CURRENT STANDINGS - AFTER SQUAD 8:
(Next squad Wednesday, 17:00)

Tim Mack of the United States (pictured) is the early bird in this, the fourth edition, of the prestigious Brunswick Euro Challenge. And the early bird certainly got the worm as his third game brought the first perfect game of this year's event and a six-game score of 1319.

But why was this popular American so early at the tournament? "I was on the waiting list for some of the squads at the end of the week, therefore I had to make sure that I got in some experience of the lanes," he explained. "They were much tougher than I thought they would be, so I was very pleased to be able to roll a perfecto in the third game."

The Monday and Tuesday night squads were cancelled, so Tim shoots again on Wednesday afternoon.

The current tournament leader is Leonidas Maragos, 37, from Athens (pictured). This self-employed auto mechanic is a popular and frequent competitor on this year's EBT and has the unique achievement of a 300 game at Tilburg in the Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament, bowled on a pair of lanes where one lane had a short oil condition, the other long oil.

Maragos is a Greek national team member and also spends a lot of time as assistant coach to the Greek Youth Team.

2004 champion Britt Brondsted (Denmark) will have to fight the top bowlers from Europe and beyond to get that unique place at the top of the podium in front of the TV cameras on Sunday night. Unfortunately, 2006 champion Jason Belmonte (Australia) is unable to defend his title, due to attending a wedding of a close friend in Sydney and a knee injury has caused 2005 champion Jens Nickel (Germany) to pull out.

This year the champion will emerge from an entry of 360-plus competitors from a record 35 participating nations. This outstanding event has attracted entries from as far afield as Pakistan, Singapore and Hong Kong with Asian stars Remy Ong and Wu Siu Hong making an appearance.

We will be bringing you live reports, pictures and news from Wednesday evening. In the meantime, check the snippets on: www.brunswickeurochallenge.com.

STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 11 - Wednesday, 17:00:

Rodrigo Hermes of Curitiba, Brazil topped the Wednesday afternoon squad, hitting 1390 to slot neatly into second place behind local bowler Leonidas Maragos.
The 24-year-old bakery proprietor is very impressed with the standard of bowling on the European Bowling Tour, likening it to that of the United States.
"I need a lot more experience for the upcoming Pan American Games, which are being held in Brazil," he said. "I looked at the internet and saw the vibrant European Bowling Tour. I managed to get a sponsor for the Catalonian Open in Barcelona and I was very pleased to place second there. With my prize money I decided to stay and enter the Brunswick Euro Challenge. I am enjoying it here in Greece very much and  everyone is being very kind to me."
Rodrigo has been bowling for ten years, introduced to the sport when his uncle bought a bowling center. He fell in love with the sport and has never looked back.

STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 12 - Wednesday, 21:00:

Paul Moor of England, the current European Bowling Tour (EBT) rankings leader (pictured), topped the scores of this 23-person late night squad with 1292. The slim leftie hit six 200-plus games with a high of 235 and a lowly, for him, 206. His 1292 slots him into ninth place in the current qualification table.
"I was a little disappointed with my score," he said. "I felt I was bowling quite well but just didn't get the carry."
Second place on this squad was also under the English flag as Darren Cundy, the recent PTBC Masters' champion, was just eight pins adrift of Moor and took tenth place overall.
It was England and the United States with a third place tie on 1243. Beefy Stuart Williams has to be content for a while with 20th place and Tim Mack did not, of course, improve on his previous fourth place in the qualifying table.
Just five players turned up for the 08:00 squad on Thursday morning from the dozen registered, so it was necessary to cancel that and move the players into the 12:00 squad.

STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 14 - Thursday, 12:00:
Moscow student Ivan Semenov, 19, topped this first Thursday squad and took fourth place in the overall standings. Bowling in the Euro Challenge for the third time, Russian national team player Semenov has 24th place to beat from his previous attempts. "I would not call these lanes easy to score on," he commented, "but they seem to be very fair. I really like bowling on the European Tour as in Russia we have a lot of what I call 'beer bowling'."
Just over half of the 35-nation field has completed at least six of the qualifying games, many playing re-entries.
Two more squads will take to the Strike Bowling Club lanes today and many international players will be bowling for the first time this year.

STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 15 - Thursday, 16:00

The 2007 Brunswick Euro Challenge's second perfect game came in the second game of this squad from Singaporean Lee Yu-Wen.
The photo, courtesy of Martina Jakobi of Brunswick, shows Lee's final ball of the perfect game, just the third game he had bowled with his new Brunswick Fury bowling ball.
The 26-year-old leftie full-time bowler is visiting western Europe for the first time. "This is all so very different to the Asian environment," he commented, "and I have to say that I like the colder weather. In Singapore it is hot all the time. I also like bowling a six-game qualifier as at the Asian Open tournaments we just bowl four games."
However, Lee's jubilation for his perfecto was short-lived. In the very next game fellow countryman Shaun Ng (pictured, right) strung his twelve strikes for the third perfect game of the tournament and went one better by converting the 7-10 split in the tenth frame of the sixth game.
Peter Ljung, 40 (pictured, left), a left-hander and a new resident of Gothenburg, Sweden topped the squad with an amazing 1377. He had a chance to take over the lead but fell just 18 pins short of pole position.
"I struggled for the first six frames," he commented, "and then decided to become a lot more aggressive. The lanes were good and a had to make few changes across the house. I'm lucky as all the lefties are bowling around the same spot. I'm very pleased to be in the top eight and as the top 16 automatically go through this will be my first and last entry in the qualifying rounds, so I can get out and enjoy the city. This is my third year in this event and I like it very much."

STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 16 - Thursday 20:00
The nighthawks certainly got the hang of the lanes and consequently murdered the pins. England's Paul Moor (pictured), currently the top of the EBT rankings, the spot he has held for the past three years, took over the lead as the first to break the 1400 barrier, totaling 1428 for a new set to beat. The lithe leftie had games of 257, 198, 247, 224, 236 and 267 to sit atop the leader board.
However, because of a lowly 159 in her first game, 2005 Euro Challenge champion Britt Brondsted of Denmark was denied first place. An incredible following strikefest of 207, 277, 275, 223 and 265 brought her home with 1406, a score which included her 48 point women's bonus.
The late night musical-chairs-like shuffle at the top of the leader board now sees home bowler Leonidas Margos demoted to third place.
Squad 16, the midnight meet, was cancelled as 20 players failed to turn up.
Battle continues Friday morning at the bewitching hour of 08:00.

STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 18 - Friday, 08:00
Singapore's Remy Ong (pictured), Asia's top ranked player in 2006, topped this early morning squad, determined to better his 17th place finish in this event last year. "I missed the cut by just one pin last year," he rued, "and I don't want to do anything like that again."
However, his 1342 on this squad slots him into 13th place in the current qualifying standings, so he will bowl again later.
"I started with a 289 this morning and felt good, but then when I moved lanes I hit a couple of 170s. It was like bowling in a different center. As it was a small squad, we had to bowl on the same pair of lanes twice and when I went back to the pair on which I'd hit 289 I just had a 214. Then, on the 170 pairs, I made a big move and managed a pair of 245s.
"I do like the format of this excellent tournament. In Asia we're used to bowling just four games of qualifying and that's something like a lottery. It is great that the lanes are dressed here after each squad, we don't get that treatment and two or three squads can bowl between lane maintenance."
Remy won gold medals in Singles and All Events in the Men's World Championships in Korea last year and had silver in Trios and Masters in the recent Asian Games in Qatar.
 

P	Last name	First name	Nat	M/F	Ave	Cat	Pins	G1	G2	G3	G4	G5	G6
1	Moor	Paul	ENG	M	220	A	1428	257	198	247	224	235	267
2	Brondsted	Britt	DNK	F	208	A	1406	159	207	277	275	223	265
3	Maragos	Leonidas	GRE	M	213	A	1395	191	245	258	189	246	266
4	Hermes	Rodrigo	BRA	M	210	A	1390	255	221	238	226	224	226
5	Ljung	Peter	SWE	M	212	A	1377	207	238	240	226	223	243
6	Williams	Stuart	ENG	M	226	A	1376	203	245	213	256	258	201
7	Leandersson	Tomas	SWE	M	225	A	1366	245	248	223	279	198	173
8	Koshelev	Nikita	RUS	M	205	A	1365	258	258	190	203	246	210
9	Uotila	Pasi	FIN	M	224	A	1356	207	211	259	207	245	227
10	Karlsson	Tobias	SWE	M	300	A	1355	223	215	235	179	249	254
11	Rodriguez	Paco	ESP	M	205	A	1352	201	220	235	233	247	216
12	Hurri	Kari	FIN	M	215	A	1347	257	238	185	222	232	213
13	Ong	Remy	SGP	M	206	A	1342	289	171	178	214	245	245
14	Öhman	Anders	SWE	M	220	A	1335	225	247	238	179	247	199
15	Giles	Matt	ENG	M	216	A	1330	190	245	268	233	159	235
16	Lee	Yu-Wen	SGP	M	210	A	1330	180	300	181	242	235	192
17	Semenov	Ivan	RUS	M	200	A	1327	174	246	249	266	202	190
18	Wiu	Siu Hong	HKG	M	220	A	1324	228	222	194	246	200