Nicolai Mallia and Alja Bergauer win Malta Bowling Association’s Platinum Cup

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 six-game personal best 1,571 that also had his third perfect game of 300 in a few weeks.

His score of 3,026 (252 average) was 294 pins higher than second qualifier Matthew Magro.  Nicholas Muscat, Kayden Lagana’, Samuel Caruso, and Miguel Xuereb rounded up the top six.

The top six then all bowled direct matches against each other, and while Mallia was never in danger of losing first place, winning  three of the matches including two 279 games, the next three spots for the finals were keenly contested.

Lagana’ moved up two places with four wins out of five, with Matthew Magro (with four wins) coming in third place and Nicholas Muscat in fourth 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 seventh 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 2,521 series, ahead of Alja Bergauer, Cynthia Frendo Duca, Tiziana Muscat Carannante, Ruslana Grima, and Celianne Micallef.

Muscat Carannante dominated the match play section, winning all five games and bowling over 225 average to move up to first 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 Carannante 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 six male qualifiers were 23 and under, and three of the six female qualifiers were also under 23.