Malaysians set the tone in Friday morning's qualifying at Brunswick Euro Challenge

    03/11/11

    2011 European Bowling Tour #4

    Hee Kar Yen, Syafiq Ridhwan and Finn Krista Pöllänen move into the top 10

     

    2011EBT04PlazaBowlingduringQualifying.jpg


    2011EBT04HeeKarYen2.jpg2011EBT04KristaPollanen2.jpgMalaysian national team members set the tone in the qualifying of the Brunswick Euro Challenge Friday morning at Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France. Hee Kar Yen (pictured left) led Squad 17 with 1324 en route to moved into fifth place on the leaderboard.

    Hee rebounded from an opening game of 160 with 247, 228, 223, 215 and 203 for 1276 scratch and added 48 pins handicap for 1324 total. Reigning World Games champion Krista Pöllänen (right), Finland, was close behind with 1320 to leap into sixth place.

    Pöllänen was followed by another four Malaysian bowlers. Syafiq Ridhwan (below left) was the third player this morning, who cracked the top 10, when he posted a 1297 series to help grab ninth place.

    2011EBT04SyafiqRidhwan2.jpg2011EBT04ZandraAziela.jpgAdrian Ang was next with 1272 but remained in third place overall with his high series of 1371. Zandra Aziela (right) and Siti Shazwani totaled 1246 and 1236 to overtake 27 and 32nd place, respectively.

    Finn Jouni Helminen remained unchallenged and continued to lead the field of now 321 players from 33 countries with 1435 and an average of 239.17. Belgium's Gery Verbruggen, who has won the last EBT stop in Tilburg, Netherlands, last weekend, is still second with 1391.

    2009EBT04VincentCayez.jpg2010EBT05AnthonyPepe2.jpgDane Mai Ginge Jensen remained the best of 48 women in fourth place just one pin ahead of Hee with 1325. Kimmo Lehtonen, Finland (1298) and Robert Andersson, Sweden (1297), fell two spots to seventh and eights, respectively. Rounding out the top 10 was Squad 15 leader Tony Ranta, Finland, with 1289.

    Vincent Cayez (left), France, currently mans the 52nd and last place to advance with 1206 or an average of 201. That's exactly 201 pins less than last year's cutoff number.

    Anthony Pepe (right), United States, led last year's BEC qualifying with 1572 pinfall total and an average of 262. Another four players cracked the 1500-bar while the cut for 52nd place was 1407 or an average of 234.50. Another nine players with 1401 and better failed to advance.

    Photo Gallery Part 1

    Qualifying continues on Friday, March 11 with Squads 18-20 scheduled for noon, 4 and 8 p.m. CET.

    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 17/25


    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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