The third annual Silver Cup, a national tournament for bowlers in the youth and Special Olympic categories, was held recently at the Eden SuperBowl, attracting a very encouraging field of 37 players – 26 boys and 11 girls.
The qualification round was played over six games for total pinfall.
At the end of the session, the boys’ competition was led by Shadon Psaila, at 10 years the youngest competitor.
Six bowlers would make it through to the round-robin stage. Psaila and Edward Xuereb were joined by Milos Kojic, Kurt Attard, Matthew Magro and Bjorn Tabone.
Psaila managed four wins from five to pick up some valuable bonuses, but slipped to second after an inspired performance from Tabone, who won all five matches with some impressive scoring to qualify for the stepladder finals as top seed.
The semi-final saw Psaila face Xuereb in a single game to determine the other finalist.
Psaila was playing with a confidence well beyond his years, and won the match 170-152 to go through.
Going into the final as the lower seed, Psaila had to beat top dog Tabone to claim the title.
Game one was all in his favour, as he won it 144-212 to take it to the all important second game.
That one could not have been any closer, going down to the wire with Psaila finally claiming glory by a solitary pin, 175-174 the result.
In the girls’ event, it was another of the three Xuereb siblings, Raquel, who impressed on day one, leading the pack on 974 pins ahead of Michaela Briffa on 934, and Natasha Bianchi in third place on 927.
They were joined in the next round by Jessica Farrugia, Graziella Bonnici and Marika Rodgers.
Positional change
There was only a positional change among the top three although Xuereb managed to hold on to the top spot thanks to five straight victories.
It was Bianchi vs Briffa in the semi-final which fell to the latter 142-111.
Again, the final was to go to two games as underdog Briffa was again on the better end of the 148-116 result in game one.
Game two saw the scoring pace pick up a little, and it was Briffa again, who managed to bag the girls’ title with a decisive 154-134 win.
Other than the all-important titles of Silver Cup winners, the two new champions also received an engraved trophy, as well as a cash voucher courtesy of the MTBA.