Three squads of the Malta Senior Open today and a mix of many players completing their second six-game block and new bowlers

playing their first block.

A difficult lane pattern is keeping the scores low but the high game for men is 269 for Jurgen Press of germany. That for the women is 222 by Angie Brown of England.

Today's first squad had just 15 bleary-eyed competitors hitting the lanes at 09:00 and the top score came from Sweden's Stig Hermansson who completed his twelve qualifying games with 2554 including his 132 pin age bonus. Being 67 he receives 11 pins per game.

Hermansson, from Karlskoga in Sweden is competing in his fifth Malta Senior Open and finished fifth in last year's event.

The leading lady right now is Inger Petersson from Gothenburg, also from Sweden. she totalled 2226 for her twelve games and leads with a 62 point buffer over fellow countrywomen Berit Karlsson. Angie Brown of england currently holds third on 2120.

Petersson is competing in Malta for the seventh time.

FRIDAY SQUAD 2:

Having had the relief of a morning snooze after last night's socializing, the second squad of the day showed a remarkable increase in scoring ability and it was 62-year-old Rauli Raita from Finland who topped the squad with a score of 1202 for his opening

six-game stint.

Raita was chased for a while by Paul Gay from Jersey but he enjoys a lead over the other islander of 19 points. Gay has now completed his twelve qualifying games and lies in fourth place in the overall standings for those finishing the qualifiers. However, all players are allowed to re-enter to better one six-game block.

For the girls, Hannele Uotila, also from Finland, aforementioned mother of Finnish champion Pasi Uotila, leads the distaff field with 2286 for the twelve games. Just two women, both English, have yet to roll all twelve games, Jan Hodge and Kaz Barfoot.

There are just two more qualifying squads, this evening at 17;00 and tomorrow morning at 09:00, then the men's field will be cut to 24 and the remaining women will continue as both groups bowl four more games before the next cut.

After the dust had settled from the penultimate squad, it is status quo for Stig Hermansson, staying atop the overall standings. Frenchman Jean Usan had chances of taking over the leader board but failed to reach par in any of his final six games and dropped down to seventh place in the standings.

Defending champion Rosario Bellomonte from Sicily is nicely positioned in fourth place, just 31 points ahead of tournament favorite Chris Vandamme of Belgium, he who has the honor of being a previous champion of both the Malta Open and the Malta Senior Open.

All contestants have completed their twelve qualifying games and the cut to 24th place comes at 2134 and in that position sits Michael Mulcahy of the Republic of Ireland.

There is one more squad on Saturday morning at 09:00 and that will just be for re-entries for those who think that one more six-game block will improve a previous stint. But friday night is party night in this part of Malta and beating 2134 might be a difficult project so early on a Saturday.

No change in the woen's leader board either as Hannele Uotila had no challengers on the Friday night squad. Kaz Barfoot and Jan Hodge of England were the only two women on this squad and came home with sixth and fifth places respectively.

STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 6:

P	Name	Nat	HC	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Scr	Tot
1	Stig Hermansson	SWE	132	167	211	236	173	239	183	211	177	230	237	165	193	2422	2554
2	Hermann Wimmer	GER	132	180	173	233	190	223	254	233	148	174	193	184	177	2362	2494
3	Brian Wilkins	ENG	84	144	201	200	267	174	199	237	192	196	192	195	169	2366	2450
4	Rosario Bellomonte	ITA	180	188	157	187	167	204	246	167	201	158	211	188	182	2256	2436
5	Chris Vandamme	BEL	0	203	174	173	257	238	182	162	199	243	199	208	167	2405	2405
6	Jurgen Press	GER	84	167	245	215	209	200	155	188	269	154	187	182	144	2315	2399
7	Jean Usan	FRA	0	199	212	223	242	221	191	190	192	156	176	176	206	2384	2384
8	Magnar Dyrnes	NOR	96	169	191	145	170	182	257	187	212	189	198	181	173	2254	2350
9	Rauli Raita	FIN	60	198	210	197	182	192	193	180	162	195	188	193	197	2287	2347
10	Paul Gay	JER	72	199	205	169	187	196	191	193	201	188	179	189	157	2254	2326
11	Serge Frouvelle	FRA	0	166	185	174	204	225	180	171	228	181	194	150	201	2259	2259
12	Terry Richards	WAL	84	168	166	222	183	191	193	175	196	158	191	153	166	2162	2246
13	Keith Hodge	ENG	60	164	202	161	197	163	211	157	173	207	163	179	191	2168	2228
14	Bobby Irwin	USA	0	237	166	163	182	180	188	201	146	177	199	210	175	2224	2224
15	Ian Lindsay	ENG	120	183	214	170	164	191	177	173	168	155	149	183	157	2084	2204
16	Ron Bryant	ENG	84	200	191	193	137	169	169	159	178	199	182	145	193	2115	2199
17	Emilio Ruggiero	ITA	36	212	178	164	194	171	199	213	174	160	144	191	148	2148	2184
18	Gunnar Haugen	NOR	144	156	151	196	161	194	199	178	175	127	172	148	182	2039	2183
19	Roger Olofsson	SWE	0	190	225	190	134	176	199	158	174	169	165	195	201	2176	2176
20	John Balani	MLT	0	189	194	149	186	177	208	180	213	180	157	161	181	2175	2175
21	Leli Baldacchino	MLT	0	164	170	179	214	232	165	189	157	179	196	177	141	2163	2163
22	Ignazio Cerami	ITA	48	185	189	184	175	169	159	167	157	145	159	209	204	2102	2150
23	Alan Hanafin	ENG	0	209	209	215	130	150	179	170	169	177	174	167	200	2149	2149
24	Michael Mulcahy	IRL	180	115	161	196	168	188	182	160	168	145	158	156	157	1954	2134
25	Roy Swift	MLT	180	185	139	164	165	169	155	163	183	128	207	151	142	1951	2131
26	Alby Bowden	ENG	144	171	162	163	155	181	234	164	146	122	127	164	196	1985	2129
27	Tim Basher	ENG	36	163	179	186	166	217	155	213	189	142	163	145	174	2092	2128
28	Brandon Lane	ENG	0	133	222	194	170	212	203	148	154	172	177	157	185	2127	2127
29	Fred Podt	NED	0	170	209	201	179	226	154	165	155	169	158	171	169	2126	2126
30	Keith Howes	ENG	180	158	175	151	154	165	179	152	166	140	149	158	198	1945	2125
31	Sammy Borg	MLT	36	170	181	201	171	171	180	177	192	147	167	174	153	2084	2120
32	Christer Svard	SWE	120	186	192	200	149	191	175	153	146	144	161	176	124	1997	2117
33	Tapani Kiviranta	FIN	60	168	157	214	152	166	177	174	188	126	177	170	181	2050	2110
34	Ian Horrell	SCO	36	169	207	154	166	246	156	137	134	202	163	167	169	2070	2106
35	Pat Byrne	ENG	36	134	172	197	156	204	174	165	161	178	165	184	170	2060	2096
36	David Piper	ENG	96	210	137	161	160	160	176	138	161	153	178	178	158	1970	2066
37	Ken Burton	ENG	60	155	160	169	185	183	165	139	128	144	198	190	182	1998	2058
38	Jan Enquist	SWE	72	164	165	214	146	140	175	167	163	140	190	177	134	1975	2047
39	Francesco Morabito	ITA	36	181	158	137	234	163	179	146	171	190	146	145	156	2006	2042
40	Dave Montgomery	ENG	72	217	148	146	159	160	154	189	205	170	145	153	121	1967	2039
41	Reg Eccles	ENG	72	149	183	147	156	172	174	152	171	170	138	179	167	1958	2030
42	Norbert Peelman	BEL	120	129	162	165	158	176	163	172	155	137	144	164	181	1906	2026
43	Ray Harrison	ENG	84	166	141	188	161	187	154	156	129	192	175	118	165	1932	2016
44	Steve Carnall	ENG	0	181	167	171	157	216	168	155	164	182	138	177	134	2010	2010
45	Tony Paris	MLT	0	188	179	159	192	158	172	156	169	163	138	167	164	2005	2005
46	Roger Hunter	ENG	24	165	148	215	154	165	163	155	154	153	212	144	148	1976	2000
47	Giancarlo Tolu	MLT	0	189	153	178	169	164	162	169	167	161	156	178	146	1992	1992
48	Bill Wadsworth	ENG	168	187	159	153	174	164	146	148	146	132	129	138	131	1807	1975
49	Ron Griffin	ENG	0	135	178	162	171	162	210	139	163	210	143	142	156	1971	1971
50	Jeff Platten	ENG	0	206	147	138	177	169	188	213	106	157	159	155	147	1962	1962
51	Sebastiano Bellanca	ITA	0	145	180	171	156	167	178	119	172	96	157	185	180	1906	1906
52	Colin Crouch	ENG	24	153	167	170	169	164	149	127	166	170	137	120	137	1829	1853
53	Benny Hili	MLT	0	137	171	202	139	176	156	176	146	176	150	123	0	1752	1752
54	Mario Palmisano	ITA	0	125	119	164	158	182	146	158	115	133	123	150	161	1734	1734
55	Simon Ferrow	JER	132	117	135	169	134	103	159	143	122	111	97	136	114	1540	1672
56	Domenico Incardona	ITA	36	103	103	98	116	132	110	112	100	115	80	125	115	1309	1345

WOMEN:

P	Name	Nat	HC	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Scr	Tot
1	Hannele Uotila	FIN	60	172	188	268	202	132	205	169	172	164	160	183	211	2226	2286
2	Inger Petersson	SWE	108	152	189	197	184	168	158	198	172	194	157	169	182	2120	2228
3	Berit Karlsson	SWE	180	188	152	159	209	159	145	163	171	147	144	156	193	1986	2166
4	Angie Brown	ENG	0	185	222	199	191	193	189	174	160	161	163	115	168	2120	2120
5	Jan Hodge	ENG	0	179	209	164	176	180	150	202	178	159	187	153	144	2081	2081
6	Kaz Barfoot	ENG	60	151	180	169	169	177	174	158	171	185	172	157	148	2011	2071
7	Liz Griffin	ENG	24	210	164	124	173	193	160	187	146	154	154	171	176	2012	2036
8	Liz Pond	ENG	108	145	167	176	181	133	145	119	188	131	143	165	174	1867	1975
9	Lynne Palmer	ENG	48	168	136	145	146	194	166	139	158	159	147	169	129	1856	1904
10	Josephine Borg	MLT	12	164	171	140	153	195	132	116	172	159	160	130	169	1861	1873