Fina double their lead at the top

Having managed to hang on to a shaky two-point lead at the top of the MSV Life National League, Week 11 saw Fina double that to four, thanks to their full-point win over Malta Int. Airport.

They were aided in that by second-placed okmalta.com, who dropped two points in their win against Turu’s Knights, while third-placed Ramis continued to slip up, losing 6-2 to HSBC.

Strugglers Salitos pulled off an 8-0 victory over bottom side Gladiators, and there was a 6-2 win for Royal Shock against The Clan.

Having opened a narrow advantage at the top, Fina have made heavy work of hanging on to it over the past three weeks.

Against MIA, whose primary goal is survival in their debut season in Division One, Fina’s dominance was evident from the opening frames of the match, and they started with a convincing 839-684 game one win.

They went 4-0 up with an 841-717 game two scoreline and closed with an 812-678 game three win to easily take all eight.

It was okmalta.com who had conceded the top spot to Fina and are now in hot pursuit to regain the lead, in spite of dropping two points in their latest outing.

It was the the Knights who drew first blood, winning the opener 764-811 but their opponents were quick to react with a nervy 803-800 equaliser.

The Knights held a 44-pin advantage heading into the deciding third game, which was only just cancelled out by okmalta. com’s 815-767 game win, which also gave them the match points by a mere four pins (2,382-2,378).

Bowlers of the week

Kenneth Arpa (Fina, 665); Sue Abela (Fina, 603).

Standings (Week 11)

Fina 72, okmalta.com 68, Ramis 56, Royal Shock 52, HSBC 46, Turu’s Knights 46, The Clan 38, MIA 26, Salitos 22, Gladiators 14.