TENOVAR will again be one of the main sponsors of the Malta Tenpin Bowling Association this year.

The association has announced that an agreement has been signed with the company which will be sponsoring five major tournaments, namely, the Masters, which commenced at the SuperBowl on Tuesday evening, theGold Cup, scheduled for late March, the National Championships in late May, the Junior Championships for October/November, and the Intermediate Championships (Under 23), also for October/November

The association’s PRO, Neil Dent, said that support such as that provided by Tenovar Ltd was important to the MTBA, not just because it made national events such as those mentioned earlier possible, but also because it enabled the MTBA to further facilitate its efforts in the promotion of bowling as a sport among the public in general, with a special focus on young potential bowlers in particular.

That sector is of paramount importance for the future development of the sport, and so a great deal of effort must be continuously invested in it.

He said that the past year, when TENOVAR started its financial support with the association, saw great improvements in various areas of the youth sector, including a new Junior Squad taken care of by experienced MTBA coaches, a considerable increase in SkolaSport participation over previous years, as well as a good increase in competitors for the Tenovar Junior Championships, and Tenovar Youth Championships for 2011. Suffice to say that participation more than doubled in comparison to the 2010 events.

The association also organised a ‘Coach the Coaches’ clinic here in Malta. Internationally known Turkish coach, Onder Gurkan was brought over to give this intensive one-week clinic, working with a number of Maltese tenpin bowling coaches in order to give them a deeper insight and knowledge of requirements for their chosen discipline.

Malta’s success in the international bowling arena has been well documented over the years. Dent said that the local athletes have invariably performed well, seriously competing with much larger more prominent nations, and bringing numerous honours back to Malta with them. This success has also extended to bowlers with special needs, through collaboration with Special Olympics Malta, and the Eden Leisure Group, who continue to provide free training at the Eden SuperBowl.

Malta’s bowlers have participated in several Special Olympics events worldwide, in recent years, and have consistently achieved excellent results, returning with awards in various categories, picking up numerous medals in the bronze, silver, and also gold categories.

Michael Mifsud, representing Tenovar Ltd, said that the company was proud to be associated with Bowling.

He said: “Tenovar has been the proud sponsor of the Malta Tenpin Bowling Association (MTBA) for the past two years and values the importance of this sports organisation especially to the upcoming youth of the nation. Since its formation, the association has consistently developed its areas of discipline in this indoor sport marking a steady success both in Malta and overseas.

He said that with a membership base of 250 bowling practitioners, shows that its initiative in developing children and youths programmes is paying its dividends with the popularity growth of this sport.

He added that TENOVAR’s sponsorship was earmarked to enable the association’s athletes to be even more successful in international tournaments namely the Mediterranean Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the European Championships, Gold Cup Championships, the World Sports Games and the Friendship Games.

Although the sponsorship sum was not divulged, it is certainly a considerable amount.

The Masters tournament, which started last Tuesday evening with the qualifying round, will continue on Saturday and be concluded on Sunday morning. On Saturday the qualifiers will compete with the top eight seeded bowlers, based on the highest composite averages from 2011, who are automatically placed in round two. The final stages will take place on Sunday, with a penultimate round-robin stage for the top eight qualifiers, culminating in a top-4 knock-out and grand final.

Dent also thanked the Malta Olympic Committee and Kunsill Malti ghall-Isport, from whom the MTBA had always found considerable backing, and also the Eden Leisure Group who have always offered their precious support to the association and tenpin bowlers.