Bigi Manico and Roger Widmer, both of Zurich, captured the women's and men's title in the 2012 Swiss National Championships which concluded the past weekend at bowling center White Line in Meierskappel. The duo will represent Switzerland in the 2012 European Champions Cup October15-22 at Dolfijn Bowling in The Hague, Netherlands. The men's finals were highlighted by bach-to-back 300 games by Widmer and second-place finisher, Sandro Ancarani.
PBA Hall of Famer Johnny Petraglia (l.) became the first player in PBA history to win a national tour or senior tour title in six decades by winning the PBA Senior Dayton Classic presented by Roto Grip Thursday at Capri Lanes. Petraglia, who won his eighth career Senior Tour title, also ended a three-year drought without a win by defeating reigning Senior Player of the Year Ron Mohr (r.) of Eagle River, Alaska, 220-204, in the title match.
150 of the top bowlers in Canada - 97 men and 53 women - will compete for the right to wear Team Canada colors in 2013 at the 2012 National Championships which will take place from May 17-21 at Classic Bowl in Mississauga, Ontario. The entrants include 16 women and 21 men who will be eligible for the 2013 Team Canada youth team. After 30 games the top six men and six women will form
the adult teams. Another two men and two women will be selected by the
National Selection Committee to form the 2013 Adult Team Canada.
Arizona's Josh Blanchard (l.) is the 2011-12 PBA Harry Golden Rookie of the Year and Sweden's Martin Larsen (r.) the Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award winner, the Professional Bowlers Association announced Wednesday. PBA Commissioner Tom Clark also announced that Australia's Jason Belmonte, Mike Fagan of Dallas and Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill., are the finalists for the 2011-12 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year award.
The 13th annual Luci Bonneau Memorial Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles Tournament, the nation's most popular combination of high-level competitive bowling and fund-raising, returns to Palace Lanes in Houston, Texas, July 21-22, where it will receive PBA Regional title status and live online coverage on Xtra Frame for the first time in 2012. The tournament, founded by Donna Conners, honors her long-time friend and fellow PWBA competitor who lost her life to breast cancer.
Longevity was the theme at the 2012 USBC Open Championships this week as four bowlers took their places in history as members of the tournament's elite 50-Year Club. Wayne Vanwey of Springfield, Ohio, George Barnes of Buffalo, N.Y., and Bill Hohensee of Lexington, Ky., added their names to the list May 12, while David Stackhouse of Ashland, Ohio, made his milestone march down Center Aisle at the Baton Rouge River Center on May 13. 
Mads Sandbækken and 16-year-old Andrea E. Hansen (pictured) claimed the men's and women's titles in the 2012 Norwegian National Championships which were held at Veitvet Bowling Center in Oslo, Norway from May 9-13. Heidi Thorstensen and Patcharin Torgersen took the women's Doubles titles, while Bjørn Einar Rudshagen and Jonas Sjøgren set a new national record to win the men's Doubles gold. The 2012 Norwegian Nationals drew 287 players.
Yelena Grishinenko (l.) and Yuriy Sazonov (r.) captured the titles in the 14th Kazakhstan Cup which was held May 12-13 at Bowling Club Olimp in Almaty. The winners will represent Kazakhstan in the 2012 Bowling World Cup in Poland.
Sazonov led the men's division with 4148 pinfall total including 135 bonus pins to earn his first career BWC berth. Grishinenko dominated the women's field and finished 442 pins ahead of her nearest competitor.
The 10th Columbia 300 Vienna Open is the 16th event and the last "gold" tournament of the 2012 European Bowling Tour season as well as the 12th and penultimate event on the 2012 World Bowling Tour schedule. The $100.000 Dollar tournament will run from Oct. 2-7, 2012 at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria. Bowling fans around the world will be able to watch portions of the qualifying as well as all the final rounds including the stepladder finals live on 
Online registration is open for the Norwegian Open 2012, the 17th event of the 2012 European Bowling Tour season and the sixth out of seven EBT "Satellite" tournaments this season. The tournament offers an increased prize fund of 194.000 Norwegian Kronor or approx. 25.700 Euro and runs from Oct. 5-14, 2012 at 26-lane Veitvet Bowling Center in Oslo, Norway. Bowlingdigital.com will provide Live Coverage commencing Thursday Oct. 11 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, Oct. 14.
The final day of the 2012 PABCON Champion of Champions belonged to countries from South America. Venezuela's Amleto Monacelli and Karen Marcano (left) defeated Team USA, 493-409, to win the Mixed Doubles Masters. while Colombia's Paola Gomez and her brother, Andres Gomez (right), took the Women's and Men's Masters gold medals.
Oscar Marin of Brazil (Men's Division A/B), Jerry Daniels (Men's Division C) and Christine Srock (Women's Division), United States, ended the 3rd World Seniors Invitational with victory in the Masters finals Saturday at Sawgrass Lanes in Tamarac, Fla., United States. 12 players in each division bowled one best-of-three games round to cut to top 6 who determined the champions in round robin match play. The third World Seniors Invitational drew 37 players - 25 men and 12 women - from seven countries.
Judy Dugas (l.) of Lafayette, La., and Mary Lou Baird (r.) of Steger, Ill., both made their USBC Women's Championships debuts at the 1963 event in Memphis, Tenn., and they recently joined elite company by making their 50th-consecutive tournament appearances. Dugas and Baird became the third and fourth bowlers of the 2012 USBC Women's Championships to reach the historic mark. 
The Detroit area will play host to bowling's biggest youth tournaments in 2013, the North Pointe Junior Gold Championships and the USBC Youth Open Championships. The North Pointe Junior Gold Championships will take place at Sunnybrook Lanes and Sterling Lanes, both in Sterling Heights, Mich., and AMF Rose Bowl in Roseville, Mich., from July 13-19, 2013. Sterling Lanes will be the site for the USBC Youth Open Championships, scheduled for July 11-28, 2013.
Andrew Koff (pictured) of Miami, the defending all-events champion, heads the list of eight Junior Team USA members selected to compete in the 2012 WTBA World Youth Championships this summer. The World Youth Championships will take place June 22 through July 3 at the Blu-O Paragon Bowling Center in Bangkok, Thailand. Participants will compete for medals in five events - Singles, Doubles, Team, All-Events and Masters match play. The selections were determined after a training camp last week at the ITRC.
In only his third tournament on the PBA Senior Tour, Bob Learn Jr. (l.) of Erie, Pa., won the PBA Senior Mooresville Classic presented by Columbia Wednesday for his first Senior Tour title. Learn, who won five PBA Tour titles including the 1999 U.S. Open in a 15-year PBA Tour career, defeated Ron Profitt (r.) of Brookville, Ohio, 203-196, in the championship match at George Pappas Victory Lanes.
Sean Rash (pictured) of Montogomery, Illinois has been named the BWAA Kegel Bowler of the Month for April. Rash won the PBA Tournament of Champions defeating Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, New, York, 239-205 for his fifth career PBA title. With the win, Rash becomes another strong candidate for the PBA Player of the Year race. Although this was his lone win on the 2011-12 PBA Tour, Rash was either first or second in earnings, average, match play appearances, and tournament points.