The 2012 National Championships, organised by the Malta Tenpin Bowling Association, were played recently at the Eden SuperBowl.
After a thrilling climax in the men’s division, Mark Spiteri ended his very long wait to claim his first title while Sue Abela pulled off her 18th victory – an incredible achievement and probably unheard of in any sporting discipline.
Ray Falzon Reale was the early leader in the men’s competition, ahead of outsider John Balani with Spiteri and Kenneth Arpa bringing up the rear.
Day Two’s changed lane pattern proved to be more challenging with lower scores in general but Falzon Reale held on to his lead as Balani slipped down to eighth place.
Justin Caruana Scicluna merits a special mention here, having shot right up from 12th, after a sub-par opening session, to fourth place.
After an inconsistent start, Caruana Scicluna then found his line to bowl a formidable 290 in his fourth game of the day.
As if that was not enough, he went one better, or rather ten, in his penultimate game where he made it 12 solid strikes in a row, for a perfect 300-game, the third in his career.
Spiteri, Caruana Scicluna and Arpa eventually made it a three-way battle for the honours.
They jostled for positions throughout the evening. In the end, the title was decided in the very last frames.
A 234 closing game from Spiteri meant he had succeeded in snatching victory from the hands of Scicluna Caruana who, after leading the field on 23 games, could only manage a 194 final effort.
That allowed Spiteri to slip past him by a mere 13 pins (4,994-4,981) to be crowned the new champion.
Arpa settled for third place with a 4,971 total.
In the women’s tournament, Abela was always way ahead of her nearest rivals.
On Day Two, she went in on 3,247 for 16 games as Joanna Attard improved a position to second with 2,999, switching places with Melissa Swift who was third on 2,827.
Going into Day Three no fewer than 248 pins ahead of the field, it was going to be extremely tough to catch Abela who peaked with high games of 220 and 234 for a 1,554 session, and a 4,801 title-winning total.
Attard held on to second place with good score of 4,487, 198 pins ahead of Swift.
Other than the coveted titles, the two cham-pions have also earned the chance to represent Malta in this year’s Euro Champions Cup in The Hague between October 15 and 22.