The 9th Malta Senior Open Championships are presently underway at the Eden SuperBowl, where the first qualifying round has been completed in both the male and female divisions. After 12 games the men’s competition is led by Sweden’s Christer Danielsson, while the ladies’ field is headed by Fran Deken from the USA.
2003 Champion, Doris Camilleri, and Leli Baldacchino are flying the flag for Malta, Camilleri making the Round One cut to 36 in 11th place, with a 2236 total (186.3 average), in spite of injury worries due to a cut on her ‘bowling thumb’ just before her second set of six games. Baldacchino’s 20th spot in the extremely tough Men’s field is also impressive, as he barely dropped below the 200 mark to reach his 2487 total.
Christer Danielsson is currently leading the EBPA European Seniors tour, and is a first timer here for the Senior Open in Malta but has been impressive on the lanes since his opening game of 223, and never dropped below the 200 mark.
He peaked at 278 in his third of 12 games, with other highs of 265, 258 and 235. This helped Danielsson on to a brilliant 2805 total (233.7 average), to make the Swede a firm tournament favourite.
Asked about his qualifying performance and the tournament in general, Christer, a 51yr old bowling proprietor from the town of Stensjon, commented, “I’m really surprised at how well this tournament is run. The arrangements are very good and I know which lanes I will be bowling on right through to the end.”
It was touch and go as to whether Christer would be able compete as he has suffered an injury lately, he explained ‘I’ve had to lay off bowling for the past ten weeks as I had an injured finger. I’ve only competed in about four major events in Sweden this year and the EBPA Senior tournaments.’ Christer will certainly be glad he was tournament fit in time for his first trip to Malta.
Fran Deken is another first time for the Malta Senior Open, and one of four bowlers who have made the trip out from the USA to participate. She led her qualifying squad throughout the first round in spite of a couple of low games in her first six game session, but rallied on day two with highs of 234, 214 and 220 to top the 70-strong ladies field. Speaking about her shaky start to round one, Deken, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, exclaimed, “I just bowled bad! I just couldn’t make a good shot as I was putting far too much pressure on myself.”
Fran has been well impressed with Malta and also the Senior Open, commenting, “This is such a nice tournament, so well run, and the people here are really friendly.”