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Platinum Cup 2025 Nicolai Mallia and Alja Bergauer win the  MBA Platinum Cup in style. The Platinum Cup is always a big attraction for local bowlers and this year we had a full house of 40 bowlers (29 men and 11 women), with some huge scores and keenly contested matches. Mallia led the 12 game qualification stage with an absolutely incredible performance, including a 6 game personal best 1571 that also had his 3rd perfect game of 300 in a few weeks. His score of 3026 (252 average) was 294 pins higher than 2nd qualifier Matthew Magro.  Nicholas Muscat , Kayden Lagana’, Samuel Caruso and Miguel Xuereb rounded up the top 6. The top 6 then all bowled direct matches against each other, and while Mallia was never in danger of losing 1st place, winning  3 of the matches including 2 279 games, the next 3 spots for the finals were keenly contested and saw Kayden Lagana’ move up 2 places with  4 wins out of 5, with Matthew Magro (with 4 wins) coming in 3rd place and Nicholas Muscat in 4th just ahead of Miguel Xuereb, as Muscat beat Xuereb in the last match. Mallia faced Muscat, winning 238 – 190, while Magro and Lagana’ were neck and neck till the 7th frame as Magro then pulled ahead to win 237-215. Brunswick Team mates Mallia and Magro faced each other in the final, with Mallia continuing to be unstoppable with a 258-194 win, to ensure the National Champion emerged as the clear and worthy Platinum Cup Winner. The ladies section also saw some big games, with Melissa Swift flying through the qualifiers with a strong    2521 series , ahead of Alja Bergauer, Cynthia Frendo Duca, Tiziana Muscat Carannante, Ruslana Grima and Celianne Micallef. Tiziana dominated the match play section, winning all 5 games and bowling over 225 average to move up to 1st place, ahead of Swift, Bergauer and Frendo Duca.  Muscat Carannante then took down Frendo Duca 181-170, while Bergauer beat Swift 235-192.  The final between Bergauer and Muscat Carannante went down to the last shot, with Muscat Carrannante in the lead till the very last frame as a cruel split opened the window for Bergauer who had to spare, which she duly did and won 190-193. Interestingly, all 6 male qualifiers were 23 and under, and 3 of the 6  female qualifiers were also under 23.

Nicolai Mallia places 6th in the European Championship of Champions in ten pin bowling. 16 year old Mallia, the current National Champion, had a tremendous performance in Vienna, where he placed 6th to become the highest ever placed Maltese male bowler in ECC history. Mallia qualified in 6th place overall out of the 38 bowlers, including 37 national champions and the 2024 ECC winner, bowling superbly well to earn a place in the top 12 with an outstanding 226.8 average.  During these 3 sets of 8 games, Mallia broke the local youth national record by bowling a 5443 total, that included an outstanding new national record 8 game series of 1866, during the mixed doubles with Cynthia Frendo Duca. In the finals, Mallia kept performing at a top level, including the first ever perfect 300 game by a Maltese bowler during the ECC!  His total for these 8 games, 1754 (219,25 average) together with his previous 5443 total, meant he claimed 6th place, the best ever place achieved by a Maltese Male bowler at the European Championship of Champions. In the female section, Cynthia Frendo Duca struggled a lot on the first day, but then recovered somewhat on the last day to finish in 36th place. The team finished in 19th place out of 38 teams in the mixed doubles. Emma Palermaa from Finland was crowned champions after beating Hayley Russel from England 2-0, while Lukas Jelinek from the Czech Republic beat outgoing champion Maxime Dubois from France in a thrilling 2-1 final. Our national champions were accompanied and followed by National Coach Mark Spiteri during the ECC, and the trip was made possible thanks to the support of SportMalta and the Maltese Olympic Committee.

Congratulations to Dennis Mercieca, who has won this year’s Senior National Championships! From Day 1, Dennis led the tournament and maintained his lead across all 18 games to secure the title. 👏 Runner-up: Kenneth Arpa👏 3rd Place: Danial Swift Well done to all participants for a great competition!

Silver Cup 2025 Charlize Bartolo and Luke Mercieca win their first tournament as both finished first in the 6-game qualifying round and stayed in the lead after the 5 game round robin match play on the second day of the competition. 24 competitors participated in this year competition. Read more here

The Premier League has come to a close and as expected and predicted before the league even started, OkMalta.com are the worthy Premier League champions. What was perhaps not predictable was the sheer dominance the team showed, winning all 14 matches, losing just 3 games in the process (1 in the first round in which their dominance was even more evident, and 2 in the last couple of days when everything was pretty much wrapped up for them). 28 points ahead of second placed Brunswick, 1300 pins total ahead oof the same (and gap was proportionately bigger in round 1), best season scores and so on. Simply UNBEATABLE, and will likely remain the team to beat for many seasons. Utterly dominant. CONGRATS!!!  From left to right Dennis Mercieca, Nicholas Muscat, Kayden Lagana’, Kenneth Arpa, Mauro Anastasi and Rankin Camilleri.

Bank of Valletta National Championships 2025Cynthia F. Duca and Nicolai Mallia Crowned National Champions The 2025 Bank of Valletta National Championships concluded with Cynthia F. Duca and Nicolai Mallia emerging as the well-deserved National Champions. Both athletes displayed exceptional skill and consistency throughout the competition, securing their titles in dominant fashion. In the women’s division, Sue Abela claimed the runner-up position, with Melissa Swift finishing third. On the men’s side, Kayden Lagana’ and Matthew Magro placed second and third respectively, following a tightly contested series. Cynthia and Nicolai will now go on to represent Malta at the upcoming European Championship of Champions (ECC), set to take place this October in Vienna. Congratulations to all participants for their outstanding performances!

Nicholas Muscat places in 13th place at the IBF Youth World Cup in Helsingborg Sweden. Two Maltese youths, Nicholas Muscat and Kathryn Fenech, earned the right to represent Malta at the IBF Youth World Cup held earlier in June this year. This very competitive World Cup had top players from all over the world including powerhouses such as the USA, Malaysia, Australia and most of the European Countries.   Muscat started off very strongly during the 18 game qualifying section, bowling almost a 222 average and placing 8, and so advancing to the top 16 Matchplay section.  Muscat stayed in 8th place after the first 8 games in this Matchplay as he won half, again bowling a great 221 average.  The next 7 games however did not go his way and finished in 13th place and out of the cut with an overall Matchplay average of 212. In the ladies, Fenech did not manage to make the cut even though she played 15 pins above her average, as the level overall especially of the top 16 was simply too strong. Muscat and Fenech were accompanied by MBA National Coach Mark Spiteri, and this trip was made possible thanks to the generous support of Sport Malta.

Team Underdogs won the BOV DIV II National League comfortable. With 19 points difference one may say that they had an easy run, but it wasnt that easy. On the other hand they had a very successful run during the 2nd round. Most of the players even were the bowlers of the week several times. Well done Team, now start focusing on your adventure in the BOV Premier League. From left to right Melvin Galea, George Chircop, Alan Ciantar, Liliana Spiteri, Sandra Xuereb and inset Andre Xuereb. Link to BOV DIV II National League Table

Kathryn Fenech and Mikhail Mallia have emerged winners of the 2025 MBA Gold Cup, after the qualification round on Saturday was followed by the finals on Sunday. Young Mikhail Mallia was in the lead after the qualification, ahead of Shawn Montanaro and Alan Ciantar.  After losing the lead in game 3  of  the top 8 direct clashes finals by a few pins to Montanaro, Mallia had a run of 3 200+ games that meant he retook the lead and kept it till the end of the 7 games, to finish ahead of a resurgent Samuel Caruso who shot up from 6th to 2nd with Montanaro ending in 3rd place.  Nicholas Falzon was 4th ,ahead of  David Fenech, Daniel Ricciari, Bjorn Tabone and Alan Ciantar in 8th place. In the ladies, Fenech qualified in 2nd place just behind Jade Barbara, and faced her in the first game of the top 8 round robin winning this game and moving to first place. Fenech never looked back and won 5 out of 7 matches to stay in the lead till the very end, with Amanda Cini moving up from 3rd to second, ahead of Celianne Micallef who also won 5 matches and drew 1 , to jump all the way to 3rd from 6th place.  Ruslana Grima finished in 4th, ahead of Liliana Spiteri, Jade Barbara, Donna Vella and Sandra Xuereb. Kathryn Fenech u Mikhail Mallia ħarġu rebbieħa tal-Gold Cup MBA tal-2025, wara li r-round ta’ kwalifikazzjoni nhar is-Sibt ġie segwit mill-finali nhar il-Ħadd. Mikhail Mallia kien fl-ewwel post  wara l-kwalifikazzjoni fuq 8 logħbiet, quddiem Shawn Montanaro u Alan Ciantar. Wara li tilef il-vantaġġ wara t-tielet logħba tal-finali bi ftit pin għal Montanaro, Mallia sensiela tajba  ta’ 3 logħob ta’ aktar minn 200,  u b’hekk ħa lura l-vantaġġ u žammu sal-aħħar tal-7 logħba , biex jispiċċa quddiem  Samuel Caruso li telgha mis- sitt  posti għat-tieni , filwaqt li Montanaro temm fil-3 post. Nicholas Falzon spiċċa ir-raba’, quddiem David Fenech, Daniel Ricciari, Bjorn Tabone u Alan Ciantar li kiseb it-tmien post. Fil-kompetizzjoni femminili, Fenech kwalifikat fit-tieni post eżatt wara Jade Barbara, u lagħbet kontra tagħha fl-ewwel logħba tal-top 8 round robin, rebbiet din il-logħba u marret  fl-ewwel post. Fenech qatt ma ħarset lura u rebħet 5 minn 7 logħbiet biex tibqa’ fil-quċċata sal-aħħar, b’Amanda Cini titla’ mitt tielet post għat- tienu, quddiem Celianne Micallef li wkoll rebbħet 5 logħbiet u oħra draw , biex sparat  miss- sitt għat-tielet post. Ruslana Grima temmet for-4 post, quddiem Liliana Spiteri, Jade Barbara, Donna Vella u Sandra Xuereb.

Mauro Anastasi wins Gold in the Masters at The Mediterranean Bowling Championships in Ankara, Turkey The last day of the Mediterranean Bowling Champions saw the top 8 men and top 8 women fighting it out for the coveted Masters title. All 4 Maltese players made it to the finals , where the players bowl a 2 game total against their opponent, and kept National Coach Mark Spiteri very busy! Mauro Anastasi, Nicholas Muscat and Cynthia Frendo Duca all managed to overcome their respective opponent to move on to the semi finals, with Sue Abela unfortunately losing 360 – 349 to Claudia Amnella of Italy. Amnella then faced Frendo Duca, who won 382-340 to go to the finals where she lost 436 – 433 to French Celia Jeanne Delafosse. Frendo Duca thus added a silver to her Gold in the team , Gold in the female doubles with Abela and a bronze in the All Events.  In the male semi finals, Muscat faced Luis Jesus Briceno from Spain and had to concede defeat 438 – 417, to end up in 3rd place and secure a Bronze Medal, his 3rd of these championships after the Gold in the team and Silver in the doubles with Anastasi.  Anastasi faced another Spaniard, Axel Guimo, and defeated him with a clear 466 – 429  score, to go on to the final to face the other Spaniard, Briceno. Anastasi put on an even more impressive performance to win 474 – 422 and ensure that these Championships would be his with a total of 2 Gold medals (Masters and Team) and 2 Silver medals (Singles and Male Doubles). With these 8 medals, Malta was top of the table in this edition of the Championships and is back in the lead overall. Mauro Anastasi jirbaħ id-Deheb fil-Masters fil-Kampjonati Mediterranji tal-Bowling Ankara, it-Turkija L-aħħar ġurnata taċ-Champions tal-Mediterranean Bowling rat l-aqwa 8 irġiel u l-aqwa 8 nisa jiġġieldu għat-titlu tal-Masters. L-4 plejers Maltin waslu sal-finali, fejn il-plejers jilgħabu total ta 2 logħbiet kontra l-avversarju tagħhom, u żammew lill-kowċ nazzjonali Mark Spiteri okkupat ħafna! Mauro Anastasi, Nicholas Muscat u Cynthia Frendo Duca kollha rnexxielhom jegħlbu lill-avversarju rispettiv tagħhom biex jgħaddu għas-semifinali, fil waqt li Sue Abela sfortunatament titlef 360 – 349 kontra Claudia Amnella tal-Italja. Amnella mbagħad iffaċċjat lil Frendo Duca, li rebħet 382 – 340 biex tmur sal-finali fejn tilfet 436 – 433 kontra l-Franċiża Celia Jeanne Delafosse. Frendo Duca hekk żiedet fidda mad-Deheb tagħha fit-tim, Deheb fid-doubles tan-nisa ma Abela u bronż fl-All Events. Fis-semifinali tal-irġiel, Muscat iffaċċja lil Luis Jesus Briceno minn Spanja u kellu jċedi t-telfa 438 – 417, biex jispiċċa fit-tielet post u jikseb Midalja tal-Bronż, it-tielet tiegħu minn dawn il-kampjonati wara d-Deheb fit-tim u l-Fidda fid-doubles ma Anastasi. Anastasi ffaċċja Spanjol ieħor, Axel Guimo, u għelbuh b’punteġġ ċar ta 466 – 429, biex għadda għall-finali biex jiffaċċja l-Ispanjol l-ieħor, Briceno. Anastasi għamel prestazzjoni saħansitra aktar impressjonanti biex jirbaħ 474 – 422 u jiżgura li dawn il-Kampjonati jkunu tiegħu b’total ta’ 2 midalji tad-Deheb (Masters u Team) u 2 midalji tal-fidda (Singles u doubles maskili). B’ dawn it-8 midalji, Malta spiċċat fil-quċċata tal-klassifika f’ din l-edizzjoni tal-Kampjonati u reġgħet tinsab fuq quddiem nett fill-klassifika generali.