The Malta Tenpin Bowling Association held one of its biannual presentation dinners in late January, during which trophies and awards were given to the sport’s highest achieving teams in the Middlesea Valletta Life National Leagues, as well as a number of individual awards including those of the National Youth (Intermediate) and Junior Champions.

The Championships were decided recently in separate tournaments organised by the MTBA at the Eden SuperBowl, and the eventual Champions for 2007 were Matthew Caruana and Tiziana Carannante in the Intermediate Championships (U-23), and Ryan Grima and Sabrina D’Emanuele in the Junior Championships (U-16).

Intermediate Championships

Matthew Caruana has made a gradual yet successful return to the bowling world, in the wake of his recovery from a serious car accident over a year ago.

In fact he led the male division from early on, finishing his first of two eight-game sessions on top with 1611 pins, ahead of Rankin Camilleri on 1520, and Ryan Grech on 1497 pins.

He retained his number one status through the next eight, qualifying for the next ‘round robin?stage on a 3061 total (191.3 ave), while Rankin Camilleri remained second on 3007 (187.9).

Third place was secured by Justin Caruana Scicluna with his 2972 tally, and also making it to round two were Ryan Grech and James Vassallo respectively.

Half of the round one pinfall was carried over to the round robin, in which bonus points were awarded for game wins and ties, as well has high games.

Caruana picked up three wins from five for an extra 60 points, rolling highs of 222 and 205 for a further 15, and he stayed top with 2596 points to secure a place in the final. Joining him in the stepladder were Rankin Camilleri and Ryan Grech.

The rules stated that the semi-finals would be played over a single game, win or lose, while in the final match the lower placed qualifier was to beat the first placed bowler twice to claim victory.

The male semi-final between Rankin Camilleri and Ryan Grech, was won by Camilleri 222 ?181. Then in the exciting final, Rankin got the better of Matthew Caruana 181 ?245 to force the second game. Caruana came back well under pressure to win that one 174 ?145, which was all he needed to claim the Championship title.

In the female competition, eventual Champion Tiziana Carannante got off to a shaky start placing 5th after eight games, while the field was led by Stephanie Said on 1366 pins after eight, chased by Jade Cosaitis on 1303 and Annemarie Bonello with 1259 pins in third place.

Tiziana showed a marked improved in the second session, rising to second place with a 2633 round one total, 24 pins down on Stephanie Said who qualified for round two in first place. Ben Carannante went through in third place and the other respective qualifiers were Annemarie Bonello, Jade Cosaitis and Cynthia Duca.

The Round Robin stage was where Tiziana Carannante really stepped up her game, winning three of her five encounters for valuable bonus points, and also rolling a high game of 237.

She made the finals in first place on 2335 pins, ahead of Said on 2259 pins in second after winning two from five matches, and shooting some good games, peaking at 193. The third finalist was Ben Carannante on 2212, who in spite of winning four of her matches, was held back by a couple of low round two games.

Stephanie Said’s overall performance during the tournament was deserving of a place in the final against Tiziana, which she achieved by disposing of Ben Carannante in the female semi-final with a 184 ?155 win.

Said then went on to win game one of the great final against Tiziana, the younger of the Carannante sisters, with a 143 ?181 score line.

Game two commenced, the winner to claim the title, and it was Tiziana who took the driving seat. She won it 200 ?151 to become the 2007 female Intermediate champion.

Junior Championships

For the Under-16 tournament there was a slightly different format, with all competitors playing twelve games in round one.

In the boys?section, Ryan Grima was the leader after six on 810 pins, followed by Matthew Cossai on 809 in second and newcomer Cedric Farrugia on 791 pins in third place. The top three saw positional changes after a further twelve games, with Cossai moving into first place on a 1718 total, with young Cedric Farrugia moving up to second on 1682, followed by Ryan Grima on 1682 pins. Also making the round robin stage were Gabriel Borg, Melvin Galea and Rosario Leone.

Cossai excelled throughout round two, winning all five of his matches which included great games of 193 and 213, to remain top seed and book his place in the final match. Cedric Farrugia won three to stay in second place, while Ryan Grima remained third having also won three matches.

Cedric Farrugia’s first experience of serious competition was a very positive one, but it ended in him being eliminated in a thrilling semi-final by just one pin, 151 ?152 the result in favour of Ryan Grima.

Top seed Matthew Cossai awaited for the boys?final match, in which it was Grima who calmly picked up the first game 133 ?160. Cossai needed to claim game two to prevail, and came extremely close but just couldn’t do it, as it fell to Ryan Grima by just two pins; 167 ?169 the game score handing him the title of Junior Champion.

In the girls?division, the day one leader was Christabel Grima with a 754 six-game total, followed by Mekeala Borg on 657 pins and Sabrina D’Emanuele on 628. It was all change again after day two, as D’Emanuele claimed the top spot after a better session, going through on 1408 pins. Christabel Grima qualified in second on 1394 and Mikaela Borg was third on 1314.

The girls?round robin saw the lead go to Grima once again, her having won all six of her matches to bolster her tally with 120 extra points, a 1611 total putting her on top ahead of D’Emanuele on 1498 with four wins, and Borg in third place with two wins.

Sabrina D’Emanuele was favourite in the girls?semi-final against Mikaela Borg, and she won it 136 ?100 to make the final against Christabel. As the lower seed Sabrina needed to wins, and made her first step by easily taking game one 95 ?155. She then went on to take game two 104 ?128 to earn her Championship title.