Jimmy Ravez, Amandine Jacques take over lead in Brunswick Euro Challenge

    03/19/12

    2012 European Bowling Tour #4

    Six players move into top 8 in Sunday's qualifying squads 5, 6 and 7; cut for 52nd place is 1194

    2012EBT04JimmyRavez.jpg2012EBT04AmandineJacques.jpgJimmy Ravez (pictured left) of Belgium rolled a 1396 six-game 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 (right) became the first woman this year to win a qualifying squad when the French bowler posted 1386 in Squad 5. Jacques had six games between 246 and 194 and added eight pins handicap each game.

    2012EBT04GeryVerbruggen.jpg2012EBT04YoanAlix.jpgDay one leader Gery Verbruggen (left), Belgium, slipped to third place with 1375 and was followed by Jonathan Lefevre, France, who was second to Jacques with 1350.

    French international and one-time European Bowling Tour titlist Yoan Alix (right) almost achieved perfection in Squad 6. Alix started with games of 193, 236, 166 and 229 before he missed the tournament's first 300 game by one in game #5. He closed out his series with 213 to lead the squad with 1336, good for fifth place in the overall qualifying standings.

    Rounding out the top 8 after two days were Michael Holzapfel, Germany (1329), Mathias Sarmadi, France (1324) and Xavier Lotthe, France (1324). The top 8 in after Monday's Squad 8 (scheduled for 8.30 p.m. CET) will be automatically qualified for the finals if they don't finish in the top 52.

    Gaëlle Laplanche currently holds the 52nd and last place to advance to finals with 1194.

    2011EBT17ClaraGuerrero2_small.jpgThe Brunswick Euro Challenge is the fourth tournament on the 2012 European Bowling Tour schedule and one of only two "Platinum" events, the EBT's highest category. The BEC is also the seventh event of the 2012 World Bowling Tour and the second of three WBT events in Europe this season. Colombia's Clara Juliana Guerrero (left) is the defending champion. <br><br>

    The tournament will be held from March 16-25 at 28-laner Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin near Paris, France and offers total prize money of 106.000 Euro, approximately US $140,000 with 15.000 Euro going to the winner, 7.500 Euro to the runner-up and 5.000 Euro to the third place finisher.

    ValckeBowling.jpg BowlingdigitalBanner.gif The 2012 Brunswick Euro Challenge is organized and conducted by Brunswick distributor Valcke Bowling. Bowlingdigital.com will cover the event live from Le Plaza Bowling with stories and results after each round including live streaming, high definition videos and high quality photos.

    Live streaming starts with the stepladder finals of the WTBA International Open Wednesday, March 21st from 3.30 to 4.30 p.m. Central European Time (10.30 a.m. EST; 10.30 p.m. Hong Kong time). Live streaming of the 2012 Brunswick Euro Challenge stepladder finals will start on Sunday, March 25th at 6.30 p.m. Central European Time (12.30 p.m. EST; 12.30 a.m. on the 26th Hong Kong time). The award ceremonies are scheduled for 7.30 p.m. CET.

    2012BECLogo_small.jpg BEC qualifying runs through Saturday, March. 24 with the final Squad 25 slated for 8 p.m. Qualifying concludes with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad at 11.30 p.m. Women will receive 8 pins handicap each game throughout the entire event, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    A total of 64 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, March 25, the top 52 in the overall qualifying standings, the top 8 of a separate leaderboard of the squads conducted March 16-19 plus the top 4 of the Desperado Squad. The top 12 qualifiers will receive one bye.

    The remaining 52 finalists will bowl six games scratch to cut to the top 16 who will join the top 12 qualifiers in Round Two. Those 28 will bowl another six games scratch after which the field will be trimmed to the top 8 players who will carry their pinfall total forward into the match play round.

    After seven games round robin match play (30 for each win; 15 for each tie) the top 3 players will determine the champion in a stepladder final. The No. 3 seed bowls the No. 2 seed and the winner of the semifinal match takes on the No. 1 seed for the title, and the 15.00 Euro top prize.

    2012EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2012 European Bowling Tour is made up of 21 events in 16 countries including two Platinum, four Gold, eight Silver and seven Satellite tournaments.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event earn ranking points based on how they finish in the event. The winner of a Platinum tournament such as the Brunswick Euro Challenge receives 250 ranking points, the winner of a Gold tournament gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament earns 100, and the winner of a Satellite tournament gets 50 ranking points.

    Those points will be tabulated throughout the season to determine the top 16 men and top 16 women who will compete in the sixth EBT Masters in Bratislava, Slovakia in Sept. 2013.

    2012 European Bowling Tour Rankings
    EBT Women's Ranking
    EBT Men's Ranking

    WBTLogo_small.jpgThe ninth edition of the Brunswick Euro Challenge is also the seventh event of the 2012 World Bowling Tour organized by the World Tenpin Bowling Association. After the Bahamas Classic has been postponed the 2012 WBT consists of 13 tournaments in America, Asia, Europe and Australia - five in the United States and one each in Australia, Austria, Finland, France, Japan, Korea, Kuwait and Thailand.

    Players earn ranking points based on how they finish in each event. The current points system is based on a continuous two-year cycle, so points earned in 2011 are added to points earned in 2012 to determine the points list.

    The top three men and top three women will be invited to compete in the World Bowling Tour Finals presented by the Professional Bowlers Association at the end of 2012 featuring total prize fund of $70,000.

    World Bowling Tour Rankings
    WBT Women's Ranking
    WBT Men's Ranking

    The World Tenpin Bowling Association, which is made up of 115 bowling federations, governs the sport throughout the world. For more information on WTBA and the World Bowling Tour, visit WorldTenpinBowling.com.

     


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    2012 European Bowling Tour Schedule
    2012 World Bowling Tour Schedule

     


    Qualifying Standings after Squad 7/25

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