SQUAD 9 - SATURDAY AUGUST  20 - 08:00
Just a stubborn 10-pin robbed Dennis Ecklund, 26 (next Tuesday) (pictured), of the 2005 Olympia Tournament's first perfect game this year. The Stockholm High Valley bowling center proprietor was rolling each and every ball perfectly into the 'pocket' in his final game and that produced eleven great strikes. The twelfth ball looked good, too, but maybe it was the curse of the BJI camera again as the 10-pin withstood the onslaught and robbed Ecklund of his third perfecto.

This was Ecklund's first re-entry in his first Olympia Tournament in Helsingborg, but he did bowl here some 13 years ago in a youth tournament.

"I bowled 1135 with my first entry and was not very happy with that," Ecklund commented. "I was trying to get a late hook but that didn't work. For this morning's squad I changed balls and my technique after talking to Patrick Backe. He told me to really roll the ball. That was IT!"

Although leader on this squad with 1375, Ecklund is still 105 pins short of Leandersson's incredible 1480.

SQUAD 10 - 12:00:
Although the cut to 48th place is steadily creeping up, currently +57, but the top score of 1480 set by Leandersson yesterday afternoon seems to be impregnable.

The highest score, however, on this tenth squad was 1393 from the talented slim figure of Or Aviram, the 26-year-old Israeli from a town just south of Tel Aviv, but who bowls for the world-renowned Pergamon club in Sweden.

Aviram bowled in the Danish Masters in Copenhagen last week and missed the cut to the top eight by a single pin, but plans to do better than that in Helsingborg.

Asked what he had for lunch that inspired a much better performance today, he replied: "I haven't even had breakfast yet!"

This was the Israeli's fifth entry in this year's Olympia event. "I've bowled quite well for a few games but couldn't really put a good set together," he explained. "My low was 1258, which wasn't too bad. However, I drilled two new balls and tuned them up for today and I'm pleased with the 1393. So that's it, now I've got to check my equipment ready for the finals tomorrow." He expects the cut to be about 95 over, an opinion shared by many now.

As for Leandersson's 1480 ..... "Tomas is a great bowler and I didn't expect him to be anywhere else but at the top," Aviram added.

There was a strong rumor that Leandersson would be holding another seminar today on 'bowling to win' or similar subject. Perhaps it might be 'setting a target no one can challenge and upsetting your friends?'

SQUAD 11 - 16:00:
As the action moved into the penultimate squad, it looked well and truly as though that 1480 of Leandersson would be well and truly beaten by friendly American Bill Hoffman.

The slim Ohio star (pictured) set off with 299 and 255 and looked to have full control. "I was hoping to set a new target over 1500," he said later, "but then things went very, very wrong when I moved to lanes 1 and 2. Believe it or not, I only hit one strike one lane 1 in two games. I also had five open frames. I just moved the wrong way with this set. I seem to have a bad third game with each series."

Moving over to lanes 13 and 14, things improved considerably and Hoffman rounded off his set with 232 and 279 to leap into second place with 1446.

Asked about the pin he left in the first game for a 299, he replied, "It was the 9-pin. I'd heard about the curse of the Bowlers Journal camera and couldn't see it, so wasn't paying proper attention to the delivery!"

"Now I'm going out to dinner with Tomas and we can celebrate being first and third."

Bon appetit - unless someone tops those scores on the final squad tonight.

SQUAD 12 - 20:00 - THE FINAL QUALIFYING SQUAD

Only a couple of spots short of a full squad, but nevertheless not one of the competitors bowling in the 'last chance saloon' made it past the cut of 1260. Sob stories there were aplenty, and many tales of woe will be related by those to come close as they wend their weary way home tonight. And no ghastly Desperado squad this time for a small bunch to get into the top 48.

The loudest wailing noises may come from three Scandinavian competitors, Carsten Gjertsen of Denmark missing out by three pins on this squad with 1257; Sweden's Magnus Andersson just back with 1249 and Juha Immonen of Finland on 1247.

So, the intrepid 40 players qualifying in spots 9-48 will take to the lanes at 08:00 Sunday morning for a further six games, whilst those in the top echelon of eight will be able to spend an hour or so in church before they join the throng for the second step of the finals - best of five game matches up until the televised semifinals and final, those being one game knockouts.

FINAL QUALIFYING STANDINGS: