues on Wednesday with Squads 11 and 12 at 5pm and 9pm local time.

Leonidas Maragos, Greece, who was third with 1306, improved his score in the sixth qualifying squad by 89 pins to shoot into the lead in the Brunswick Euro Challenge, the fifth stop of the 2007 European Bowling Tour. Maragos felled 1395 pins and had an average of 232.50. Vaggelis Krizinis slipped to second place with 1310.

Greek standout Dimitrios Karetsos set the pace in the fourth of 27 qualifying squads in the Brunswick Euro Challenge at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki, Greece Saturday evening. The 47-year-old multiple national champion and long-time national team member moved into fourth place behind a 1275 series, an average of 212.50 over six games.

Vaggelis Krizini, a 17-year-old Greek youth national team member, led the third qualifying squad with 1310 six-game total and an average of 218.33 to move to the top in the Brunswick Euro Challenge in Thessaloniki, Greece. Alex Tzounis, president of the Greek Bowling Federation, led Squad 4 with 1274, good enough for fourth place.

The Brunswick Euro Challenge, the fifth stop of the 2007 European Bowling Tour, is underway in Thessaloniki, Greece. 27 players - 24 men and 3 women - tested the lanes at Strike Bowling Club on Friday evening. Alexandra Zorba came out of the gates quickly firing games of 246 and 247 en route to take the early lead with 1218 six-game total including 48 pins handicap. Qualifying continues on Saturday with three more squads.