So, the long wait is over and now 58 can look forward to competing in tomorrow's finals, plus, of course, the six that progress forthwith from the dreaded Desperado squad later tonight.
A total of 454 intrepid souls went through the qualifying rounds, 17 less than originally entered, and 53 short of the 507 entry total set by the Ballmaster Open in Helsinki in January.
Top of the final squad tonight was the dimunitive figure of Nina Flack of Sweden, 2008 Swedish and WBW Bowler of the Year,
showing the rest of the packed squad just how to do it with a six-game series of 1,491 wth a high opening game of 289 plus 8 bonus. That gives her seventh place on the leader board and top woman of the qualifying section of the tournament.
Once again, there were six series over 1400.
High game on this squad was a fine 299 from Canadian Mark Buffa. There is no clue as to the pin he left, but it is usually the 10-pin.
Cuts are high, very high. To place in the top 16, the elite that get byes for round one of the final, 1,461 was needed. To get into the qualifiers above 52, then it was 1,407. Incredible!
Full standings for all competitors on www.brunswickeurochallenge.com.
Those in positions 17-64 are on dawn patrol tomorrow morning, rolling off at 07:45. Those in round two take to the lanes at 11:30.
| Qualified directly to final step 2 (Position 1 - 16) | |||||||||
| RANK | NAME | NAT | GEN | CAT | BEST PINS |
LAST GAME |
SQUAD # | SQUAD COUNT |
HAND |
| 1 | Pepe, Anthony | USA | M | A | 1572 | 256 | 10 | 1 | L |
| 2 | Fagan, Mike | USA | M | A | 1555 | 300 | 11 | 2 | R |
| 3 | Palermaa, Osku | FIN | M | A | 1532 | 248 | 16 | 2 | R |
| 4 | Joris, Nico | BEL | M | A | 1518 | 255 | 03 | 1 | R |
| 5 | Duke, Norm | USA | M | A | 1515 | 207 | 18 | 2 | R |
| 6 | Alix, Yoan | FRA | M | A | 1495 | 256 | 06 | 3 | R |
| 7 | Flack, Nina | SWE | F | A | 1491 | 230 | 23 | 3 | R |
| 8 | Ratia, Jari | FIN | M | A | 1490 | 279 | 18 | 3 | R |
| 9 | Lehtonen, Kimmo | FIN | M | A | 1486 | 267 | 11 | 2 | L |
| 10 | Ginge Jensen, Mai | DEN | F | A | 1480 | 252 | 21 | 3 | R |
| 11 | Ang, Adrian | MAS | M | A | 1480 | 210 | 15 | 3 | R |
| 12 | Bohn III, Parker | USA | M | A | 1477 | 300 | 20 | 3 | R |
| 13 | Pöllänen, Krista | FIN | F | A | 1477 | 241 | 12 | 1 | R |
| 14 | Ranta, Tony | FIN | M | A | 1472 | 214 | 16 | 2 | R |
| 15 | Thurlby, Rob | ENG | M | A | 1462 | 232 | 21 | 4 | R |
| 16 | Arup, Mathias | SWE | M | A | 1461 | 237 | 18 | 3 | R |
