EDEN SUPERBOWL, ST. JULIAN'S, MALTA - JUNE 14 - 19

SQUADS B & C - WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14:
A small opening ceremony got the 14th Eden Leisure Malta Open underway at the Eden SuperBowl in St. Julians Wednesday afternoon.
Malta's Tenpin Bowling Association president, Julian Pace Bonello welcomed the competitors and wished them a successful and enjoyable championship before getting Squad B into action.
"This is the sixth consecutive year that the Malta Open has been one of the stops of the European Tour," Bonello said. "In fact, it is one of the only two events which have been part of this Tour since it started in 2000.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank the management and staff at the Eden Super Bowl, in particular the tournament director, Neil Dent, whose efforts to make this prestigious event know no bounds."
Neil Dent added, "We are pleased to be using the brand-new Kegel Kustodian lane conditioning machine, delivered just last week, and are very happy to welcome John Janawicz of Kegel who is handling the lane maintenance throughout the tournament."
Janawicz, the 2004 ABC Singles and All Events champion, 'did the honors' by rolling the first ball of the 2005 Malta Open Championships but failed to strike, leaving the unusual 2-pin.
Competition gets going with the 16 competitors in B squad rolling their first six of twelve games at 14:00, then C squad takes over with a full squad at 18:00. There were insufficient entries for A squad, so that was cancelled.
Pics: Julian Pace Bonello and Neil Dent during the opening ceremony. Right: John Janawicz bowling the first ball.
 

An early competitor getting some practice before taking her place in Wednesday evening's C squad was Bigi Manico, 46, a receptionist from Zurich, Switzerland (pictured), playing her fifth Malta Open.
Manico was runner-up to champion Iben Tchu of Denmark last year and is determined to take the 2005 title. "I'm really looking forward to this year's competition," she said. "This is easily the most enjoyable event of the bowling calendar."
Although Paul Moor, the English leftie who was the 2004 men's champion will be back to defend his title, Tchu is not on the list of competitors.
Moor travels to Malta almost directly from Moscow, Russia where he was competing with the England team in the 2005 ETBF Men's European Championships. He was unlucky to have been just out of the medals by placing fourth in the Masters. Although he had the highest average over the 15 games he did not win enough games to earn the bonus points.
One medal winner from the championships who will be competing is Robert Andersson of Sweden. He took bronze in the singles event.

SQUAD B:
John Fitzsimmons, 23, of Warrington, England sits atop the leader board after the first six of 12 games in the opening squad of the 2005 Malta Open. The customer service adviser shot a very nice high game of 289 in the fifth of his series to amass a handsome total of 1362 overall. He faces another six-game block on Thursday for a chance to make his first goal, a place in the top 72.
Fitzsimmons currently holds a 59 point buffer over second placed fellow Englishman Andy Smith.
2003 ladies' Malta Open champion Doris Camilleri started and finished well with a brace of 210s but struggled with her other games. Nevertheless, she tops the distaff leader board with 1097 and hopes to improve with her second set tomorrow.
Pic: John Fitzsimmons and Doris Camilleri.

SQUAD C:
Fitzsimmons holds on to his overall lead as the main challenger, Thomas Lindegren of Gavle, Sweden, fell 25 points short of taking over the lead after the dust of battle had settled with the completion of squad C. The 38-year-old sports shop proprietor, competing in his sixth Malta Open, found the lanes very much to his liking. "These may be the best lanes ever in the Malta Open, but they are certainly not the easiest," he commented.
Asked of the attraction of the Malta Open, Lindegren replied: "This is a great combination of a nice vacation and a very enjoyable bowling tournament."
Lindegren is the only competitor to date to have bowled all six games over 200, hitting a high of 246.
In the ladies' division, Camilleri's lead quickly vanished and now she finds herself down in fifth position as Ann Smith, 24, from Milton Keynes in England took over pole position with a 201 average and be the only lady to exceed the 1200 mark so far, outpointing Nina Flack of Sweden over her first six games.
Smith, an e-commerce sales manager, is competing in her third Malta Open and is aiming to truly better her round robin finish in 2001. She started action tonight with a fine 249 but kind of lost the plot in her fifth game, posting a mere 135.
Pic: Thomas Lindegren and Ann Smith.

STANDINGS AFTER SQUADS B & C: