Former PBA exempt bowler Andres Gomez, Colombia, rolled games of 210, 244, 216, 204, 198 and 210 in Squad 6 at Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France to overtake the qualifying lead in the Brunswick Euro Challenge with 1282 six-game total and an average of 213.67.

Gomez, who has already secured a spot in the finals through a top 6 finish in squads 1-5, is one of 21 international players and coaches, who attended an International Coach/Instructor Training seminar at USBC Headquarters in Milwaukee, Wis. last month and received USBC Silver Coach certification.

Nicolas Forestier, France, who led the squad after five games, finished with 194 and 1277 to move into second place in the overall qualifying standings.

Previous leader Olivier Leroy, Belgium, slipped to third place with 1242. Anne Gales, Denmark, is the top-ranked woman in fourth position with 1238 including 48 pins handicap, a standard on the European Bowling Tour for women.

More than 440 players from 38 countries are expected to bowl in the BEC this year including PBA champions Brian Voss, Mika Koivuniemi, Sean Rash and Mike Fagan.

As nearly all squads from Wednesday through Saturday are completely booked, some of the international players had to arrive early to participate.

Besides Gomez, three players from Venezuela have already tested the lanes. Rafael Medina (center) sits in fifth place with 1233, while Ildemaro Ruiz (right) is 21st with 1154 and William Ching (left) is in 30th place with 1112.

The Brunswick Euro Challenge is the fifth stop on the 2008 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "majors". The BEC offers total prize fund of 90,000 Euros (currently approx. $136,500) and offers special prizes that will be given in categories such as youth encouragement, "B" bowlers and ladies.

The 2008 Brunswick Euro Challenge sponsored by Brunswick Bowling is organized by Brunswick distributor Valcke Bowling.

Qualifying will continue Tuesday through Saturday and ends with the 22nd qualifying squad and the ultimate Desperado Squad Saturday night, March 15.

A total of 64 players will qualify for the finals. The top 16 players will receive one bye into step 2 and will seeded 1-16.

The following 48 players will qualify for step 1:

• Players positioned 17-52 in the qualifying
• the top 6 from a separate standing for the squads conducted March 7-9, who are not among the top 52
• the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

Those 48 will bowl six games starting from scratch to cut to the top 16 , who will meet the top 16 qualifiers in the first match play round. Match play is best-of-three games single-elimination. The field will be cut to 16, 8 and then four, who will determine the champion in a stepladder final.


Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Paris with updates after each squad and round, respectively, and exclusive video footage commencing Thursday, March 13 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, March 16.


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