Status Quo (Well nearly)

Englishman Darren Cundy's five-game 1255 still tops the 7th Cockatoos Paphos Tournament standings and he remain the sole competitor to hit the magic 300, the first in the seven-year history of the event, but we do have a new runner-up after Fridays four squads as Cundy's fellow countryman Paul Moor came through with 1170, blasting the pins with a second game 290. Italian Alessantro Silleti  posted 1150 for third place, thereby demoting the previous second-placed Englishman, Stuart Williams, into fourth with his 1145.

A sad tale for Marcus Berndt, the Swede who is majoring in psychology at Wichita State University. After visiting his parents in

Frankfurt for a couple of days R & R after competing in the Brunswick Italia Challenge in Asti, he discovered that his first stage of his flight to Cyprus via Vienna had been cancelled. He therefore had to re-book on another airline, spending hours waiting, then eventually arriving in Cyprus to find that his luggage had not arrived. However, further good and bad news. First the complete load arrived Friday midday, second, Marcus could not find a decent line on the Cockatoo Bowling lanes and left 10-pin after 10-pin, totaling just 968 at this first attempt.

However, there  five squads to roll on Saturday to complete the qualifying rounds and Berndt is still considered to be the most dangerous man in the field, coming off a good victory in the Malta Open a couple of weeks ago.

Despite the sweltering temperatures and a very attractive beach nearby, the squads are well attended and the local Cypriots have a passion for bowling and are very much enjoying seeing some of the famous names in European bowling.

Full details on: www.cockatoosbowling.com.

TOP 25 AFTER JULY 1