One day after the conclusion of the Brunswick Euro Challenge, the sixth stop of the 2010 European Bowling Tour got underway with the first qualifying squad of the Ebonite International Luxembourg Open.

32 players took to the 20 lanes of X-Treme Bowling & Billard in Foetz, Luxembourg Monday evening. Uwe Blank (pictured), Germany, used high games of 256, 235 and 232 to set the pace with 1350 six-game total and an average of 225.00. He received 150 Euro for winning the squad.

Jean Louis Francois was a distant second with 1203 followed by Grégory Vanderpypen in third place with 1196. Sandrine Peelman, all Belgium, was the best woman in 11th place with 1139 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

Qualifying continues on Tuesday, March 16, with Squad 2 scheduled for 8 p.m. CET.

The Ebonite International Luxembourg Open will be held from March 16-21, 2010 at 20-laner X-Treme Bowling & Billard in Foetz, Luxembourg and offers total prize fund of 30.000 Euro with 4.000 Euro going to the winner.

The tournament is the sixth stop of the 2010 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Satellite" tournaments. Since the Ankara Open and the Austria Challenge have been cancelled, the 2010 EBT Tour consists of 19 events - 2 EBT Platinum tournament (formerly Premier), 6 EBT Gold tournaments (formerly Major), 7 EBT Silver tournaments (formerly Challenger) and 4 EBT Satellite tournaments (new category).

U.S. Open champion Bill O'Neill (left), United States, is the defending champion. O'Neill defeated Francois Louw, South Africa, 504-452, in Oct. 2009 to win his first EBT title. Nicole Sanders (right), Netherlands, finished third last year to win the women's ranking.

Qualifying runs from Monday, March 15 though Saturday March 20, with the final qualifying squad 13 scheduled for 8 p.m. and ends with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad slated for 11.30 p.m. CET.