And with quite good reason, too. and there were plenty of good reasons for those joyous Catalan shouts when squad 3 took to the Bowling Pedralbes lanes on Friday evening and the stars of European women's bowling gave a masterclass in showcasing our fascinating sport.

As usual, the format calls for six qualifying games for the complete field and the 28 on this squad vied for honors. None other than the talented Bettina Lund from the Netherlands shone brightest over the first three games with 695, looking good to knock tournament leader Clara Guerrero of Colombia and other points west off her perch, up until this time leading with 1286.

But would calamity strike our favorite Hollander? She was still leading after five games with a slim buffer over three or four other contenders and in game six it was a squeaker between Lund at home bowler Sandra Torrents. An open frame 9 by torrents opened the door for Lund to mark and hit six to win the squad. This she did to finish with 1259 but a 171 in game four and 187 in the next cost her top place on the leader board.

So, veteran Bettina Lund takes the bull by the horns in Barcelona, sounds good after that ancient sport ceases to exist in this fair city. "I am always inspired to be back here in Barcelona," Lund told us. "It is my favorite highlight of the year and this year particularly as I had the opportunity to drill up some new Ebonite equipment then come out and bowl like a pro from the old days. I'm here for the seventh time, so maybe the only player who has been invited to all the Masters.

"I have to say that looking at the conditions here today, I think it has been an advantage playing on the other side of the lane as there were only two lefthanders on this squad. I didn't have very much transition going on and I had a really good start with 695 over the first three games. That really helped me to bowl easy over the last three games.

"I bowled almost all the games with my new Ebonite Mission X. I did try changing to other balls when conditions started to be difficult, but it didn't really work out, so I ended up with the same ball again."

The aforementioned 'two or three other contenders' included young Roosa Lunden from Finland and Denmark's ubiquitous Britt Brondsted as well as Sandra Torrents and it was a case of eeny-meeny-miny-mo as to who was eventually going to top the squad and maybe take over the running of the leader board. Fortune favored the brave and Lund's double in the ninth and tenth frames settled one issue but Guerrero stays the frontrunner.

STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 3:

VII EUROPEAN WOMEN'S MASTERS PRESIDENT SAMARANCH TROPHY

PROVISIONAL QUALIFICATION

P	Player	Federation	1	2	3	4	5	6	Pins
1	Clara Guerrero	Colombia	224	201	205	225	232	202	1289
2	Luz Adriana Leal	Colombia	179	235	173	278	218	183	1266
3	Bettina Lund	Denmark	234	224	237	171	187	206	1259
4	Sandra Torrents Pelaez	Catalonia	262	205	185	175	215	204	1246
5	Daria Kovalova	Ukraine	208	186	227	223	206	196	1246
6	Laurence Gaillard	France	156	248	214	256	191	170	1235
7	Roosa Lunden	Finland	192	214	191	202	212	220	1231
8	Britt Brondsted	Denmark	190	212	207	214	215	188	1226
9	Eva Jonsson	Sweden	220	184	189	201	199	210	1203
10	Krista Pollanen	Finland	175	163	211	210	203	235	1197
11	Nina Flack	Sweden	190	215	195	190	181	217	1188
12	Kirsten Penny	England	184	192	224	187	219	178	1184
13	Rebecka Larsen	Sweden	203	203	191	191	158	235	1181
14	Joline-Persson Planefors	Sweden	232	178	181	206	200	181	1178
15	Nicki Ainge	England	171	192	192	182	202	229	1168
16	Elin Adolfsson	Sweden	171	214	221	200	197	165	1168
17	Rosa Mas Puiggros	Catalonia	216	202	189	168	204	188	1167
18	Mai Ginge Jensen	Denmark	168	229	218	188	196	166	1165
19	Jenny Wegner	Sweden	191	197	186	172	219	196	1161
20	Josefine Linderoth	Sweden	222	164	208	174	166	200	1134
21	Sanna Pasanen	Finland	185	178	174	167	215	207	1126
22	Anja Ginge	Denmark	167	149	162	223	238	183	1122
23	Aude Saint Marc	France	181	192	150	243	197	155	1118
24	Ida Andersson	Sweden	172	212	201	182	173	176	1116
25	Randi Kryger	Denmark	168	188	206	183	192	178	1115
26	Niki Schiza	Cyprus	157	166	191	199	212	188	1113
27	Reija Lunden	Finland	182	182	193	197	187	172	1113
28	Sue Abela	Malta	174	186	199	171	183	183	1096
29	Roser Romero Burgos	Catalonia	203	146	181	180	206	143	1059
30	Francisca Nu�ez Hernandez	Catalonia	137	209	168	158	166	206	1044
31	Meritxell Sanchez Lloansi	Catalonia	181	182	144	159	220	157	1043
32	Lia Mojarro Postigo	Catalonia	157	153	158	202	167	184	1021
33	Hakamaki Tiia	Finland	171	154	208	166	178	142	1019
34	Anja Svaneberg	Denmark	147	185	201	127	204	154	1018
35	Noora Alanko	Finland	171	200	138	161	174	168	1012
36	Sandra Oliva Tudela	Catalonia	176	155	179	179	163	158	1010
37	Nickie Marie Lund Bogeskov	Denmark	138	189	178	158	183	138	984
38	Ingrid Julia Ingles	Catalonia	158	184	150	155	188	140	975
39	Irene Molera Teruel	Catalonia	129	146	160	228	171	135	969
40	Francisca Melendez Bejar	Catalonia	159	164	133	119	192	189	956
41	Merc� Burgues Flamarich	Catalonia	149	155	149	147	171	151	922
42	Elisabet Cejudo Justo	Catalonia	138	167	144	165	117	157	888
43	Noelia Rastrero Medina	Catalonia	161	156	148	129	168	126	888
44	Sandra Barange Villavecchia	Catalonia	163	115	146	144	132	140	840