Dominic Barrett leads Squad 24 with 1275; improves by three pins to leap into 21st place

    03/13/11

    2011 European Bowling Tour #4

     

    2011EBT04PlazaBowlingduringQualifying2.jpg


    2011EBT04DominicBarrett.jpg2011EBT04DarrenCundy.jpgReigning European Bowling Tour ranking champion Dominic Barrett (pictured left) led the 24th and penultimate qualifying squad of the Brunswick Euro Challenge with 1278 total to leap one spot into 21st place Saturday evening at Le Plaza Bowling in St. Maximin, France.

    Fresh off his victory in The Emir Cup in Doha, Qatar, Barrett rolled games of 209, 211, 246, 218, 169 and 225 to improve his previous high score of 1275 by three pins.

    Barrett's compatriot Darren Cundy (right) was mere seven pins behind to jump from 94th to 24th place with 1271 including a high game of 256.

    2011EBT04DennisEklund.jpg2011EBT04JouniHelminen.jpgThe only other player in the full squad (56 players), who moved into the top 52 was Dennis Eklund (left). The Swedish international toppled 1249 pins to rocket from 168th to 42nd place.

    The top 20 remained unchallenged. Jouni Helminen (right), Finland, leads the field of 393 players - 321 men and 72 women - from 37 countries since Squad 3 with 1435 and an average of 239.17.

    Trailing Helminen by 44 pins to sit in second place was last week's Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament winner Gery Verbruggen, Belgium, with 1391. Adrian Ang was the best of eight Malaysian national team members in this tournament in third place with 1371. Saturday morning squad leader Marco Baade, Germany, remained in fourth with 1333.

    2011EBT04KristaPollanen.jpg2011EBT04CarolynDorin-Ballard.jpgPlaces five through eight belong to the best four of total 72 women in the field, Mai Ginge Jensen, Denmark (5th; 1325), Hee Kar Yen, Malaysia (6th; 1324), Krista Pöllänen (left), Finland (7th; 1320) and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard (right), United States (8th; 1318). Their scores include 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    Three time EBT ranking champion, Osku Palermaa (below left), Finland, finished Squad 23 with a bang when he rolled the tournament's first 300 game en route to a 1308 total, good for ninth place. Rounding out the top 12, who will bypass the first round of the finals on Sunday morning were Melvin Ocando, Spain (10th; 1306), Jari Ratia (11th; 1302) and Kimmo Lehtonen, both Finland (12th; 1298).

    2011EBT04OskuPalermaa1.jpg2011EBT04MashaKoshel.jpgWith the final qualifying squad to go, Swede Karl Wahlgren holds the 52nd and last spot to advance with 1242 pinfall total and an average of 207.

    Among the players who got the attention of the audience was 10-year-old Russian Masha Koshel (right) who bowled a 996 including handicap finishing the squad with 5-7 split conversion for 156 scratch. With 393 players in the books, Masha ranks 302nd with 1037 including a 199 high game.


    Photo Gallery Part 1
    Photo Gallery Part 2

    Qualifying continues on Saturday, March 12 with Squad 25 scheduled for 8 p.m. CET and concludes with the Desperado Squad slated for 11.30 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 fifth 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.

     


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    Qualifying Standings after Squad 24/25


    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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