Missy Bellinder, United States, led the first of five squads on the penultimate qualifying day in the Brunswick Euro Challenge early Friday morning at Plaza Bowling (pictured above) in Saint Maximin, France.

Bellinder, the sole women, who owns two PBA regional titles posted a 1300 series scratch including a high game of 256 and added 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour. Her 1348 pinfall total propelled her into fourth place in the overall qualifying standings.

World Champion Martin Larsen, Sweden, continued to lead the field of now 311 players from 33 countries with 1448 (241.33), with Australia's Jason Belmonte in second with 1398 and PBA champion Mike Fagan, United States, in third at 1390.

Though Bodo Konieczny, Germany, landed in second place this morning and 26th overall with 1276, the ladies dominated the 14th of 22 qualifying squads.
Nicki Ainge, England, Dane Lotte Pedersen and Bigi Manico, Switzerland moved into the top 62 who will survive the first cut at the end of the qualifying.

Ainge led the trio with 1262 including a 233 high game to sit in 31st place. Pedersen was six pins behind with 1356, good for 37th place. Manico (left), a multiple Swiss champion, was another two pins behind to overtake the 39th place with 1254. All scores including 48 pins handicap.

The cutoff number for 16th place went up to 1296 (Diandra Asbaty, USA) and the cut for 52nd place is 1235 (Jimmy Ravez, Belgium). However, Ravez is safe as he secured a spot for the finals through his fourth place finish in the combined standings of squads from the first weekend (squads 1-5).


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 continues Friday with four more squads scheduled for 12 a.m., 4 and 8 p.m. and Midnight and ends on Saturday with squads #19-22 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.