150 players for Senior Open at Eden Superbowl

The 11th Senior Open championships gets underway today at the Eden Superbowl with the participation of 150 bowlers, all vying for the title and a share of the prize-money which totals €12,000.

Organisers said 14 nations are represented in this year's tournament with the largest contingent hailing from England with 69 bowlers.

As always there are a great deal of participants who are back in Malta having already played in previous editions of the championships, some going back as far as the inaugural event in 1998.

A number of bowlers who have turned 50 in the last year will be competing for the first time, notably Belgium's Chris Vandamme. He has competed in no fewer than 15 of the 17 Malta Open championships held each June and won the event two years running in 2005 and 2006.

Vandamme will surely be looking to scoop the Senior title at his first attempt, although quite a few of his competitors will also be going for gold, not least of all defending men's champion Ron Oldfield.

The 50-strong women's field also comprises a good number of ex-champions, including two-time winner Farida Pascoal Blom, of Holland.

As for the tournament format, after a 12-game qualifying round, the top 36 men and 18 women advance to the next rounds, gradually being whittled down to the top eight, and ultimately the top four bowlers who will go head-to-head in the stepladder finals on Sunday afternoon.