No. 2 seed Rob Thurlby, England, defeated No. 1 seed Adrian Ang,
Malaysia, 253-248, en route to win his first career European Bowling
Tour title in the 2010 Brunswick Euro Challenge and the 13.000 Euro top
prize. For the first time in the history of the EBT the stepladder finals were
broadcasted live on Eurosport 2. In the opening match, No. 3 Zulmazran Zulkifli, Malaysia , topped No. 4 seed Ildemaro Ruiz, 230-202, before he was eliminated by Thurlby in the semifinal, 233-194. Brunswick has announced the tentative TV schedule for Eurosport 2 Northern and Eastern Europe, British Eurosport 2 and Eurosport Asia Pacific.
Gery Verbruggen (l.), Belgium, continued to lead the qualifying of the Ebonite International Luxembourg Open currently underway at X-Treme Bowling & Billard in Foetz, Luxembourg. Heading into the final day of qualifying, the lefty leads the 146-player field with 1431 six-game total and an average of 238.50. Karsten Aust (r.), Germany, moved into second place during Friday's Squad.8 with 1428. Qualifying ends on Saturday with four more squads and the Desperado Squad. 
Upsets are no surprise when "March Madness" sweeps the nation, but the NCAA basketball realm has never seen anything like the parade of upsets that hit the PBA Go RVing Match Play Championship Thursday and Friday at Norwich Bowling and Entertainment Center. Not a single player seeded among the top 20 made the show as No. 21 seed Patrick Allen (l.), No. 27 Brian Kretzer (r.), No. 50 Doug Kent, and No. 57 Ryan Ciminelli advanced to the finals on Sunday.
Bowling has not escaped the nation's economic slowdown on many fronts and many have been predicting doom and gloom for bowling tournaments. The PBA ran into a lost sponsor and a lost tournament site during the current 2009-10 tour season. So rumor was rampant that the three former Microsoft executives who have lost an estimated $20 million since they purchased the PBA in 2000 might be pulling the plug on the 2010-11 season.
It took 16 months, but the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Women's Bowling Team has regained the number one ranking in the nation. The March poll of the National Tenpins Coaches Association (NTCA) featured a record breaking 21 members voting and eight of them cast the Lady Hawks as the first place team. Those eight votes, along with the other 13 voters gave UMES 566 total points and the top spot in the poll. 
4-time European ranking champion Gery Verbruggen (l.), Belgium, had games of 227, 234, 235, 258, 198 and 279 in Squad 4 to overtake the lead in the qualifying of the Ebonite International Luxembourg Open with 1431 six-game total and an average of 238.50. Mathias Sarmadi (r.), France, led Squad 5 with 1371 including a 290 in the last game to move into second place in the overall standings. Verbruggen and Sarmadi pocketed a 150 Euro bonus each.
The Reno Bighorns basketball team may be preparing for a pair of games this weekend, but head coach Jay Humphries and four of his players (pictured) were able to take some time away from the hardwood to compete at the USBC Open Championships on Thursday. The players have bowled at the National Bowling Stadium for team-building activities before, but never have experienced the pressure of USBC Open Championships competition. 
Top-seeded Walter Ray Williams Jr. (l.), defending champion Chris Barnes and reigning Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Player of the Year Wes Malott were upset victims as the Go RVing Match Play Championship got underway Thursday at Norwich Bowling and Entertainment Center. Among the top four seeds in the PBA Tour's version of "March Madness," only No. 2 Bill O'Neill (right) of Southampton, Pa., survived the opening round.
A total of eight 300 games were rolled during the Brunswick Euro Challenge at 28-laner Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France (March 5-14, 2010). Seven by men, Kimmo Lehtonen (FIN), Mike Fagan, Norm Duke, Parker Bohn III, Bill O'Neill (all USA), Mathieu Berges (SUI) and Frederik Øhrgaard (DEN), and one by a woman, Evgeniya Smirnova, Russia. All but Berges and Smirnova had paid the entry fee for the 300-game Pot Play. To watch the highly-entertaining battle for the 3.100 Euro winner-takes-all prize
The Professional Bowlers Association laid out general plans for the 2010-11 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season Wednesday in a meeting with the Exempt Tour players in Norwich, Conn., site of this week's Go RVing PBA Match Play Championship."The PBA has weathered the most difficult economic year for professional sports of all kinds that most of us have ever seen," said PBA Tour Commissioner and CEO Fred Schreyer, "and we are continuing to reshape the future of professional bowling by introducing new concepts that are both necessary and exciting."
When reading about USBC's recent quest to coach the two-handed style of bowling, I could not help but think back to some articles that were shared about the early days of the ABC and how the leaders of the time governed the game. In those very early times of governance, when the game was still being defined at a rapid pace, a new crop of hotshot bowlers came into vogue because some of the more ingenious players figured out how to make exotic bowling balls and use them to their advantage. Those early high tech balls were known then as 'dodo balls' and the players that used them were called 'dodo bowlers.'
In an effort to help grow the sport of bowling as a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sport and promote the importance of athletics to today's youth, Brunswick Bowling was named the exclusive sponsor of the 2009/2010 NCAA Women's Bowling All America awards. Brunswick Pro Staff member and PBA Hall of Famer, Johnny Petraglia, will present the awards during the NCAA Championship banquet.
Ryan Ciminelli (pictured left) of Cheektowaga, N.Y., led a field eight players who advanced out of the Professional Bowlers Association’s Tour Qualifying Round Wednesday and completed the field of 64 for the Go RVing Match Play Championship which gets underway Thursday at Norwich Bowling and Entertainment Center. Ciminelli, who has already advanced to the television finals three times during the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season, averaged 226.57 to finish the seven-game qualifying round with a 1,586 pinfall total.
Bowling fans planning to attend tournaments and trade shows across the country can save money on airfare this year thanks to a special American Airlinesgroup rate. The group travel discount provides 5 percent off the lowest applicable fare. Destination cities include Reno, Nev., El Paso, Texas, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Dallas-Fort Worth and Philadelphia. Discount fares are valid for travel on American Airlines, American Eagle®, AmericanConnection®, oneworld Alliance, and codeshare partners from anywhere to your event destination.
Over the past few weeks, the intensity and desire that carried Mark Roth to 34 PBA Tour titles has started to return. The 58-year-old hall of famer has been working harder than he has in years, trying to get ready for his next tournament. But when Mark Roth makes his appearance at the GEICO Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship at AMF Babylon Lanes in West Babylon, N.Y., March 24-28, it will be dramatically different than any he has ever made before. He will arrive at the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour event named in his honor in a wheelchair.
Lahti veteran Seppo Koukonen (l.) dug deep coming up the home stretch in the Tali Senior Open, the European Bowling Proprietors' Association (EBPA) 2010 Senior Tour opener to guarantee a home win at the famous Tali Bowl arena. The Finn dashed Lena Sulkanen’s (r.) bid for victory on her debut tour appearance right at the death in a tense final full of drama. Down by seven pins Koukonen posted a huge 258 game in the second to claim the title, 464-424. 
2008 EBT women's ranking champion Nina Flack (l.), Sweden, waited until the 23rd and last qualifying squad before she qualified for the finals of the Brunswick Euro Challenge. Flack went on to win the women's ranking in the EBT "Gold" tournament en route to overtake the lead in the 2010 women's ranking with 320 points. Despite missing the first cut in the BEC, Dominic Barrett (r.), England, remained
atop the men's leaderboard with 325 points.
Bill O'Neill (l.) of Southampton, Pa, has been named the Kegel Bowler of the Month for February 2010 by the Bowling Writers Association of America. O'Neill backed up his September 2009 BWAA Kegel Bowler of the Month award winning his second PBA title in five months, the 67th Lumber Liquidators U.S Open. Finishing a very close second in voting was Walter Ray Williams, Jr. (r.), Ocala, Florida, winner of the USBC Masters.