The Eden SuperBowl recently hosted the 4th annual Globalair Travel Youth Open, where a field of Under-24 tenpin bowlers competed in a series of events to decide this year’s Champions.

While the event was rather dominated by local athletes, it also attracted competitors from the United Kingdom and also Italy, but it was Maltese pair, Rankin Camilleri and Stephanie Said who were the eventual overall winners of the respective Male and Female divisions.

Mixed Doubles:

The first event after the official practice session was the Mixed Double event, in which each team played six games for total pinfall. While the lead changed more than once throughout the session, it was English pairing of Matthew Blythe and Andrew Hall from the Sunderland Youth Bowling Club who won it in the end. Their collective total of 2321 pins was only 21 better than a great 2300 effort from local youths Valentina Bezzina and Dean Micallef, while another Maltese combination of Philippe Vancell and Rankin Camilleri placed third on 2294.

Matthew Blythe rolled the best individual series of the day with a 1213 gross total, bolstered by his ten pin age bonus, which was awarded to all under eighteens.

Male & Female Singles: Malta’s first Gold of the Championships came in the Female Division of the Singles Event, where Valentina Bezzina improved on her sound Doubles performance of 1177 pins by shooting a great 1217 six game total, including a scratch high of 243 (253 with bonus). She was followed by Ben Carannante in second place on 1156 pins, while third place sent to Stephanie Said for her 1052 effort.

Matthew Blythe was on great form again in the Male division, in spite of his having to buy all new equipment on his arrival in Malta due to his luggage failing to arrive. He clinched first place with a great 1368 effort including scratch highs of 257, 234 and 228, placing him 75 pins ahead of compatriot Stephen Larman in second place on 1293 pins. Third place went to Philippe Vancell for his scratch 1275 tally, without any age bonus.

Round Robin Stage and Finals:

The bowlers’ scores from the Doubles and Singles events were added together to form the Masters Classification, from which the top six male an female bowlers would go on to the penultimate Round Robin stage. Each bowler would play a single game against the other five qualifiers in turn, the classifications decided on a match-point system of two points for a match win, and one point for a draw.

The total pinfall from the five Round Robin games would only come into play in the case of a tie, and the qualifiers were; Stephen Larman, Matthew Blythe, Rankin Camilleri, Mauro Anastasi, Dean Micallef and Philippe Vancell in the Male section, and Valentina Bezzina, Tiziana Carannante (Youth Open Champion 2006), Ben Carannante, Stephanie Said, Jade Cosaitis and Anne Marie Bonello in the Female section. Only the top three from each would eventually make it to the Stepladder Finals.

Male Division:

The boys’ Round Robin was where Stephen Larman came to the fore, shooting great games of 224, 203, 222 and 192 for four game wins from five to put him on top. Rankin Camilleri also won four of his encounters and so matched Larman’s match point total of eight, but settled for second place due to a lower pinfall.

In the Stepladder Finals, bowlers were ranked in order of their qualification, and so Camilleri would meet Blythe for the first Male section face-off, the Englishman required to win two games as the underdog as opposed to one game in the case of the higher ranked Maltese qualifier.

The match was a thriller from the start, with Blythe clinching the initial game 204 -220 to force the all important second game. It was all down to those ten frames and Camilleri had to pull an extra effort out of the back if he was to go on to the final. He did just that, shooting a great 246 to Blythe’s 193 to win his place in the final with Larman.

The Final was worthy of any top rank International tournament anywhere in the world, and would also come down to a second game, after Camilleri clinched the incredible first, with a stunning 242-267 score line. The atmosphere was at fever pitch as game two commenced, and Camilleri managed a more relaxed victory, easily winning it 159-215 to take home the Championship title.

Female Division:

Stephanie Said was the only competitor to manage four wins from five in the Female Round Robin, which included a very good 224 opening game. That put her in the top spot with a place in the final match guaranteed. Valentina Bezzina won three, as did Tiziana Carannante, but took second place ahead of Tiziana in third due to her better total pins for the round. Jade Cosaitis also won three of her encounters, but also missed out due to her lower pinfall.

Valentina Bezzina had played a fine tournament to date, and only needed one game win to bypass Carannante for a place in the final. She kept her cool as the match commenced, and took it at the first attempt with a 168 – 194 win.

The girls’ Final was another fantastic display, mirroring the Male final with lower ranked Bezzina beating top qualifier Stephanie Said in a great 216 – 261 game to take it to game two. That was a much closer affair, nothing separating the girls throughout the ten frames, but in the end it was to be Said’s day as she netted it by only nine pins, 191-182 the score line to hand her the crown.

The winners and runners up of each event were awarded trophies to mark their achievements, while event sponsors Globalair Travel also provided a top quality digital music player for each of the newly crowned Globalair Travel Youth Open Champions.