Five players move into the top ten during Sunday's qualifying at Brunswick Euro Challenge

    03/07/11

    2011 European Bowling Tour #4

    Finn Jouni Helminen still 163 pins ahead of the rest of the 141-player field

    2011EBT04JouniHelminen.jpg

    2011EBT04MohamedSultan.jpgFinn Jouni Helminen (pictured left) remained unchallenged during Sunday's qualifying squads 5, 6 and 7 and continued to lead the qualifying of the Brunswick Euro Challenge with 1435 six-game total and an average of 239.17.

    Helminen, who had four 250-plus games in his six-game block Saturday at Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France, held a 163-pin lead outaveraging his nearest competitor, Olivier Braine of Belgium, by more than 27 pins per game. Braine remained in second place with 1272 or an average of 212.

    Mickel Rives, France, led the fifth qualifying squad Sunday morning with 1259, good enough to overtake third place in the overall qualifying standings as it turned out to be the highest score on Sunday.

    Sophie Herbin, France, fell one spot to fourth place but still is the best of 17 women in the field with 1255 including 48 pins handicap. Frederic Salmon, Belgium, slipped to fifth with 1253.

    2009BWCIsabelleSacco4.jpg2011EBT04JeanMarcLebon.jpgFour bowlers from Saudi Arabia competed in the BEC on the first weekend. Mohamed Sultan (above right) led the seventh qualifying squad Sunday evening by mere one pin over Isabelle Sacco (left), the French No. 1 female bowler. Sultan toppled 1250 pins including two 240s and Sacco checked in with 1249 including 48 pins handicap after finishing with 256 to move into sixth and seventh place, respectively, in the overall qualifying standings.

    Julien Sermand, France, fell to eighth place with 1247, while Mats Maggi, Belgium, who was second to Rives in Squad 5 with 1245 overtook ninth place. Rounding out the top 10 was long-time Belgian national team member Jean-Marc Lebon (right), who led Squad 6 with 1240 including a high game of 267.

    The top 8 after Tuesday's squad 9 will earn automatic berth into the finals on Sunday, March 13 if they don't qualify among the top 52 of the overall qualifying leaderboard.

    With seven out of 25 qualifying squads in the books, Laurent Plantard, France, holds the 52nd and last place to advance to the finals with 1124 six-game total and an average of 187.33.

    Qualifying continues on Monday, March 7 with Squad 8 scheduled for 8.30 p.m.

    2011BECLogo.jpg The 2011 Brunswick Euro Challenge is the fourth tournament on the 2011 European Bowling Tour schedule and one of just two "Platinum" events, the EBT's highest category.

    The BEC, which will be held from March 4-13, 2011 at 28-laner Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin near Paris, France, offers total prize money of 106.000 Euro (approx. US $143,000) with 15.000 Euro going to the winner, 7.500 to the runner-up and 5.000 to the third place finishers.

    Since the Viborg International in Viborg, Denmark originally scheduled for July 30-Aug. 7, 2011 has been cancelled, the 2011 European Bowling Tour consists of 21 tour stops in 17 countries including two Platinum, six Gold, seven Silver and six Satellite tournaments.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event receive ranking points. The winner of a Platinum tournament such as the Brunswick Euro Challenge receives 250 ranking points, the winner of a Gold tournament gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament earns 100, and the winner of a Satellite tournament gets 50 ranking points.

    The top 16 men and the top 16 women at the end of the 2011 season qualify for the 5th EBT Masters to be held at Dream-Bowl Palace in Unterföhring near Munich, Germany on April 30 and May 1, 2012. The event will become the first EBT Masters to be contested on single lane condition.

    ValckeBowling.jpg BowlingdigitalBanner.gif The 2011 Brunswick Euro Challenge will be organized and conducted by Brunswick distributor Valcke Bowling. Bowlingdigital.com will cover the event live from Le Plaza Bowling with stories and results after each round including live streaming, high definition videos and high quality photos.


    2004EBT04BrondstedHartofillis.jpg2010EBT05RobThurlby2.jpg The first edition of the Brunswick Euro Challenge in the year 2004 was won by three-time EBT women's ranking winner Britt Brøndsted of Denmark (pictured left with organizer Bill Hartofillis). The Dane was followed by Jens Nickel, Germany (2005), Jason Belmonte, Australia (2006); Osku Palermaa, Finland (2007); Peter Ljung, Sweden (2008); Mike Fagan, United States (2009); and defending champion Rob Thurlby, England (2010; pictured right). Reigning women's ranking champion Nina Flack, Sweden, has won the BEC women's ranking last year.

    WBTLogo_small.jpgThe 8th Brunswick Euro Challenge is also the fourth event of the new World Bowling Tour organized by the World Tenpin Bowling Association. The WBT is a new concept developed by the WTBA to showcase the best bowlers from around the world.

    Players who compete in the selected international events and finish among the top three men and top three women in the final points standings will be eligible to compete in the World Bowling Tour Finals, a special televised event during the 2011 PBA World Series of Bowling in Las Vegas with a prize fund of $40,000.

    Qualifying begins on Friday March 3 with Squad 1 scheduled for 8.30 p.m. Central European Time (CET) and runs through Saturday, March. 12 with the final Squad 25 slated for 8 p.m. Qualifying concludes with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad at 11.30 p.m. Women will receive 8 pins handicap each game throughout the entire event, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    A total of 64 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, March 13, the top 52 in the overall qualifying standings, the top 8 of a separate leaderboard of the squads conducted March 4-8, plus the top 4 of the Desperado Squad. The top 12 players after qualifying will receive one bye.

    The remaining 52 finalists will bowl six games scratch to cut to the top 16 who will join the top 12 qualifiers in Round Two. Those 28 will bowl another six games scratch after which the field will be trimmed to the top 8 players who will carry their pinfall total forward into the match play round.

    The top 3 players after seven games round robin match play plus one game position round including bonus pins (30 for each win; 15 for each tie) will determine the champion in a stepladder final. The No. 3 seed bowls the No. 2 seed and the winner of the semifinal match takes on the No. 1 seed for the title, and the 15.00 Euro top prize.

     


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    Qualifying Standings after Squad 7/25

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