Lefties Verbruggen, Lehtonen move into second and fourth place in St. Maximin

    03/10/11

    2011 European Bowling Tour #4

    Qualifying Squad 12 on Thursday morning has been cancelled

     

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    2011EBT04GeryVerbruggen6.jpg2011EBT04GeryVerbruggen5.jpgFresh off his victory in the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament in Tilburg, Netherlands, last Sunday, Gery Verbruggen (pictured) of Belgium posted a 1391 series in qualifying squad 11 to jump into second place in the qualifying of the Brunswick Euro Challenge.

    The four-time European Bowling Tour ranking champion (2000-03), who owns 11 EBT titles, got off to a great start Wednesday night at Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France, with games of 236, 247, 255 and 237. The lefty closed out his series with 213 and 203 to overtake Squad 10 leader, Adrian Ang, Malaysia, by 20 pins averaging 231.83 for six games.

    2011EBT04JouniHelminen.jpg2011EBT04KimmoLehtonen.jpgJouni Helminen (left), Finland, leads the field of 221 players from 19 countries since Squad 3 with 1435 pinfall total and an average of 239.17. Ang fell one spot to third place with 1371 (228.50).

    2005 World Ranking Masters champion, Kimmo Lehtonen (right) took a different rout to the top of the leaderboard Wednesday. The lefty from Finland had a slow start with games of 176, 193 and 203 but closed out strong with 252, 227 and 247 to overtake fourth place in the overall qualifying standing s with 1298 total and an average of 216.33.

    Olivier Braine, Belgium, slipped to fifth place with 1272 and was followed by Yoan Alix and Mickel Rives, who were the top bowlers from the host country France in sixth and seventh place with 1268 and 1259, respectively.

    2011EBT04NinaFlack.jpg2011EBT04IldemaroRuiz2.jpgNicole Sanders, Netherlands, and Sophie Herbin, France remained the best of now 31 women in eighth and ninth place with 1256 and 1255 including 48 pins handicap. Rounding out the top 10 was Frederic Salmon, Belgium, with 1253.

    Reigning EBT women's ranking queen Nina Flack (left), Sweden, was next to Verbruggen and Lehtonen in Squad 11 with 1225 including handicap after finishing with a disappointing 163 game, good for 21st first place overall.

    Venezuela's Ildemaro Ruiz (right), a familiar face at the Brunswick Euro Challenge, moved into 25th place behind a 1208 series. Carolyn Dorin-Ballard (below left), United States, who leads the World Bowling Tour women rankings and is second in the EBT rankings after three events finished her first attempt with 1182 in 45th place.

    2011EBT04CarolynDorin-Ballard.jpg2011EBT04ChristianRacpan.jpgWith 221 players having completed at least one six-game block, Christian Racpan, Germany, holds the 52nd and last spot to advance with 1168 or an average of 194.67.

    Photo Gallery Part 1

    Qualifying continues on Thursday, March 10 with Squad 13-15 scheduled for noon, 4 and 8 p.m. CET. Squad 12 slated for 8 a.m. has been cancelled.


    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 11/25


    Places 53-60 show the top 8 players from a separate leaderboard of Squads 1-9, who will join the top 52 qualifiers and the top 4 from the Desperado Squad in Sunday's finals.

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