The 16 games of the qualifying round of the 2005 MTBA National Championships have now been completed at the Eden SuperBowl, St. Julian’s, where the cream of Malta’s tenpin bowlers are competing for the annual tournament calendar’s most prestigious National award.

Male Section

Kenneth Arpa ruled on the short condition on day one, shooting consistently will over 200 over the four games for a brilliant 917 set, which included a 258 opener – the highest game of the championships to date (258, 216, 213, 230), for the early lead over Brian Farrugia on 864 pins, and Matthew Caruana with an 827 set.

Caruana then went on to dominate on the long pattern, which other contenders seemed to struggle with, blasting his way to an excellent 872 foursome including games of 231 and 250, giving him an overall total for the day of 1,699 which put him in the lead. Arpa rolled a 725 on the long lanes which kept him in touch on 1,642 pins in second place. Brian Farrugia ended the day in third with his 1,607 tally, having made a 743 in the second set.

Day two saw a reversal of the lane programmes, the long pattern being put down for the first four games, followed by the short. Here Kenneth Arpa pulled off a much better performance, stringing together a 791 series, peaking with a 212, to take him back to the top of the classification on 2,433 pins. Brian Farrugia was best over this set, managing a good 794 which saw him go second (2,401) only just ahead of Caruana whose 700 effort put him in third place (2,399).

Back to the short oil condition where Kenneth’s 760 total (3,193 round total, 199.5 ave) was enough to keep him in the top spot going through to the final stages, although he will be thankful of a good 240 opening game which was the key to him keeping the lead. Caruana finished the round in second place with his 762 series placing him on 3,161 pins (197.5 ave), ahead of Farrugia who managed a 749 to close the qualifying 11 pins behind on 3,150 (196.8 ave).

Also qualifying for the finals were Ray Falzon Reale, Dennis Mercieca and Rankin Camilleri in 4th, 5th and 6th place respectively.

Female Section

Sue Abela tops the ladies’ section, having fared rather better on the long oil pattern than her challengers, which helped give her the edge. The first four games on short oil saw a brilliant three way race between Abela and Doris Camilleri (2003 Champion) both on 826 pins, and last year’s top lady Melissa Anastasi, who put in a great 823 set. Then Sue took the top spot narrowly after her four games on long oil, rolling a 730 ahead of a 728 from Anastasi, and a 701 from Camilleri.

Once Sue Abela is on top, it’s difficult to shake her off, and she built up her lead on day two with a 758 set on the long pattern (2,314 after 12 games), while Anastasi stayed in second place after her 702 series, giving her a 2,253 interim total. Camilleri hung onto third although she suffered with a 679 set (2,206 total).

That’s the way things stayed after the final four games of the round, as Abela continued to improve on her lead with a good 791 in games 13-16, giving her a round winning total of 3,105 pins (194 ave). Melissa shot a 773 to stay second on 3,026 (189.1 ave), while Camilleri’s 744 kept her in third on 2,950 pins (184.3 ave). Also qualifying are Vicki Camilleri in fourth place, and Lorraine Casha in fifth.

The next round is in fact the final stage, and will take the format of a double round robin. The pinfall accumulated in round one will all be carried forward, and each finalist will play each of the other qualifiers in turn, over two rounds, when apart from the game scores, bonus points will also be awarded : 20 for a win, 10 for a draw. Those bonus points can make all the difference, and the competition is still open in both the male and female competitions.

After the ten round robin games are over, the 2005 National Champions will finally be known.