Malta's bowling team, made up of Sue Abela, Joanna Attard, Mark Spiteri and Brian Farrugia, achieved significant success at the 10th Mediterranean Championships, held last week in Turkey.

A brilliant last-day performance from Spiteri earned him the gold medal in the masters event. Another four silver medals were won by the Maltese bowlers in other events.

The singles were the first events of the championships, starting with the ladies' competition where Abela and Attard were pitted against 20 other bowlers. Attard, making her debut in these championships, placed ninth with a six-game total of 1,136 (189.3 average).

Abela bowled for the top spot against Natassa Rovithaki of Greece. The latter rolled a huge set of 225, 268, 204, 242, 256 and 191 for a record-breaking 1,386 total. Abela attempted a fightback but Rovithaki proved too strong on the day. Abela settled for silver on 1,259 pins.

Spiteri placed 11th with a 1,216 total (202.6 ave) in the male division while Farrugia improved to 15 after a disappointing start. Italy's Nunzio Romano won the competition ahead of Frenchman Emmanuel Michaud and Ioannis Stathatos (Greece).

The ladies' doubles yielded Malta's second silver medal thanks to the pairing of Abela and Attard. Attard shot 1,173 and Abela amassed 1,375 for a team total of 2,548.

That was enough to put the Maltese duo in second place, just 74 down on the Israeli pair of Nofar Hershkovich and Mor Aviram (2,622 pins). Third place was claimed by Italy's Rafaella Fusco and Chiara Roiati.

Spiteri and Farrugia finished eighth out of 11 teams in the men's doubles. French pair Xavier Lotthe and Michaud won gold.

The four Maltese bowlers pulled together in the team event to claim the country's third silver medal, finishing second only to the strong Italian outfit. Abela and Spiteri recorded a 200 average yet again, with 1,287 and 1,278 pins respectively over the six games, while Farrugia rolled a better 1,277 set, and Attard scored 1,078 pins. Third place went to the French team.

Each bowler's cumulative pinfall from the singles, doubles and team competitions decided the all events standings. The top eight men and women qualified for the masters KO finals.

Abela placed second in the ladies' division, just behind Rovithaki.

Spiteri's golden feat

Spiteri's consistent performance over the three events placed him in the seventh position in the men's all events, which was led by young Frenchman Michaud.

The format for the finals was best-of-three head to head matches and Abela's first opponent was Florie Biguet. Abela recovered from the loss of the first game to see off her French opponent and set up a clash with Italy's Fusco.

The encounter was over in two games, Abela prevailing in both, 224-190 and 223-190. This meant an Italian-Maltese final between Abela and Roiati. The ladies' final was a very tense affair, with Roiati claiming the opening game 234-194 and Abela equalising with a 194-205 win in game two. Abela missed out on the gold medal after losing the deciding game 211-204.

The men's division is extremely tough and merely qualifying for the masters was an achievement for Spiteri, but the best was yet to come.

Spiteri faced Romano in the first match and played like a true champion, winning two straight high-scoring games, 226-255 and 214-232. Israel's Gal Shemer was Spiteri's opponent in the semi-final and the Maltese bowler maintained his rich vein of form by winning the opening two games, 214-181 and 181-148.

A place in the men's final was Spiteri's dream reward and he was certainly up for the challenge provided by the young French phenomenon, Michaud.

Spiteri claimed game one 228-177, but it was then all square as Michaud levelled it with a 215-181 win. With both finalists showing signs of fatigue, Spiteri ground out a close 163-159 victory to strike gold.

After ten editions, Malta still heads the medals' table.

Team Malta were accompanied by manager Leli Baldacchino and national coach Per Johanesson.

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