Danes Jesper Agerbo (pictured left) and Bo Winther Pedersen (right) led the 17th out of 23 qualifying squads in the Brunswick Euro Challenge Saturday afternoon at Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France.

Agerbo, who won the silver medal in the Masters competition the 2008 Men's World Championship in Thailand, used a high game of 268 and two 240s to overtake 9th place in the overall qualifying standings with 1378.

PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss is in the pole position since Squad 13 with 1537 six-game total and an average of 256.17. Joanne Allsebrook, England, is the top-ranked woman in the 268-player field in second place with 1484 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

Photos: Beat Grauwiler.

Winther was mere three pins behind Agerbo with 1375, good for 12th place overall. Third-place Ron van den Bogaard (right), Netherlands, moved into the 16th and final place to earn one bye for the finals with 1363 or an average of 227.17.

Tore Torgersen (left), Norway, set the highlight when he posted the fourth 300 game in the Brunswick Euro Challenge 2009 and the third by a man in game #4. The long-time Norwegian national team member, a former World and European champion as well as PBA exempt bowler, accomplished the feat on lanes 9/10. It was the 37th perfecto of his career. Watch the video of Tore's final frame here.

The top 13 players from Squad 13 including last year's qualifying winner Martin Larsen, Sweden (1355), Torgersen (1350), reigning EBT ranking queen Nina Flack (left), Sweden (1321) as well as the top French bowling couple, Isabelle (1313) and Francois Sacco (1331) , cracked the 1300-bar and moved into the top 52.

World Youth champion Tina Hulsch (right), Germany, slipped to 52nd place with 1301.

In 2008, the first time that the BEC was staged at Le Plaza Bowling Saint Maximin, Larsen won the qualifying with 1448 (241.33) and the cutoff number for 52nd place was 1263 (210.50).

The Brunswick Euro Challenge is the fourth stop of the 2009 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "majors". The total prize fund is 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 2009 sponsored by Brunswick Bowling is organized by Brunswick distributor Valcke Bowling.

Qualifying will run through Saturday, March 14, with the final qualifying squad 23 scheduled for 8pm and ends with the ultimate Desperado Squad at 11pm.

A total of 64 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, March 15. The top 16 players will receive one bye and will seeded 1-16 in Round 2.

The following 48 players will qualify for Round 1:

• Players positioned 17th-52nd in qualifying
• the top 6 from a separate standing for the squads conducted March 6-8, 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 No. 1 seed will take on No. 32, No. 2 bowls No. 31, etc. The field will be cut to 16, 8 and then four, who will determine the champion in a stepladder final. The winner will receive the 16.000 Euro top prize.


Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin with results and updates after each round commencing March 12 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, March 15.