When
Wolfgang Lohschmid and
Helmut Amstätter (r-l) invested thousands of dollars into a new event called the Vienna Open in 2003, they were labeled as "crazy" by their friends in Austria. But their crazy, yet necessary, risk is finally starting to pay dividends. The Columbia 300 Vienna Open is now one of the biggest events on the European Bowling Tour, helping to raise Austria's profile as a bowling nation. This year's Vienna Open, which began Tuesday and concludes with Sunday's finals, is expected to draw 291 players from 28 countries to compete for a prize fund of more than 65,000 Euro, or about $90,000 in U.S. dollars.
Team USA's Lynda Barnes is widely considered one of the best bowlers in the world - male or female. So when she arrived to compete in the 2008 Columbia 300 Vienna Open, she was a little stunned to find out that even she would get eight pins a game handicap. Like all female participants in European Bowling Tour events, Barnes receives the customary eight-pin advantage each game, which adds up to 48 pins for each six-game qualifying block. After arriving in Vienna on Thursday, Barnes competed Friday in two squads attempting to overcome not only the lane conditions at Plus Bowling Center, but also jetlag.
The 2008 ETBF European Youth Championships at famed Tali Bowl in Helsinki Finland showed what can happen in the modern bowling environment when all parts of the scoring environment are predictable and at a high level. During the Championships, 12 of 15 girls scoring records were broken and 11 of 15 boys scoring records were broken. There were also five 300 games during the Championships. However, the closer you look and dissect the possible reasons why those records were broken and scores were achieved, the less anyone should be surprised.
When former European champion and PBA touring pro Jouni Helminen was elected President of the Finnish Bowling Federation in December 2006, the then 36-year-old thought he would serve for a two-year term until December 31, 2008. Surprisingly, just one year after his election Helminen has announced that he has resigned from the post "due to personal attacks" by Heiki Sarso, the former WTBA president and Helminen's predecessor as FBF president. Bowlingdigital's editor Herbert Bickel talked with Jouni Helminen short after his victory in the 2008 Brunswick Ballmaster Open,
"For many reasons, not the least is the long-term credibility of tenpin bowling, the WTBA and the three member zones have agreed that dual lane conditions are the way forward for major championships", writes Eric Hayton (pictured), editor of the British Go Tenpin Magazine. "These conditions are designed to provide a better evaluation of a bowler's ability, and the theory has been put into practice for the last two years." 
Read Missy's own story of their bowling experiences and tourist adventures abroad. Former Team USA members Missy Bellinder and Scott Norton are very different physically: Scott is tall and bowls left handed. Missy is very petite and bowls right handed. But Missy and Scott have three big things in common mentally - they both love bowling, they are good pals and they both have one famous bowling parent who serves as their coach. Virginia Norton is a WIBC and PWBA Hall of Famer and Frank Bellinder finished fifth in 1996 ABC Seniors Masters tournament.
As earlier reported the ETBF has adopted a standardized 8-pin handicap for women on the 2006 European Bowling Tour. John Forst, a former PBA champion and one of Kegel's 'flying lanemen' has stated in a previous column "After watching several tournaments and putting out various conditions, eight pins just seems to be the right number." Bowlingdigital asked John to reflect on the topic again and consider the Columbia 300 Vienna Open and the Oltremare Championships.
