The qualifying tournament for this year's Mediterranean Challenge Cup, in Malta later on this month, has been completed at the Eden SuperBowl.

Four national squad members earned the right to represent the Malta Tenpin Bowling Association against bowlers from seven other countries from the region.

These are Sue Abela and Lorraine Casha in the women's competition, and Kenneth Arpa and Mark Spiteri for the men. They occupied the top two placings after bowling 18 games over three days.

Arpa and Abela were in control of their divisions after the first session, shooting 1,282 and 1,242 respectively.

A number of other contenders jostled for position. Mark Spiteri (1,270) and Ray Falzon Reale (1,221) held second and third place as Abela was chased by Casha, 1,120, and Melissa Anastasi, 1,080.

Arpa's game suffered slightly in the second set, allowing the more consistent Falzon Reale to move into first place on 2,488 pins.

Arpa dropped to second (2,445) while Spiteri went third on 2,435.

There was no leadership change in the women's event after 12 games, Abela the far superior bowler on 2,443 well ahead of Anastasi, who improved her position to second on 2,254 as Casha dropped to third with 2,168 pins.

Arpa made the event his own with a big 1,308 session on day three, moving back to the top on a grand total of 3,753 (208.5 average).

Spiteri claimed the second qualifying position finishing with 3,639 pins (202.1) as Falzon Reale was plagued by some unlucky low games to finish third on 3,319 (184.3).

Abela made sure of the honours with her excellent 3,685 tally (204.7). Some pressure play from Casha helped her clinch second place (3,338, 185.4 average) ahead of Anastasi (3,319, 184.3).

The Mediterranean Challenge Cup will be hosted in Malta between April 14 and 16 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Malta Tenpin Bowling Association.

The countries taking part are Cyprus, Gibraltar, Italy, San Marino, Spain, Greece, Israel and Malta.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.