THURSDAY, JUNE 15
SQUAD 'E'- 09:00
 Thomas
Gross, 34, from Vienna, Austria and local lady
Sue Abela, 40, mastered the Eden SuperBowl
lane condition with ultimate ease on Thursday
morning to set new highs on the respective
men's and ladies' leader boards.
Gross, a bank loan official, is bowling the
Malta Open for the first time and is mightily
pleased to be 289 over at his initial attempt.
"I was using the right ball, playing at the
right speed and managed to stay focused
throughout the series," he commented after the
squad. "I haven't seen much of Malta yet, but
I'm looking forward to doing some tours, it
seems such a nice country and has such
friendly people. I like the SuperBowl, too, it
has such a great atmosphere."
Abela, the 2002 Malta Open champion, has been
working really hard on her game over the past
few months. "I really want to do well here and
maybe win the Malta Open again," she said.
"Then, next month, we travel to Australia to
represent Malta in the Commonwealth
Championships in Melbourne." Abela added:
"I think the lanes are much more playable than
the condition here last year and, anyway, I
think I am now playing better!"
SQUAD 'F' - 13:00
The Dutch took control of Squad 'F' but
neither Ron van den Bogaard nor Marieke de
Jong could take over the respective men's and
ladies overall qualifying pole positions. The
scores set by Thomas Gross of Austria and
Maltese heroine Sue Abela stand firm.
 Van
den Bogaard, 42, a civil servant living in
Netherland's capital Amsterdam, had lofty Wim
van der Veen close on his tail for a
while but emerged squad leader with a 232
average. This is his eighth entry into the
Malta Open, one of his favorite tournaments
and destinations, and now slips into second
place overall. His aim now is to beat his top
eight finish last year.
Marieke de Jong, 24, from Scheveningen, host
city of the Dutch Open last week, held off a
strong challenge from petite Nina Flack of
Sweden, taking first place in the squad by the
narrow margin of nine pins. Enjoying her
fourth trip to Malta, De Jong also wants to
improve on her fifth place finish in 2005.
currently, she holds eighth place.
FANCY PANTS!
Defending Malta Open
champion Chris van Damme of Knokke-Heist,
Belgium is renowned on the tournament circuit
for his sartorial elegance, especially in the
fancy trouser department.
This year, Van Damme has gone way beyond the
call of duty with a design that could easily
cause eye damage.
"I'm going to have to wear my sunglasses in
this evening's squad. Those trousers are far
too much for me to look at," complained
compatriot Jeffrey de Vetter.
SQUAD 'G':
At the conclusion of the penultimate squad for
Thursday, pacesetters were a pair of Swedes,
both from the beautiful city of Stockholm.
 Mikael
Kanold, 20, and Jenny Hoglund, also 20, both
are first-timers in the Malta Open and also
very pleased with their progress at the
delightful Eden SuperBowl.
Kanold was playing his third entry but didn't
make any drastic changes on this squad. "I
just played better tonight," he explained,
"and I got much better carry this time."
He can appreciate that now, zooming into
second place overall, 15 pins aback of
tournament leader Thomas Gross of Austria and
demoting earlier challenger Ron van den
Bogaard to third place.
Hoglund is delighted to bowl so well on only
her second foray outside her home country,
hitting 1261 to come up into third place in
the overall standings. "I bowled my first
European Bowling tour event a couple of weeks
ago in Aalborg, Denmark, and enjoyed that very
much," she said. "I think I will try as many
EBT tournaments as I can. I'm very impressed
with Malta and the SuperBowl and the weather
now is absolutely gorgeous, although I got a
little worried when we arrived here in the
rain."
SQUAD 'H':
Following the seemingly traditional situation
of having the pair of squad leaders
representing the same nation, it was the turn
of Malta's Kenneth Arpa and Doris Camilleri to
lead the group.
Camilleri, who has the rare distinction of
having won both the Malta Open and the Malta
Senior Open, now shares fourth place with
another Maltese who has notched the Malta
Open, Melissa Anastasi, with 1257.
Arpa is now the leading home male player,
currently in 12th spot on a 212 average
OVERALL STANDINGS
AFTER SQUAD 'H':
|
P |
Name |
Nat |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
Total |
Ave |
|
1 |
Thomas Gross |
Aut |
276 |
221 |
243 |
276 |
207 |
266 |
1489 |
248.1 |
|
2 |
Mikael Kanold |
Swe |
206 |
220 |
256 |
278 |
257 |
257 |
1474 |
245.6 |
|
3 |
Ron v/d Bogaard |
Hol |
224 |
179 |
260 |
266 |
249 |
214 |
1392 |
232.0 |
|
4 |
Tobias Karlsson |
Swe |
227 |
248 |
257 |
208 |
280 |
171 |
1391 |
231.8 |
|
5 |
Jocke Biehl |
Swe |
173 |
245 |
225 |
216 |
223 |
236 |
1318 |
219.6 |
|
6 |
Chris Van Damme |
Bel |
149 |
236 |
235 |
234 |
259 |
203 |
1316 |
219.3 |
|
7 |
Geert-Jan van Baest |
Hol |
248 |
189 |
214 |
199 |
220 |
245 |
1315 |
219.1 |
|
8 |
Mark Wells |
Eng |
235 |
179 |
228 |
180 |
258 |
224 |
1304 |
217.3 |
|
9 |
Menno v/d Heuvel |
Hol |
201 |
214 |
235 |
202 |
227 |
222 |
1301 |
216.8 |
|
10 |
Kenneth Arpa |
Mlt |
189 |
192 |
248 |
245 |
232 |
167 |
1273 |
212.1 |
|
11 |
Stefan Ekelund |
Swe |
205 |
202 |
190 |
232 |
198 |
236 |
1263 |
210.5 |
|
12 |
Wim v/d Veen |
Hol |
225 |
203 |
196 |
213 |
200 |
221 |
1258 |
209.6 |
|
13 |
Danny Ayling |
Eng |
232 |
167 |
214 |
202 |
215 |
225 |
1255 |
209.1 |
|
14 |
Brian Farrugia |
Mlt |
184 |
194 |
203 |
222 |
243 |
204 |
1250 |
208.3 |
|
15 |
Heinrich Dostal |
Aut |
164 |
174 |
210 |
213 |
257 |
221 |
1239 |
206.5 |
|
16 |
Tomas Thelander |
Swe |
224 |
226 |
203 |
182 |
210 |
194 |
1239 |
206.5 |
|
17 |
Andy Constantine |
Eng |
235 |
147 |
256 |
215 |
172 |
210 |
1235 |
205.8 |
|
18 |
Marco Landman |
Hol |
166 |
236 |
182 |
187 |
246 |
216 |
1233 |
205.5 |
|
19 |
Matthew Giles |
Eng |
213 |
163 |
177 |
208 |
192 |
278 |
1231 |
205.1 |
|
20 |
Ray Falzon Reale |
Mlt |
207 |
223 |
194 |
214 |
197 |
194 |
1229 |
204.8 |
|
21 |
Robert Olofsson |
Swe |
221 |
216 |
199 |
192 |
191 |
203 |
1222 |
203.6 |
|
22 |
Steve Carnall |
Eng |
224 |
182 |
200 |
208 |
179 |
225 |
1218 |
203.0 |
|
23 | |
