Sue Abela continued to enrich her reputation outside Maltese shores yesterday when she won the gold medal at the 14th Mediterranean Challenge Cup, currently being played in Barcelona.

A record 13 nations are participating in these championships at the Pedralbes Bowling Centre with Malta represented by Mark Spiteri, Neil Sullivan and Tiziana Caran-nante, besides Abela.

In singles, Abela took over the top spot after two games and never looked back. She shot an incredible 1,328 series (221.3 average), which was 47 pins better than the top male performance.

Silver went to Solene Goron, of France, way back on 1,181 pins, with third place going to Israel’s Rhona Gill on 1,180. Carannante finished 13th on a 1,080 total.

“I always look forward to this event, I enjoy it a lot. I enjoy being here, with all the Mediterranean countries. It is a great tournament and I like to keep up my reputation,” Abela, known as the Queen of the Mediterranean in bowling circles, told veteran reporter Keith Hale after the competition was over.

In men’s singles, Sullivan placed seventh with a total of 1,203. He was holding on to third place with only two games left. Spiteri settled for 13th place on 1,115 pins.

Georgios Stefanidis, of Greece, won the men’s title with a 1,281 tally.