The 2012 Brunswick Italia Challenge is now underway at the Red & Black Bowling Center in the idyllic city of Asti in the north-west of Italy. This is the second running of the tournament, an event so successful last year that it has signed up with the European Bowling Tour from this year and offers a first place prize of €9,000 for the ultimate champion when he or her stands atop the podium next Sunday, July 1.

Live coverage will be featured on both www.bowlersjournal.com and www.talktenpin.net from Wednesday evening with live web streaming on the latter subject to suitable line speed.

Last year’s champion, Ronnie Russell of the United States, was earlier reported as not being able to make the trip into the Piedmont country this year but Russell has thankfully changed his mind.

The Red & Black center was a design award winner in the Bowlers Journal Design Awards a couple of years ago. It features 24 Brunswick-equipped lanes, a large vido game area, a superb restaurant, a casino and a large stage area which last year featured the regional finals of the official Miss Italia competition. This year a Miss Brunswick Italia Challenge will be staged on Tuesday evening. Hopefully recorded highlights will be part of our web stream.

Full tournament details and up-to-date results on: www.brunswickitaliachallenge.com.