Brunswick staff members on course for the finals at Brunswick Euro Challenge

    03/12/11

    2011 European Bowling Tour #4

    Nina Flack, Wendy Kok atop Squad 19 with 1291 and 1287

     

    2011EBT04PlazaBowlingduringQualifying2.jpg


    2011EBT04NinaFlack2.jpg2011EBT04WendyKok7.jpgTwo Brunswick staff members, Nina Flack (pictured left) of Sweden and Dutch Wendy Kok (right) set their sights on the finals of the EBT "Platinum" Brunswick Euro Challenge Friday evening at Le Plaza Bowling in St. Maximin, France.

    Reigning European Bowling Tour women's ranking champion Flack closed out her six-game series with a huge 266 game for 1243 scratch, an average of 207.17, and added 48 pins handicap to lead Squad 19 with 1291 total pinfall. The World and European champion overtook tenth place in the overall qualifying standings.

    2011EBT04JouniHelminen.jpg2011EBT04GeryVerbruggen2.jpgJouni Helminen (left), Finland, is still in his own league and leads the 358-players from 35 countries with 1435 and an average of 239.17. Gery Verbruggen (right), Belgium and Adrian Ang, Malaysia, remained in second and third place with 1391 and 1371, respectively.

    Places four through six belong to women bowlers, who receive 48 pins handicap each game, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour. Dane Mai Ginge Jensen is the best of 60 women in fourth place with 1325 just one pin ahead of Hee Kar Yen, Malaysia, who is fifth with 1324. Krista Pöllänen, Finland, is another four pins behind Hee in sixth place with 1320.

    2011EBT04AdamCairns.jpg2011EBT04AchimGrabowski2.jpgSeventh through ninth place belong to Kimmo Lehtonen, Finland (1298), Robert Andersson, Sweden (1297) and Syafiq Ridhwan, Malaysia (1297).

    Kok, who led the squad after five games, finished four pins behind Flack with 1287 en route to overtake 12th place in the overall qualifying standings. Next was World Youth champion Adam Cairns (left), England, who moved into 22nd place with a 1258 series.

    German veteran Achim Grabowski (right) chalked up 1244 pins including a 258 in game #2 to sit in 35th place just 25 pins above the cut line. Emmanuel Michaud, France, holds the 52nd and last place to advance with 1219 or an average of 203.17.

    Photo Gallery Part 1
    Photo Gallery Part 2

    Qualifying continues on Friday, March 11 with Squads 20 scheduled for 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.


    2010EBT05RobThurlby2.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. 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 left). 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.

     

     

     

    Related Articles


    Artur Levikin leads Squad 18 to move into 17th place in qualifying in St. Maximin
    Malaysians set the tone in Friday morning's qualifying at Brunswick Euro Challenge
    Ranta, Vahidi, Barrett move into top ten Thursday night at Brunswick Euro Challenge
    Mai Ginge Jensen becomes first woman to crack the 1300-bar at Brunswick Euro Challenge
    Kimmo Lehtonen leads Squad 13; Stephan Unger cracks top 10 in Brunswick Euro Challenge
    Lefties Verbruggen, Lehtonen Verbruggen, Lehtonen move into second and fourth place in St. Maximin
    Malaysians dominate Squad 10 Wednesday evening at Brunswick Euro Challenge
    Yoan Alix wins his second consecutive squad; moves into third place at 2011 BEC
    Squad 8 leader Yoan Alix cracks top 8 in Brunswick Euro Challenge
    Five players move into the top ten during Sunday's qualifying at Brunswick Euro Challenge
    Jouni Helminen charges into big lead on day two qualifying in Brunswick Euro Challenge
    Dutch Ron van den Bogaard leads first of 25 qualifying squads in 2011 Brunswick Euro Challenge
    Coming in March: Live Coverage of the EBT "Platinum" Brunswick Euro Challenge
    BEC Online Registration to open on Nov. 1st
    Brunswick Euro Challenge receives EBT Platinum status in 2011

     

     

    Qualifying Standings after Squad 19/25


    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.

     

    Â