Arpa, Casha to represent Malta in Slovenia

The qualifying event for the 2005 AMF World Cup has been completed at the Eden SuperBowl where the cream of Malta's bowlers vied for the right to represent Malta in the AMF World Cup proper to be held in Ljubljana, Slovenia in November.

The eventual winners of the men's and ladies' sections were Kenneth Arpa and Lorraine Casha. They triumphed over their challengers after a three-day bowling marathon consisting of no fewer than 24 games.

The first eight-game session in the men's competition saw Dennis Mercieca streaking ahead of the field with a fine display of bowling.

Mercieca completed a fantastic 1858 set, including high games of 266, 231, 243 and a stunning 11-in-a-row game of 290 in the third. Arpa was second at that point with his solid 1699 total.

On the second day, Arpa set about grinding away at Mercieca's daunting early lead, another great set of 1648 against a lower 1579 from the latter. This put Arpa within 90 pins of the lead, going into the third and final session, which was laced with excitement from start to finish.

All interest was on the top two. Arpa got off to the better start, bowling consistently over 200 to actually level the scores after game three, and then steal the lead in the fourth.

The pair were pretty evenly matched over the final four games, Arpa finally clinching it by just 34 pins (Arpa, 5072, 211.3 average. Mercieca, 5038, 209.9 average).

There was also a great performance from Mauro Anastasi who placed third with a 4957 tally.

Paul Baldacchino finished fourth on 4915 (204.7 average) and young Rankin Camilleri also averaged over 200 with 4845 pins in fifth place.

Upcoming player Lorraine Casha's only real opposition among the ladies' field was the formidable form of national champion Sue Abela. Casha led the competition from day one when she finished her eight games on top, just one pin ahead of Abela (1599-1598).

Day two saw the youngster pick up where she'd left off, opening with a great 235 game and closing on a 1620 for the day, while Abela's game faltered, causing her to slip to a 1526 and lose ground on the lead.

Casha was 95 ahead as the final eight games commenced, a gap which she knew could be closed by a contender of Abela's stature.

Abela started to close in, shooting a huge 265 in game five to pile on the pressure, but Casha never allowed it to get to her, coolly playing her game amid the cheering of her family and friends. This helped her on to a strong 179-224 -229 finish while Abela's game slipped once again as she resigned herself to defeat.

Casha claimed glory with a 4840 grand total (201.6 average) over Abela's 4716 (196.5 average). A well deserved victory indeed which surely augurs for great future success for this talented bowler.