The MTBA has held the 2012 Tenovar Intermediate Championships at the Eden SuperBowl.

The Intermediates are open for bowlers aged 23 years or under, often also referred to as the Youth Championships. The eventual winners were Michaela Briffa and Claude Camilleri.

Camilleri led the field from the very first game, never faltering during the 12-game qualification. He shot a very good 1,258 on day one, bolstered by a solid back three of 221-213-213. Philip Gruppetta (1,113) and Mathew Cossai (1,034) followed in the leaderboard.

Day two saw a drop in pace for Camilleri, his disappointing 1,037 set leaving him on 2,295. Gruppetta shot the series of the day with a 1,143, but that just wasn’t enough to knock the leader off the top spot.

Gruppetta stayed second on 2,256, ahead of Cossai (2,121).

Camilleri stayed top in the round robin, winning all of his games and also picking up further extra pins for three 190+ games. That guaranteed his place in the final as top seed.

Gruppetta went out to Cossai in the first final game after some unlucky key frames, 199-203 the game score.

Cossai then met Camilleri but he failed to retain his semi-final form in spite of actually getting off to a bright start. The game finished 193-168 in favour of Camilleri who thus secured the title.

The early leader in the girls’ competition was Sara Xuereb on 867, ahead of her sister, Raquel, 790. Third place belonged to Maria Spiteri at the half-way stage, with 785 pins.

It was all-change in the second set as Raquel Xuereb took top spot after a good 949 set, to finish on 1,739 ahead of Sara Xuereb whose 791 left her in second place, on a 1,658 total.

The best result of the day came from Briffa who started the series in fifth place and rallied to claim third (1,627).

Briffa improved further during the round robin, winning three from five to take over at the top of the table. Sara Xuereb rose to second while the final stepladder spot was clinched by Spiteri.

The semi-final was extremely close, going right down to the wire with Sara Xuereb winning by a mere two pins (137-135).

Competing in the U-23 final at only 11 years of age, Xuereb opened with a 150-133 victory but, as the lower seed, she knew she would have to also win the next game to claim the title.

All that was required for Briffa was a single game win and she managed to pull it off with a 154-135 game two win to capture the title.