Belmonte, who now lives in France, has moved into 15th on the EBT rankings after 10 events, of which he has bowled in four.

Belmonte qualified in sixth place during the week to allow him to sit out the first two rounds of Sunday’s finals.

The two-handed bowler rolled a six-game series of 1422 to average 237, 153 pins behind top qualifier Pete Weber of America.

The top eight qualifiers joined the finals at the top-32 stage, with Belmonte downing France’s Marilyn Planchard.

The French bowler had an eight-pin handicap for each game but that couldn’t help her as Belmonte beat her in both games to win 441-393.

Belmonte started with a strong 258 to Planchard’s 200 but both bowlers struggled in the second game, with the Orange competitor just getting up 183-177.

The 24-year-old’s run came to an end in the quarter-finals when he was beaten by Austria’s Thomas Gross 418-361.

Gross took a lead after the first game 236-211 and extended it in a low-scoring second match, which he won 182-150.

The Austrian went on to lose the final to Singapore’s Remy Ong 466-437.

Belmonte will be trying to climb further up the EBT rankings from today when he competes in the next major event in Barcelona, Spain.

The tournament in Barcelona will start today and finishes on Sunday.