The going could certainly have not been called too tough, as scores were high and strikes in abundance for the last four qualifying scores for the Brunswick Italia Challenge at the fantastic Red & Black bowling centre in Asti, but the tough certainly got going and, for many, the ultimate goal was to be in the top eight in the final standings so as to get the vital two byes in Sunday's final rounds.

There were two more perfect games today, the first by Mattias Wetterberg from Sweden, the second by local Italian Marco Reviglio and those perfectos promptly assisted their other five games to hoist them up the final table, Wetterberg to 24th place but Reviglio all the way to the elite octet in fifth place with 1466.

As shown by the results below, Stuart Williams remains the tournament leader, eclipsing Brunwick-staffer Ronnie Russell, the PBA bowler from Indiana in the United States and the top eight can now sleep well and have a hearty breakfast before joining the fray.

The final rounds will have ten groups of four bowlers with each quartet playing three games. The highest from each group will advance to stage 2 and those 2-4 will form a separate standing according to their three games. Then 20 players will contest stage two.

The next stages will see the field reduced to 16, then eight, four and two.

Full results on: www.brunswickitaliachallenge.com

Further details: keithhale679@aol.com

TOP 25 QUALIFYING SCORES: