The highlight of the winter swing of the 2009 European Bowling is the Brunswick Euro Challenge. As of March 4th 344 players - 264 men and 80 women - from 33 countries are registered for the EBT "Major", which will held from March 6-15 in the state-of-the-art "Le Plaza Bowling" in Saint Maximin near Paris, France.

For the second consecutive year, the 2009 Brunswick Euro Challenge sponsored by Brunswick Bowling will be organized by Brunswick distributor Valcke Bowling.

In addition to sponsoring the event, Brunswick will be introducing new bowling balls and conducting drilling and pro shop seminars at the event. The lanes will be cleaned and conditioned with the Authority22® lane maintenance system by Brunswick.

Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin is a 28-lane Brunswick-equipped facility located 40 kilometers north of Paris. The bowling center features Brunswick lanes, scoring, pinsetters, pins and lane maintenance. This location was chosen in 2008 (previous BECs were held in Thessaloniki, Greece) to attract more bowlers from Western European.

Saint Maximin's close proximity to Charles de Gaulle airport provides excellent connections to main European cities and major American and Asian airports. Many low-fare airlines serve this airport.

The 2008 BEC drew 405 players, 311 men and EBT record 94 women, from 36 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United States, and Venezuela.

Peter Ljung (pictured right) from Sweden is the defending champion.

Despite the world wide economic crisis the total prize fund is again 90,000 Euro (currently about US$114,000), and includes special prizes that will be given in categories such as youth encouragement, B Bowlers, and Women. In addition Brunswick offers up to $1,000 bonus for shooting a 300 game with the new Brunswick "Wilde Ride" bowling ball in the 2009 BEC.

The Brunswick Euro Challenge is a major tournament on the European Bowling Tour and is open to players from all World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA) member federations.

Once again Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin with results and updates after each round plus our much-anticipated high definition videos produced by Flavio Cuva (left) and photos by Beat Grauwiler (right) commencing March 12 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, March 15.

Please click on "Brunswick Euro Challenge" on the left menu bar to view the tournament format, schedule and prize money.

Click here to review Bowlingdigital's Live Coverage from the 2008 Brunswick Euro Challenge or click here to go straight to the video section.