Osku Palermaa from Finland and Kirsten Penny, England, held on to the lead in the European rankings after the conclusion of the Ankara Open Sunday, Sep. 21. Palermaa finished third in Ankara, worth 105 ranking points, to lead the men's division with 544 ranking point total. Penny missed the first cut and received mere 24 points to lead the women's division with 523 points.

With the help of 150 points from Ankara - the first-ever EBT "Premier" event offered triple ranking points, women's ranking winner, Britt Brøndsted, Denmark, and tournament winner and men's ranking winner, Dominic Barrett, England, jumped into 5th and second place, respectively.

The top eight men and the top eight women at the end of the ranking season will qualify for the 2009 World Ranking Masters in Naples, Italy. In addition, the top 16 men and the top 16 women will qualify for the EBT Masters in May 2008 in Aalborg, Denmark.

The European Bowling Tour will take a short break before heading to Austria for the 6th Columbia 300 Vienna Open, an EBT Major, at Plus Bowling in Vienna from Sep. 30 through Oct. 5, 2008.

As every year, Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Vienna with results and updates after each round plus the much-anticipated high definition videos - Note: We will be testing live streaming! - commencing Oct. 1 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, October 5.