Thousands of fans and 120 competing teams have packed the Wickliffe Italian-American Club this weekend for the 42nd annual Cleveland Challenge Cup of Bocce, a double-elimination tournament that runs through Sunday evening and now carries a prize purse topping $34,000. The event draws an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 spectators and competitors to the Lake County club, with teams traveling in from California, Florida, Chicago and Toronto to compete for the title.
As Cleveland.com reports, the field this year includes 104 teams in the Open Division and 16 teams in the Women's Division, all playing bracketed double-elimination games in a sport where teams of four players roll balls toward a smaller target ball called the pallino, or jack, with points awarded to whichever team lands closest.
