Two weeks ago, my younger sister came to visit me in Sofia. She was taking part in the Sofia International Open. This is a ten pin bowling competition that attracts professional bowlers from all over the world. I’m very proud to say that my sister, Lorna, is a bowler for Team England and to see her in action here in Sofia was simply fantastic!
There were over 230 participants in the competition which took place from the 29th October to the 6th November 2016. The international event was held at Joystation in Studentski Grad, and I’m so pleased to say that everyone I spoke to was incredibly impressed with both the facilities and the organisation of the event. I even heard people saying this was one of the best bowling alleys they’d visited for a competition. Aside from the bowling alley itself, Joystation has its own restaurant that serves very good food and there’s a great bar with pool tables where we were able to relax after the tense bowling sessions. My family, and many of the competitors, were all staying at the Suite Hotel Sofia, which was in a perfect location, just a few minutes walk to Joystation. Everyone was equally pleased with Suite Hotel, the rooms were huge, wifi was great and there’s free underground parking for guests. I’m sure that during this competition it gets booked up very quickly!
The competition was tough as expected, and despite scoring a very respectable 202 average, my sister didn’t make it through to the final. However, she did win 200 EUR, finishing in 5th place out of all the women in the competition rankings, and she’s only 17 years old! The overall prize fund at the Sofia International Open was 55,000 EUR with the winner taking 7000 EUR!
You can check the results and more information on the Sofia International Open website and here’s a few pictures of the competition. I can’t wait until next year – hopefully we can watch my sister win it in 2017!
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