Rafael Medina (left), Venezuela, had games of 227, 220, 214, 216, 236, 180 in squad #7 to take the pole position in the qualifying of the Brunswick Euro Challenge at Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France.

Medina totaled 1293 pins and averaged 215.50 for his six games to top previous leader Andres Gomez (right), Colombia, by 11 pins. Gomez, who had 1261 in this squad, slipped to second with 1282.

Nicolas Forestier, France, fell to third with 1277. Fourth place belongs to USBC Masters champion Sean Rash, United States. The 4-time PBA champion had a 1260 series in his first attempt on Tuesday evening including high games of 242 and 230.

L-R Mika Koivuniemí, Rick Benoit and Sean Rash.

Alexandre Vahidi, France, used a tied tournament high game of 259 to leap into fifth place with 1259, with his compatriot Francois Sacco close behind in sixth place at 1248. Seventh placed Olivier Leroy (right), Belgium, 1242, has already secured a spot in the finals through a top 6 finish in squads 1-5.

Emmanuel Michaud, France, had 1240, good enough for 8th place. Anne Gales, Denmark, fell four spots but remained the top-ranked woman in 9th place with 1238 including 48 pins handicap, a standard on the European Bowling Tour for women.

Rounding out the top 10 is Jimmy Ravez, Belgium, with 1235. Ildemaro Ruiz (left), Venezuela, tied Ravez at 1235 but sits in 11th place due to Ravez' higher last game. World traveler Tim Mack, United States, is 12th with 1229 including high games of 254 and 245.

As the scores show, the lane condition at Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin aren't that easy. After 7 off 22 qualifying squads the cut for the top 16 is 1216 and the cut for the top 52 is 1083 or an average of 180.50.

2003-04 PBA Player of the Year Mika Koivuniemi, Finland, and 3-time Asian Games champion and two-time world champion Remy Ong (right), Singapore, also tested the lanes on Tuesday. The lefty from Singapore started with four sub-par games but finished with 212 and 211 to manage 1092 pins, good for 49th place. 8-time PBA champion Koivuniemi had six consecutive games under 200 for 1054, a 175.67 average, to hold the 65th place.

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 Wednesday 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.