The 16th annual edition of the Malta Open Tenpin Bowling Championships were concluded recently at the Eden SuperBowl, St George’s Bay, with this year’s male and female titles going to Stu Williams of England, and Ghislaine van der Tol of the Netherlands respectively. Malta’s best showing was a very good eight place for Ray Falzon Reale in the men’s division.
Competition was a tough as ever at this year’s Open, the men’s lead being hotly contested between eventual winner and recently crowned World Ranking Masters Champion Stuart Williams, along with compatriots Nick Froggatt and Paul Wells, Dutchman Geert Jan van-Baest and Swedish star Dennis Eklund.
Malta’s own Ray Falzon Reale also held a very well deserved fourth place after the men’s qualifying round. Ray held his own throughout the ensuing cuts, never dipping below eighth place to make it through to the penultimate Round Robin stage, eighth in fact being his final tournament position, a feat to be proud of for the renowned Maltese bowler considering the extremely talented foreign opposition.
The Male Finals were contested between the top four men after the Round Robin, namely Nick Froggatt, Stu Williams, Dennis Eklund and Mark Wells. Wells was the first casualty, falling 246 – 224 against Eklund, who then lost 243 – 202 in his semi-final clash with Williams.
Nick Froggatt awaited Williams for the first al-England final in the tournament’s history, and it could not have been closer. While it was new WRM Champion Williams who took the early advantage, Froggatt made a good mid-game come back to push his opponent to his limit, closing frame ten nineteen ahead with Williams needing at least strike-spare to steal the game an the title.
He obliged with the required ten-count, and then left the enthusiastic crowd on the edge of their seats with a nine with his next shot, leaving a lonely 10-pin standing. Williams rolled for the spare, letting out a celebratory yell as the ball left his fingers before slamming the last pin from the deck to win the game with an incredible 224 – 225 score line, accompanied by the deafening roar of the thrilled spectators.
The Ladies’ stepladder featured top qualifier Mai Ginge Jensen (Den) who earlier in the week had claimed the first ever ‘perfect’ 300 game to be played by a female bowler at the SuperBowl, and she was challenged by Ghislaine van der Tol (Net), Therese Forsell (Swe) and Fiona Banks (Eng) for a great four-nation final. The English girl couldn’t improve on her fourth placing, going out to the Swede 225 – 214 in the first match, and then it was Forsell’s turn to exit thanks to a 249 – 204 against the formidable van der Tol.
The latter then faced top seed Jensen in the ladies’ final match, which was a much closer affair, with Jensen losing it in the final two frames, 191 – 198 the game score, to hand the Malta Open title to Ghislaine van der Tol.
The Eden Leisure Group is the main sponsor of the Malta Open, which is also supported by Air Malta as the official tournament carrier, The Dragonara Casino, St Julian’s and also the Malta Tourism Authority.