PAOLO ISAIA SETS THE PACE

It's not particularly surprising that local league bowler Paolo Isaia (pictured) hit the top spot on the leader board in the first squad of the inaugural Oltremare Naples Championship, the European TBF's penultimate ranking tournament of 2004, but even he was amazed at the nice situation of being 279 pins over par and just under 100 pins better than second-placed Martino Alessandro.

With all but two of the competitors so far being Italians, the fans eagerly await the influx of the other nations and Isaia's score augers well for a high scoring lane condition, set by Kegel's irrepressible John Forst.

Wednesday's two squads featured good scoring, but nobody surpassed the 1879 set by Isaia. The tournament's high game to date was set with a 287 from Andrea Canevari, but that only lifted him to 38th place. Claudio Parisi was the high man on the final squad of the day, averaging 219.5 to total 1756.

Enrico Maddaloni made a determined bid to take over pole position on Thursday evening, shooting 1864 over his eight game block, but fell just 15 pins short of his target when the final pin had fallen.

A notable performance also came from Jacek Grotowski of Warsaw, Poland, rolling a 22 average to currently hold sixth place, just 99 pins off the pace.

Most of the partisan crowd on the concourse were cheering on Maddaloni, but many also kept an eye on popular American Bill Hoffman, bidding for an Italian title and snitching seventh place.

Thursday saw just two squads, 17:00 and 21:00, then the pace hots up on Friday with an additional 13:00 session. The first cut will see the top 40 advance to round two. All women receive a bonus of ten pins per game. Only 50 per cent of the total pinfall over the first eight games is carried forward with the qualifiers for round two.

DI FRANCESCO TAKES OVER
Bowling a 299 in his Thursday night eight-game set, leaving that stubborn 10-pin to lose out on a perfect game, Antonio Di Francesco (left) kept Italy at the top of the leader board, relegating early leader Paolo Isaia into second place.

One man who did achieve that elusive perfecto was Federico Rossi (right) and he now sits comfortably in fourth place overall. "I expect to see three perfect games," forecasts Kegel's burly John Forst, the man behind the superb lane conditions being enjoyed by the strong field of competitors.

The overseas contingent have yet to make a determined bid for pole position, although Ronald Doll of the Netherlands came on strong last night to be the best challenger and is currently in seventh place.

The top lady honors are also in the hands of the home players as Chiari Roiati sits in 14th position. All ladies receive ten pins bonus per game.

Friday's opening squad, the first of three on the penultimate qualifying day, saw Italy's Luigi Lucarelli come off the lanes after his eight games with the best score with 1816 and skipping into sixth place, but nobody set up enough to challenge last night's leaders.

An unusual competitor in the European ranking tournaments is American pro bowler Storm DeVincent from fort Lauderdale in Florida. He's in Italy on vacation and was talked into taking part in this event by Kegel's Ted Thompson. He rolled 1690 to be fourth on the squad.

Friday's second squad had Austria's Thomas Gross as the leader and he slotted neatly into fourth place overall. England's Williams, Moor and Scammell bowled well and Holland's Menno van den Heuvel as hot on their heels.

The final squad of the penultimate qualifying day had a feather in the cap of the ladies as Sweden's Nina Flack headed these scores with an eight-game set of 1770, including her 80 pin bonus, just edging out fellow cuntryman Anders "Linus" Ohman, 37 pins aback. Triple world championship gold medalist Zara Glover of England held third place on the squad.

It has been a day without a perfect game, putting pressure on Kegel's John forst, who forecast that there would be three 300s in the course of the event. There are still two full days to go, so the burly Floridian could still be right.

Saturday opened with a bunch of bowlers stringing the first ten strikes, but nobody managed to hit the last rack of pins into the pit, the best, a 299, from Mike Quarry of England.

Nobody has yet managed to dislodge DiFrancesco from his perch, but Quarry hit 1925 in Saturday's opener to zoom into second place.

Lots of players are fighting for re-entry places in the final two squads and a few euros might be changing hands to purchase already booked slots. The final hurdles are going to be high and tough as the battle is on for the top 40 places into Sunday's final rounds.

The penultimate qualifying squad saw domination by Zara Glover of England. The personable bowling instructor from Bournemouth, who now has three perfect games to her credit, topped the squad with a series score of 1942. Anders Ohman of Sweden was close on 1896 and Germany's Peter Knopp, bowling his first entry, came third with 1854.

The final squad drew the qualifying stage to a close without any surprises and the top 40 now progress to the next round, commencing at 9:00am on Sunday morning.

STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 14 - Saturday, November 12: