Brian Farrugia and Sue Abela are the 2005 national champions after seeing off the challenge of various valid competitors during the Malta Tenpin Bowling Association (MTBA) championships which were played recently at the Eden SuperBowl.
The newly-crowned champions will represent the MTBA in the European Championships in Boeblingen, Germany, in September.
Abela is a past European champion, having won the 1999 edition in Israel.
The champions made their way through a 16-game qualifying round before the second and final stages took the form of a double round robin between the top six in each division.
This meant no fewer than 25 games before Farrugia and Abela finally claimed their titles, the most prestigious in the local bowling calendar.
In the men's section, 2004 champion Kenneth Arpa led the competition at the qualifying round and was a sure favourite to retain his crown after the five games of the first round robin session were completed.
He won four of his five games to pick up valuable bonus points and stay in front of Farrugia and third-placed Matthew Caruana.
It was in the second set of five that Farrugia took full control and Arpa struggled. Farrugia banged in four 200+ games, finishing with a 180, enough to give him a total of 5,323 pins, along with the championship title.
Ray Falzon moved up to second place from fourth while Arpa finished a distant third. Caruana had to settle for fourth place.
There were only three bowlers in the running after round one of the women's competition, namely, Abela, 2004 champion Melissa Anastasi and Doris Camilleri, the 2003 winner.
Abela improved her lead during her first five round robin games, picking up bonuses for four winning scores. Anastasi hit some low games and slipped to third, allowing Camilleri into second place.
Abela was well in front but still put on a great display of bowling, powering her way to five straight wins and five 200+ games. Her final burst blew away any hopes Camilleri and Anastasi may have had for a comeback as Abela finished 435 pins ahead. Anastasi was runner-up and Camilleri third.