The recent winners of the National Malta Youth Championships and Junior Championships were honoured recently at an MTBA presentation dinner marking the end of the Middlesea Valletta National League.
The new Junior Champions (under 16 years of age) are Matthew Cossai in the boys division and Cynthia Duca for the girls, while the Youth Champions (under 23 years) are Rankin Luke Camilleri and Bernadette Carannante.
The MTBA, aided by training facilities provided by the Eden SuperBowl, are dedicated to nurturing and coaching children in the sport of tenpin bowling, starting with involvement in the long-running SkolaSport scheme, from which many students move on to the National Junior and eventually Youth squads.
National Junior championships
The 2006 Junior Championships attracted a keen field of youngsters, competing in boys’ and girls’ categories over two qualifying rounds, finishing in a final between the top two.
Round one was played over two sessions each of six games, and the top six bowlers would go on to round two.
These were, in qualifying order: Boys’ Division; Matthew Cossai, James Vassallo, Matthew Mangion, Ryan Grima, Gabriel Borg and Karl Sammut. Girls’ Division; Luisa Buttigieg, Cynthia Duca, Sabrina D’Emanuele, Jennifer Grech, Chrisabel Grima and Naomi Bugeja.
Boys’ Section
Round two was played as a Round Robin, based on a match-point system where the final classification depends on points awarded for game wins, draws and also high games.
Matthew Cossai continued to bowl strongly in this stage, winning three of his five encounters to stay in first place.
James Vassallo won two games and drew one to take second place and secure a place in he final against Matthew. Third place went to promising newcomer Ryan Grima.
The finals were played on a ‘best of three’ basis, and Matthew Cossai took the first game with a good 204 against a 175 from Vassallo. Game two ended in a 159-all draw, but then Cossai claimed the title with a 175 – 144 clincher in game three.
Girls’s Section
Round One leader Cynthia Duca picked up four wins from five second round games in the girls section, but was kept out of the top spot by Luisa Buttigieg who also won four games but scored higher than Cynthia over the stage. Third place went to Sabrina D’Emanuele, a very good effort for her first experience in this tournament.
Cynthia Duca went on to win the final against Luisa in two straight games, 150 – 164 and 166 – 180 the respective game scores.
National Youth championships
The National Youth Championships began with a 16-game qualifying round played over two eight-game sessions, again with the top six bowlers from the male and female sections advancing to the second ‘round robin’ stage. After that the top three from each division would play in a single game stepladder final, third against second, and the winner going on to face the top qualifier.
Male Division
Rankin Camilleri stood out as the superior player in the male competition, playing to a great 200.3 average over his sixteen games to go through in first place.
He managed impressive high games of 259, 235, and 223 for a 3205 total, putting him163 ahead of Mauro Anastasi in second place (3,042), while Justin Caruana Scicluna qualified in third on 2928 pins.
Also through to round two were Nathan Brimmer, Dean Micallef and Ramon Casha.
Unlike in the Junior event, the qualifiers took 50% of their Round one pinfall through to Round Two, where bonuses for wins, draws and high games were then added to game scores and bowlers’ totals.
Rankin Camilleri played with determination, winning his first four games to scoop some very handy bonus points as well as extras for games of 222, 253 and 201. This kept him in first place, while Anastasi also retained his position after three good round robin wins.
The other finalist was Nathan Brimmer who bypassed unlucky Justin Casuana Scicluna to claim the third spot.
Brimmer met Mauro Anastasi in the first final game, and Anastasi came through it with a crushing 179-246 victory to earn his place in the final match against Camilleri.
The Anastasi vs Camilleri encounter was a much closer affair between two quite equally matched players. Camilleri wasn’t about to let his tournament long advantage slip through his fingers however, and emerged the victor with a 171-191 win for the title.
Supremacy in the female section was contested from day one between sisters Tiziana and Bernadette (Ben) Carannante, who came through their sixteen qualifying games in first and second place respectively, with the younger Tiziana bettering Ben by 140 pins (2,958-2,818). Anne Marie Bonello qualified in third, and they were joined in the round robin by Stephanie Said, Jade Cosaitis and Junior Champion Cynthia Duca.
The Round Robin saw Ben Carannante take over the lead from Tiziana thanks to three game wins, and excellent scores of 244 and a massive 261 to help bolster her total. Tiziana had to settle for second place while Stephanie Said improved to third place thanks to a 100% win record from her five games, for a place in the stepladder.
A 136-169 win for Tiziana against Said meant she would meet her sister Ben in the final match, a sure test of sibling rivalry. Ben's high-rolling from the Round Robin games held up, and she took the female title with an excellent 165-224 victory.