D'Emanuele still leads as Burke goes top

Six more National Gold Cup qualifiers, following the 12 games of the previous round, were played recently at the Eden SuperBowl.

Going into the penultimate Round Robin stage, Pamela D'Emanuele retained her lead in the women's section as Simon Burke overtook Philippe Vancell and is now top of the men's competition.

The tournament is a qualifying event for the 31st European Gold Cup Championships in Paphos, Cyprus, in May.

Vancell, 2006 National Gold Cup winner and defending European Gold Cup champion, saw his hopes of retaining the title taking a heavy blow as he dropped from first place down to fifth after a poor performance in Round Two.

Burke played a good set to move first from fourth place. He rolled a 1,161 series which put him on a two-round, 18-game total of 3,475, 72 pins better off than Justin Caruana Scicluna in second place. Third place is held by Bertram Vella on a tally of 3,410.

Also qualifying for the Round Robin were Aaron Belli, Vancell and Nathan Brimmer respectively.

D'Emanuele rolled a 1,062 series to achieve an overall gross total of 3,484. She qualified for the next round with a comfortable 129-pin cushion over second-placed Step-hanie Said. Marthese Cossai was third on 3,336. Also qualifying were Liliana Said, Josephine Borg and Tiziana Carannante.

Scores will be zeroed for the Round Robin stage which operates with a system of extra bonus points for game wins or draws. After that the top three qualifiers in each division will take part in a Stepladder Final to decide the 2007 National Gold Cup champions.

Med. Challenge Cup

Four bowlers will be in Mercin, Turkey, between tomorrow and April 1 to defend Malta's crown in the Mediterranean Challenge Cup.

The successful foursome, following a qualifying tournament earlier this year are Mark Spiteri, Brian Farrugia, Sue Abela and Joanna Attard.

Malta tops the Med. Cup medals table after nine editions and the team is looking to maintain their supremacy in a ten-nation field.