The World Tenpin Bowling Association, organizer of the WTBA International Open, and Valcke Bowling, organizer of the Brunswick Euro Challenge, have agreed that the stepladder finals of the WTBA International Open will be held on Wednesday, March 21st at Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France.

U.S. professionals Liz Johnson, Chris Barnes and Walter Ray Williams Jr. finished the preliminaries Jan. 28 - Feb. 5 at Sunset Station's Strike Zone bowling center in Las Vegas atop the leaderboard earning expenses-paid trips to suburban Paris for the stepladder finals, which will be held in conjunction with the Brunswick Euro Challenge.

L-R Christer Jonsson, World Tenpin Bowling Association Secretary General; Kevin Dornberger, WTBA and FIQ President; Chris Barnes (No. 2 seed), tournament leader Liz Johnson, Walter Ray Williams Jr. (No. 3 seed) and David Garber, Station Casino Lanes Director of Bowling. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Bowlingdigital.com, which has covered the WTBA International Open live from Sunset Station Hotel and Casino and will also cover the Brunswick Euro Challenge live from Plaza Bowl, will provide live streaming and tape-delay videos of the stepladder finals starting Wednesday, March 21st at 3.30 p.m. Central European Time (10.30 a.m. EST; 10.30 p.m. Hong Kong time).

In the opening match, the No. 2 seed, PBA Player of the Year 2007-08, Chris Barnes of Double Oak, Texas, who owns 13 PBA Tour titles including the PBA Triple Crown, will take on No. 3 seed, 47-time PBA champion and PBA and USBC Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Ocala, Fla., who was the PBA Player of the Year for record seven times (1986, '93, '96, '97, '98, 2002-03, and 2009-10).

The winner of the semifinal match bowls tournament leader Liz Johnson of Cheektowaga, N.Y., for the title and the $20,000 top prize. Johnson, a U.S. Open and USBC Queens champion, was the first women ever to reach a PBA National Tour championship match.

All three players are current or past Team USA members and multiple WTBA World Champions. While it is William's first appearance on the European Bowling Tour, Johnson and Barnes have each won one EBT title. Johnson captured the title of the 2006 Viernheim Open in Germany, while Barnes has won the 2010 Vienna Open in Austria.

The inaugural WTBA International Open, the third event on the 2012 World Bowling Tour, featured a European-style re-entry format and drew 132 players - 123 men and nine women. 36 out of 50 exempt players of the 2011-12 PBA Tour participated in the WTBA Open including five PBA Hall of Famers eight PBA Player of the Year and ten PBA Rookie of the Year. The top 3 players advanced to the stepladder finals with $20,000 going to the winner and $10,000 and $8,000 to the second and third place finishers, resp.

The Brunswick Euro Challenge is the fourth event of the 2012 European Bowling Tour and one of only two "Platinum" events and also the seventh event of the 2012 World Bowling Tour. The BEC, which takes place at Plaza Saint Maximin from March 16-25, offers total prize fund of 106.000 Euro and a 15.000 Euro top prize.

The 2012 World Bowling Tour consists of 14 tournaments in America, Asia, Europe and Australia - five in the United States and one each in Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Finland, France, Japan, Korea, Kuwait and Thailand. Players earn ranking points based on how they finish in each event.

WBT Women's Ranking
WBT Men's Ranking

The 2012 European Bowling Tour consists of 21 tournaments in 16 countries including two Platinum, four Gold, eight Silver and seven Satellite events. The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event receive ranking points.

2012 EBT Women's Ranking
2012 EBT Men's Ranking

 

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