Finnish trio atop the leaderboard of Squad 23 at Brunswick Euro Challenge

    03/25/12

    2012 European Bowling Tour #4

    Palermaa, Jussila, Koivuniemi shoot 1414, 1413 and 1412; Barnes ties Koivuniemi to book the finals; four players move into the top 52; cut is now 1355 (223.83)

    2012EBT04OskuPalermaa2.jpg2012EBT04PerttuJussila.jpgFinnish bowlers set the tone in the third to last qualifying squad of the Brunswick Euro Challenge Saturday afternoon at Plaza Saint Maximin in suburban Paris, France.

    Osku Palermaa (pictured left), who is targeting to win his third consecutive tournament and his fourth career PBA title in Paris, totaled 1414 pins to lead Squad 23 with his compatriots Perttu Jussila (right) and Mika Koivuniemi one and two pins behind with 1413 and 1412, respectively.

    Palermaa (1440) and Koivuniemi (1453) had already higher scores earlier this week and remained in 9th and 8th place. Jussila, who closed out his series with 255, 244 and 267 leaped from 49th to 19th place.

    2012EBT04ChrisBarnes.jpg2012EBT04MikaKoivuniemi2.jpgTom Hess, United States, continued to lead the field of 398 players, 81 women and 317 men, from 35 countries with 1533 and an average of 255.50.

    13-time PBA champion Chris Barnes (left), who fell out of the top 52 in the previous squad, tied Koivuniemi (right) at 1412 to jump into 20th place. Barnes was 146 over (based on a 200 average) after five games and needed a good last game to qualify for the finals.

    Bowling on lane 26 together with Vincent Cayez of France, Barnes started the sixth game with an eight-bagger. Cayez matched the eight strikes so did Koivuniemi on lane 27. Barnes (8-pin) and Koivuniemi (10-pin) failed to strike in frame nine and finished with 266 and 269, respectively.

    2011EBT04VincentCayez.jpg2012EBT04StuartWilliams2.jpgCayez (left), who had no chance to make the cut (minus 40 after five games) got strikes 9, 10 and 11 but left the 2-7 baby split on his fill ball to miss the second 300 game of the tournament by two pins. The lefty finished with 1258.

    Stuart Williams (right), England, was fifth in Squad 23 with 1369. The former World Ranking Masters champion, who won his first PBA title in the first tournament of the 2011-12 PBA Tour, is the best non-U.S. player in the field with his high series of 1475.

    His compatriot Dominic Barrett, who became England's second PBA Tour champion just two tournaments later, checked in with 1357 to miss his 1368 high (39th place) by eleven pins.

    2012EBT04KarlWahlgren2.jpg2012EBT04CassieStaudinger.jpgKarl Wahlgren (left), Sweden, who rolled the sole 300 game so far in Squad 15, used six games between 206 and 246 for 1360 to leap into 46th place. Cassie Staudinger (right), Australia, was just one pin behind with 1359 including 48 pins handicap to take over 47th place. She is now the 12th woman above the cut line.

    Denmark's Mik Stampe was another pin behind Staudinger with 1358 to grab 49th place. Mykhaylo Kalika, Ukraine, mans the 52nd and last place to advance with 1355 and an average of 225.83.

    Qualifying continues on Saturday with Squads 24 and 25 scheduled for 4 and 8 p.m. CET and concludes with the Desperado Squad slated for 11.30 p.m.

    Photo Gallery Part 1 Photos Beat Grauwiler/Bowlingdigital.com.

    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.

     


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    Qualifying Standings after Squad 23/25


    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.


    300 game (1) - Karl Wahlgren

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