Six Americans lead Brunswick Euro Challenge after 11 of 25 qualifying squads

    03/22/12

    2012 European Bowling Tour #4

    Blanchard, MacLelland pace Squad 11 to move into top 12; cut for 52nd place increased to 1272

    2012EBT04TomHess2.jpg2012EBT04JoshBlanchard.jpgSix U.S. bowlers lead a field of 228 players, 185 men and 43 women, from 22 countries after the conclusion of 11 out of 25 qualifying squads in the Brunswick Euro Challenge Wednesday night at Plaza Bowling Saint Maximin in suburban Paris.

    2011 USBC Masters champion Tom Hess (left) continued to lead with 1533 and an average of 255.50 including a high game of 289 and four 250s. Fellow PBAers Dino Castillo was mere two pins behind in second place with 1531.

    PBA champions Sean Rash (1488) and Tom Smallwood sit in third and fourth place with 1488 and 1465, respectively.

    Josh Blanchard (above right) led Squad 11 en route to overtake fifth place with 1428 pinfall and an average of 238. The former collegiate standout, currently the No. 10 in the PBA Tour point ranking, got off to s low start with games of 194 and 204. Blanchard added 226 and 236 before he closed out his series with 298 and 270.

    2012EBT04JimmyRavez.jpg201112PBA10DanMacLelland4.jpgRounding out the top six was 13-time PBA champ, Tommy Jones with 1420. Malaysian national team member Mohd Nur Aiman is the best non-American in seventh place with 1412 followed by Jimmy Ravez (left), Belgium, in eighth place with 1396.

    PBA exempt player Dan MacLelland (right), who won the Mini Eliminator in February, was second to Blanchard Wednesday night with 1394 including six games between 211 and 251, good for ninth place.

    2012EBT04WalterRayWilliams2.jpg2012EBT04AmandineJacques.jpgPBA and USBC Hall of Famers, Walter Ray Williams Jr. (left) and Parker Bohn III, fell two spots to 10th and 11th place with 1388 and 1387, respectively.Amandine Jacques (right) remained the top French bowler and the best of 43 women in the field in 12th place with 1386 including 8 pins handicap each game.

    Alexandra Combes, France , is the woman "on the bubble" in 52nd place with 1272.

    Qualifying continues on Thursday with Squad 13, 14 and 15 scheduled for noon, 4 and 8 p.m. CET. Squad 12 on Thursday morning has been cancelled due to the low number of entries.

    Photo Gallery Part 1

    2011EBT17ClaraGuerrero2_small.jpg The 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.

    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 of the 2012 Brunswick Euro Challenge stepladder finals starts 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.

    The live stream of the stepladder finals of the World Bowling Tour's WTBA International Open, which was contested Wednesday, March 20th at Plaza St. Maximim, can be found here.

    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.

     


    Related Articles


    Tom Smallwood leads Squad 10 to move into fourth place in Brunswick Euro Challenge
    Tom Hess, Dino Castillo crack the 1500-bar in Squad 9
    The top 8 players of Squads 1-8 are automatically qualified for the finals
    Jimmy Ravez, Amandine Jacques take over lead in Brunswick Euro Challenge
    Gery Verbruggen sets the tone in 2012 Brunswick Euro Challenge
    Live Coverage of the EBT/WBT Brunswick Euro Challenge from Plaza Saint Maximin, France
    2012 European Bowling Tour Schedule
    2012 World Bowling Tour Schedule

     


    Qualifying Standings after Squad 11/25


    The top 52 in the overall qualifying standings, the top 8 of a separate leaderboard of the squads 1-8 (places 53-60) plus the top 4 of the Desperado Squad (places 61-64) will advance to the finals. The top 12 qualifiers will receive one bye.

    Â