After six gruelling squads over three days of qualifying, the leading 24 girls now face two four-game blocks before the four

semi-finalists are named.

Fifty per cent of the qualifying scores is carried forward into the two final stages and then the leading four play best of three games in semi-finals and the two winners advance to a further best of three game final.

Who is favorite, I hear you ask? Well, bowling mundane scores over her first couple of squads, defending champion Denmark's Mai Ginge Jensen came to the fore last night to win the final squad and said that she is going to be the one to beat. "Everybody wants to beat me as I am the world champion," she said after the squad. She won the All Events gold medal at the recent World Women's Championships in Hong Kong with a 24-game total of 5744, a fantastic average of 239, outshining the so-called American stars. To add to her treasure haul, she also picked up a further three bronze medals.

Then there's Clara Juliana Guerrero, a Colombian now married and living in Texas. she loves being in Barcelona and it was here last year that she was inducted in the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame and was also World Bowler of the Year.

England's Nicki Ainge, getting her feet back into the doors after a five-month drop from bowling following an injury, topped the qualifying round with the only score over 1300, a 1306, and fellow countrywoman Kirsten Penny, a past EWM champion, is always a danger when in a fighting mood, and she looks that way today.

And what a good each-way bet for young Daria Kovalova from Ukraine, but now living in Moscow. She won one of the qualifying squads and was runner-up in the final squad. She has already clinched the President Samaranch Trophy, an additional prize for the under-20s, and at the tender age of 16 is certainly proving to be a force to be reckoned with.

So, four of the eight games completed and the star of our show so far is once again Mai Ginge Jensen, she just seems unstoppable and on the crest of the waves.

"I think the most important thing is to focus on the game," Mai explained. "I think everybody expects me to win because I am a world champion, but everybody here has a chance and that is a good thing about this tournament. I knew that I had to grab myself a good last game.

"I really didn't like lanes 7 & 8 yesterday, but today I do. I watched Clara (Guerrero) bowl and it was easy to see a good line and do something. It is great when you can have two good people bowling together on the same pair and that's important. You can see if she makes a bad shot or whether it is the lane so make the necessary moves."

As you can see on the updated scores, Jensen leads with 1515 and guerrero is just nine sticks back. Our two Brits, Penny and Ainge, sit a little in the wilderness but third and fourth respectively with 1442 and 1441.

Final stage 2 bowls off at 11.30 CET with four more games, then the top four progress to the finals.

STANDINGS AFTER FINAL STAGE 1:

VII EUROPEAN WOMEN'S MASTERS PRESIDENT SAMARANCH TROPHY

QUARTER FINAL

P	Player	Federation	Qualify	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Pins	TOTAL
1	Mai Ginge Jensen	Denmark	637	211	224	198	245	0	0	0	0	878	1515
2	Clara Guerrero	Colombia	644	177	259	224	202	0	0	0	0	862	1506
3	Kirsten Penny	England	628	236	224	183	171	0	0	0	0	814	1442
4	Nicki Ainge	England	653	174	213	175	226	0	0	0	0	788	1441
5	Daria Kovalova	Ukraine	634	192	194	205	191	0	0	0	0	782	1416
6	Krista Pollanen	Finland	616	202	158	215	223	0	0	0	0	798	1414
7	Helen Johnsson	Sweden	630	143	178	179	278	0	0	0	0	778	1408
8	Bettina Lund	Denmark	629	188	177	174	236	0	0	0	0	775	1404
9	Britt Brondsted	Denmark	613	215	177	229	156	0	0	0	0	777	1390
10	Joline-persson Planefors	Sweden	589	177	209	213	194	0	0	0	0	793	1382
11	Gaelle Laplanche	France	605	196	187	169	224	0	0	0	0	776	1381
12	Luz Adriana Leal	Colombia	633	176	166	184	222	0	0	0	0	748	1381
13	Anja Ginge	Denmark	596	203	197	170	213	0	0	0	0	783	1379
14	Rebecka Larsen	Sweden	592	155	195	235	194	0	0	0	0	779	1371
15	Valérie Murat	France	593	196	223	185	166	0	0	0	0	770	1363
16	Laurence Gaillard	France	617	177	176	189	201	0	0	0	0	743	1360
17	Roosa Lunden	Finland	615	197	178	183	174	0	0	0	0	732	1347
18	Randi Kryger	Denmark	584	191	178	177	195	0	0	0	0	741	1325
19	Sandra Torrents Pelaez	Catalonia	623	161	174	188	179	0	0	0	0	702	1325
20	Nina Flack	Sweden	594	198	171	190	168	0	0	0	0	727	1321
21	Sanna Pasanen	Finland	598	201	161	207	150	0	0	0	0	719	1317
22	Stéphanie Dubourg	France	601	171	212	161	155	0	0	0	0	699	1300
23	Eva Jonsson	Sweden	601	196	167	127	205	0	0	0	0	695	1296
24	Ida Andersson	Sweden	592	177	175	181	159	0	0	0	0	692	1284