The sixth Air Malta Seniors Open, to be held this week at St Julians' Eden SuperBowl, has again attracted the numbers with a reported entry list of 250 participants for an over-50 competition which starts tomorrow and comes to a close on Sunday.
The list supersedes the record entry last year, much to the delight of the organisers. SuperBowl's Neil Dent expressed his great personal satisfaction at the continued success of this annual event.
"When we hosted a record field of 180 bowlers last year, I thought that we were close to the limit," he said.
"But the amazing response to the 2003 tournament has left us stunned. In fact, we've had to increase the number of qualifying squads from four to six to cope with the demand.
"Certainly, all this would not have been achieved without the great backing of our parent company - the Eden Leisure Group."
The seniors game is the fastest growing sector in the sport of bowling internationally - a fact more than proven by the incredible growth of the Air Malta Seniors Open which this year offers a prize-fund of Lm6,000.
Ian De Cesare, Eden Leisure's Managing Director, said the ongoing investment in the bowling centre has run into six figures over the past two years. But, he added, there were good dividends as the sport is constantly becoming more competitive and popular on our islands. The SuperBowl's financial performance in gross turnover has increased by 12 per cent in 2003, which converts to a 44 per cent increase in the centre's net profits.
Marketing and Promotions Manager Jimmy Attard said that in sponsoring the Seniors Open, Air Malta were playing an active part in promoting sport tourism. The two international tournaments held annually at the SuperBowl, he said, attracted around 800 players and companions to our shores.
The tournament starts tomorrow with the first qualifying round. Local hopes are pinned on in-form national champion Doris Camilleri who rated third last year.
Malta Youth Open in April
Meanwhile, it was announced that the Malta Youth Open will be held for the first time in mid-April 2004.
This means that the SuperBowl will host three international tournaments next year, catering for all age groups and continuing to attract more people to Malta as a sporting venue as well as a holiday destination.
Details of all events are available at the SuperBowl, or at www.edenleisure.com/superbowl.