Sierakow, Poland, will play host to Europe’s best ninepin bowlers from Saturday (11 May) for the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Ninepin Bowling European Championships.

Poland has a long history of staging the competition, following on 2003, 2009 and 2014.

A total of 83 players from eight countries – 50 men and 33 women – will go for the podium in Sierakow.

Athletes will compete across three categories of B1, B2 and B3 in a variety of events following three days of classification from 11-13 May.

Competition gets underway on 14 May, headlined by the men’s and women team clashes across two days.

Croatia are the reigning champions in the women’s with Ruza Markesic, Nermina Mehulic and Iva Sola returning to defend their crown.

In the men’s Slovenia’s Muhic Slavko, Mita Osolnik, Igor Zagar, Jose Lampe, Saso Kajtna and Zalar Marjan are the European team title holders.

Those bowlers competing for individual titles will also take part in the knock-out stages on these opening days. They include Markesic in the women’s combination and single classic B3 and Poland’s Jan Zieba in the equivalent men’s B1.

Mixed tandem events will take centre stage on 16 May ahead of the finals in men’s and women’s for each category on 17 May.

Germany’s Christine Schoeffer and Tilo Behrendt are the ones to watch in the mixed tandem B1 as well as Romania’s Claudia Boanda and Constantin Tescu in the B3.

Results for the 2024 IBSA Ninepin Bowling European Championships can be found at: http://niepelnosprawni.pzkregl.pl/mistrzostw-europy-2024/