Anthony Pepe shoots into qualifying lead in 2010 Brunswick Euro Challenge

03/11/10

2010 European Bowling Tour #5

Kimmo Lehtonen and defending champion Mike Fagan achieve perfection

2010EBT05AnthonyPepe.jpg2010EBT05KimmoLehtonen.jpgAnthony Pepe (pictured left), United States, fired games of, 299, 258, 217, 245, 297 and 256 in Squad 10 on Thursday morning to shoot into the lead in the qualifying of the Brunswick Euro Challenge with 1572 and an average of 262.00.

Pepe, who hadn't paid the 50 Euro entry fee for the "300-Game Pot Play" had the front 11 in the first and fifth game but failed to roll the tournament's first 300.

Kimmo Lehtonen (right), Finland, accomplished the feat in the first game of Squad 11 and defending champion, Mike Fagan United States, rolled the second perfecto just five games later. As both players have paid the 50 Euro in advance there will be a shoot-out after the stepladder finals for the winner-takes-all 300-game award of minimum 2.500 Euro.

2010EBT05MikeFagan.jpg2010EBT05NicoJoris.jpgFagan (left), a 2-time PBA champion, started his series with 221, 260, 281, 236 and 257 before he closed out with the 300 to move into second place with 1555. Lehtonen added games of 266, 202, 227, 224 and 267 for 1486, good for 5th place overall.

Nico Joris (right), Belgium, who led the field of leads the field since Squad 3 with 1518 six-game total slipped to third place with Yoan Alix, France, in 4th with 1495. Reigning Asian Championships Masters champion Adrian Ang is the best bowler of the Malaysian national squad present in France in sixth place with 1479.

200910PBA04CarolynDorinBallard.jpg200910PBAStuartWilliams2.jpg20-time women's professional champion Carolyn Dorin-Ballard (left), United States, is the best women in the field of now 266 players in 7th place with 1459 including 48 pins handicap.

Besides Fagan and Lehtonen, another four players cracked the 1400-bar in Squad 11, Oliver Rauth, Germany (1432, 12th), PBA exempt player Stuart Williams (right), England (1424, 14th), Marco Baade, Germany (1421, 15th) and Carmen Haandrikman, Netherlands (1420, 16th).

Alain Nicolas, France, holds the 52nd and last spot to advance to the finals with 1324 and an average of 220.67. In 2009, the cutoff number was 1328.

Qualifying continues on Thursday, March 10, with Squads 12 and 13 scheduled for 4 and 8 p.m. CET.

2010EBT05BECLogo.jpg The Brunswick Euro Challenge will be held from March 5-14, 2010 at 28-laner Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin near Paris, France. The tournament is the fifth event of the 2010 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Gold" tournaments.

Since the Ankara Open and the Austria Challenge have been cancelled, the 2010 EBT Tour features 2 EBT Platinum tournament (formerly Premier), 6 EBT Gold tournaments (formerly Major), 7 EBT Silver tournaments (formerly Challenger) and 4 EBT Satellite tournaments (new category).

Players will compete for total prize money of 90,000 Euro (currently about US$123,250), which includes special prizes for "Women" and "B Bowlers". The tournament winner will receive the 13.000 Euro top prize.

200910PBA11MikeFagan2_small.jpg2009VOMaiGingeJensen_small.jpg There is also a special side event called "300-Game Pot Play". All players who have paid a 50 Euro entry fee in advance and roll a 300 game during the tournament will determine the winner in a one-ball roll-off at the end of the tournament. The winner is guaranteed a minimum of 2,500 Euro.

2-time PBA champion Mike Fagan (left), United States, is the defending champion. The 29-year-old righthander will be targeting to make his third consecutive BEC title match. Mai Ginge Jensen (right), Denmark, finished third last year to win the women ranking.

ValckeBowling.jpg For the third consecutive year, the 2010 Brunswick Euro Challenge sponsored by Brunswick Bowling will be organized by Brunswick distributor Valcke Bowling.

In addition to sponsoring the event, Brunswick will be conducting seminar and training sessions for bowlers, coaches, center mechanics, center managers and proprietors. Click on the link to view the complete Seminar Schedule (pdf file).

Qualifying will run through Saturday, March 13, with the final qualifying squad 23 scheduled for 8 p.m. and ends with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad at 11 p.m.

The 2010 Brunswick Euro Challenge will be contested on a 39 feet long sport pattern of medium difficulty (MS Excel file).

A total of 64 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, March 14. The top 16 players will receive one bye and will seeded 1-16 in Round 2.

The following 48 players will qualify for Round 1:
  • Players positioned 17th-52nd in qualifying
  • the top 6 from a separate standing for the squads 1-5 conducted March 5-7, who are not among the top 52
  • the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

Those 48 will bowl six games starting from scratch to cut to the top 16, who will meet the top 16 qualifiers in the first match play round. Match play is best-of-three games single-elimination. The No. 1 seed will take on No. 32, No. 2 bowls No. 31, etc.

The field will be cut to 16, 8 and then four, who will determine the champion in a stepladder final.

Eurosport2Logo_mini.jpgThe stepladder finals of the 2010 Brunswick Euro Challenge will be broadcasted live on Eurosport 2 Sunday, March 14 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. CET. Additional to the live broadcast, Eurosport 2 will air at least two more re-broadcasts in the weeks following the live coverage. Eurosport Asia-Pacific will also run the BEC 2010 final several times.

Due to TV requirements the schedule for Sunday, March 14, was adjusted to the following:
07:45 Final Round 1
11:00 Lane Maintenance
11:30 Final Round 2
14:00 Final Round 3
15:15 Final Round 5
16:30 Lane Maintenance
16: 55 Practice for Stepladder final
17:00-18:25 Final Round 5
18:25 TV Award Ceremony
18:30 300-Game Play Pot Roll Off
18:45 Awards Ceremony

BowlingdigitalBanner.gif BowlingdigitalFlavioCuvaBeatGrauwiler_small.jpg Once again Bowlingdigital will cover the event live (commencing Thursday March 11) from Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin with results and updates after each round plus our much-anticipated high definition videos produced by Flavio Cuva and high quality photos by Beat Grauwiler (l-r).

Please use the left menu bar to get more information about format, schedule and prize money.

Click here to review Bowlingdigital's Live Coverage from the 2009 Brunswick Euro Challenge or click here to go straight to the video section. You will find more videos here.

 


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Mohamade Sarmadi cracks the 1400-bar to take the lead in Brunswick Euro Challenge
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2010 Brunswick Euro Challenge - Tournament Preview

 


Qualifying Standings after Squad 11


The top 52 plus the top 6 from the first weekend (places 53-58) and the top 6 from the Desperado Squad will advance to the finals.

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