June at the Eden SuperBowl saw the hosting of the 22nd Malta Open.

There was an increase in the number of participants with 60 bowlers from 11 nations taking part. The other countries represented were Belgium, England, Ireland, Israel, Libya, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Tunisia.

The title was eventually won by Belgium’s Christian Vandamme but the main headline grabbers were the members of the 23-strong Maltese contingent.

In fact, they managed to bag a bevy of new records against very tough international competition.

There were two ‘perfect’ 300 games during the qualification stages, both bowled by locals Kenneth Arpa (for his second official career 300) and newly-elected MTBA president, Paul Baldacchino.

Baldacchino rolled his first ever magical 12-strikes-in-a-row to join the growing list of Maltese ‘perfectos’, which now comprises 13 bowlers.

The previous Maltese record for a six-game series belonged to Arpa – a 1,519 achieved in 2009. Arpa went two pins better than that for 1,521 during the Malta Open but he was topped by Justin Caruana Scicluna with a 1,525.

These stunning efforts were, however, overshadowed by an incredible 1,555 set by Mauro Anastasi… an amazing 259.1 game average over six for the new record-holder.

Caruana Scicluna was the previous four-game record holder on 959 (Malta Open 2011), but that total was beaten twice by Rankin Camilleri.

During the Open, Camilleri shot sets of 967 and a new high of 988 (247 average) to set the new standard.

Arpa, however, was the only local bowler to reach the Stepladder Finals, booking an automatic semi-final place after finishing second behind Vandamme.

He faced newcomer Ramon Hilferink (The Netherlands) in his one-game contest as the latter had already seen off England’s Cliff Dew in the first stepladder match (256-220).

The young Dutchman had been impressive all week and had the better of his Maltese opponent with a 226-195 win to face the formidable Vandamme in the best-of-three final.

Hilferink and Vandamme matched each other throughout game one, the Belgian finally clinching it 247-236.

Game two also saw a close, cagey start, but it was Vandamme who took control again, winning it 246-212 to claim his second Malta Open title, and his share of the €6,600 cash prize-fund.

Vandamme has been holidaying in Malta with his wife, Grethe, since the mid-1980s.

So when he learned that a 20-lane Eden SuperBowl had been opened in 1988, he immediately started lobbying the management of the day to create an international event, which led to the birth of the Malta Open in 1992.

Since then, the lofty Belgian has participated in no fewer than 20 Malta Opens which produced three titles for him – 2005, 2006, 2013.

Vandamme turned 50 in June 2008, which meant he was then eligible to also participate in the Senior Malta Open, held every October.

He turned up to win that first Senior Open, and hasn’t missed one since, claiming his second title in 2011.