Slim leads for Camilleri, Carannante

The Crodino National Intermediate and Junior Championships continued at Eden Leisure's SuperBowl, with both intermediate and junior categories having now completed their round one games.

The intermediates (U-23) played 18 qualifying games over three sessions and the juniors (U-16) played 12 games in two sets.

Rankin Camilleri still tops the 19-strong boys' section in the junior tournament, although there are a mere 12 pins separating him from Maurizio Anastasi in second place. Camilleri rolled 1,076 in games 7-12 (203 high), giving him a round one total of 2,134 and slightly improving his average to 177.8. Carl Borg is third with 2,104 pins.

The other three qualifiers are Nicholas Sammut, 2,009, Ramon Casha, 1,964 and Keith Bugeja 1,857. Tiziana Carannante retained her lead in the girls' section, improving on her initial 894 series by 100 pins for a 1,888 total. Annemarie Bonello played the series of the day (999) to advance to second with a 1,854, trading places with Valentina Bezzina who is now third with 1,758. Stephanie Said (1,571), Claire Bugeja (1,464) and Faye Formosa (1,378) are the other qualifiers.

Neil Sullivan rolls on in men's U-23 section

Neil Sullivan played the best six-game set again last week (1,192 pins, 224 high) to strengthen his hold in the males' U-23 section and secure him a round one total of 3,617 from 18 games. Sullivan is 251 pins ahead of Neil German (3,366). Mark Muscat is third, 93 pins behind German.

The other bowlers to go through to round two are Maurizio Anastasi, Matthew Caruana and Camilleri. Due to a smaller field of competitors in the ladies' U-23 section, only the top four bowlers qualified for round two. These were champion Amanda Cini, 3,294, Melissa Camenzuli 3,110, Pamela Demanuele, 2,873 and Bernadette Carannante 2,853.

The championships continue with a round robin in round two, including bonus points for wins, draws and high games. The finals will then be played between the top two from the four sections.