2007 European Youth Championships declared open
04/08/07
2007 EYC
256 youth bowlers from 28 countries ready to rumble
On Saturday evening at 8 p.m. sharp the Opening Ceremony of the 20th European Youth Championships started with the march in of the participating players and coaches.
Alex Tzounis (pictured left), President of the Hellas Bowling Federation, welcomed record 256 players from 28 countries (pictured above, click on the image to view it full size) at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki:
Greece: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and the host country, Greece.
Tzounis, still one of the best players in country, promised that he and the members of the organizing committee as well as the host proprietor, Bill Hartofillis, and his staff would do their utmost to make it a wonderful and memorable tournament for everybody.
Kim Thorsgaard Jensen, Denmark, European Tenpin Bowling Federation Vice President, then welcomed all participants on behalf of the ETBF to the "biggest of the five ETBF championships". Click on the images above to view full size.
Jensen called the youth championships the "most colorful and most noisy" and the players and the audience in the packed bowling center proved him right.
Like in the Brunswick Euro Challenge three weeks ago, Kostas Sakellariou, a former European Champions Cup winner, was the Masters of the Ceremonies (pictured here with his little son, who was bearing the ETBF flag).
Sakellariou asked Greek's Evi Pertsinidou (left) to take the players' oath. Next was referee Aris Tsifloglou (right), who took the oath on the behalf of the officials.
The ceremony was capped off with the national anthem of Greece and the march out of the teams.
During the next seven days, the players, who must not have reached the age of 19 before August 31st, 2007, will compete in two divisions - boys and girls - for gold, silver and bronze medals in Doubles, Trios, Teams, All Events (18 games) and Masters (single-elimination, best-of-three games).
Bowlingdigital reports live from the 20th European Youth Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece commencing with the Girls Doubles on Sunday, April 8 all the way through to the Boys and Girls Masters finals on Saturday afternoon, April 14.
Due to the record number of players and the numerous officials, parents and other guests, the organizers had to book additional hotels to the three originally planned: Royal, Ambassador, Avalon, Sun Beach and Galaxias Hotel, with the VIPs staying in the former Kempinski, which is in a walking distance from the bowling center.
While waiting for the busses, the Greek Youth National Team started to perform some traditional Greek dances on the parking lot.
Spectators said that it looked like as if the championship was over instead of having just started. The truth is that it was more fun watching the youth bowlers waiting for a bus than attending most of the victory banquets of the adult championships.
Among those who were seen on the "dance floor" were Alex Tzounis, Bill Hartofillis (right, third from left) and John Davis (above, center), lane maintenance guru and chairman of the WTBA Technical Committee.
Click on the images to view full size.
Alex Tzounis (pictured left), President of the Hellas Bowling Federation, welcomed record 256 players from 28 countries (pictured above, click on the image to view it full size) at Strike Bowling Club in Thessaloniki:Greece: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and the host country, Greece.
Tzounis, still one of the best players in country, promised that he and the members of the organizing committee as well as the host proprietor, Bill Hartofillis, and his staff would do their utmost to make it a wonderful and memorable tournament for everybody.Kim Thorsgaard Jensen, Denmark, European Tenpin Bowling Federation Vice President, then welcomed all participants on behalf of the ETBF to the "biggest of the five ETBF championships". Click on the images above to view full size.
Jensen called the youth championships the "most colorful and most noisy" and the players and the audience in the packed bowling center proved him right. Like in the Brunswick Euro Challenge three weeks ago, Kostas Sakellariou, a former European Champions Cup winner, was the Masters of the Ceremonies (pictured here with his little son, who was bearing the ETBF flag).
Sakellariou asked Greek's Evi Pertsinidou (left) to take the players' oath. Next was referee Aris Tsifloglou (right), who took the oath on the behalf of the officials. The ceremony was capped off with the national anthem of Greece and the march out of the teams.
During the next seven days, the players, who must not have reached the age of 19 before August 31st, 2007, will compete in two divisions - boys and girls - for gold, silver and bronze medals in Doubles, Trios, Teams, All Events (18 games) and Masters (single-elimination, best-of-three games).
Bowlingdigital reports live from the 20th European Youth Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece commencing with the Girls Doubles on Sunday, April 8 all the way through to the Boys and Girls Masters finals on Saturday afternoon, April 14. Due to the record number of players and the numerous officials, parents and other guests, the organizers had to book additional hotels to the three originally planned: Royal, Ambassador, Avalon, Sun Beach and Galaxias Hotel, with the VIPs staying in the former Kempinski, which is in a walking distance from the bowling center.
While waiting for the busses, the Greek Youth National Team started to perform some traditional Greek dances on the parking lot. Spectators said that it looked like as if the championship was over instead of having just started. The truth is that it was more fun watching the youth bowlers waiting for a bus than attending most of the victory banquets of the adult championships.
Among those who were seen on the "dance floor" were Alex Tzounis, Bill Hartofillis (right, third from left) and John Davis (above, center), lane maintenance guru and chairman of the WTBA Technical Committee. Click on the images to view full size.