Jason Belmonte, the two-hander from Down Under, rolled games of 202, 226, 222, 232, the tournament high 279 and 237 to take the lead in the Brunswick Euro Challenge when the tournament has reaches the halfway point of its qualifying.

Belmonte led the 11th of 22 squads Thursday afternoon at Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France, with 1398 six-game total and an average of 233.00. He improved on a 1373 total to leap one spot and to overtake previous leader Mike Fagan (right), United States, by 8 pins.

The PBA exempt player slipped to second with 1390. Shaun Ng, Singapore, is a distant third with 1344. Rounding out the top 5 are Americans Tim Mack and Ronnie Russell with 1338 and 1332, respectively.

Corey Clayton, Canada, used three games between 236 and 245 to finish next to Belmonte in squad #11 en route to move into 6th place with 1325, an average of 220.83. Two more players from this squad, Petri Mannonen (left), Finland (12th; 1289) and Alex Cavagnaro, United States (16th; 1263), cracked the top 16.

Dutch Wendy van der List is still the sole woman in the top 16, who will bypass the first round of the finals, in 8th place with 1301 including 48 pins handicap, a standard on the European Bowling Tour for women.

Wolrd Ranking and World Masters champion Diandra Asbaty (right), United States, is the second-best woman in 20th place with 1245 pinfall total. 2003 3-time world champion Zara Glover, England was the best lady in squad #11 with 1238 including handicap, good for 23rd place in the overall standings.

György Bódis, Hungary, currently holds the 52nd and final qualifying post with 1189 and an average of 198.17.

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 Thursday through Saturday with at least four squads each day and ends with squad #22 and the ultimate Desperado Squad on 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.