Sanders Reigns

The second squad to fall into the hands of the fairer sex came with squad number 10, the laurels being snatched by talented left-hander Nicole Sanders from the Netherlands, outplaying Belgium's Gery Verbruggen, another leftie, 1352-1312, the only pair

to top the 1300 mark.

The first five games were pretty consistent for Sanders, a youngster who knows the Bowling Pedralbes lanes pretty well and who once faced the mighty Pete Weber in the final of the Barcelona Open, starting with the five strikes and bringing a very worried frown to the wide forehead of Mr Weber. Nerves took hold and Sanders failed to maintain the pressure and ceded victory to the American but earned one heck of a reputation. Here, about 180 over going into the last game, maybe nerves tingled a bit as she finished with 170, so could have been nearer that magical 1400 line.

Defending champion Thomas Larsen has at last found a good line and placed fourth on this squad with 1296, which will stand him in good stead for tomorrow's final.

Jesper Agerbo, who has already qualified for the final by winning a squad, got his arm loose, placing fifth with 1279.
"I played really badly yesterday and wasn't sure whether I wanted to play another squad," said Sanders. "So I'm really happy that I did, won the squad and am sure of a good place in the finals tomorrow. I was disappointed to mess things up with my last game though. I started with two strikes and then made some stupid mistakes.

"I only missed one single pin in six games, so I did pretty good."

Just two squads left for budding qualifiers, the last of which will have a wild bunch of spectators at the beginning as Barcelona are playing Madrid at the famous Camp Nou soccer stadium, next to the bowling center, bringing huge beer sales prior to the match.

STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 10: