Competitive play got underway yesterday in the Mediterranean Championships, the 17th in the series, being held at the King’s Bowl, Gibraltar.
The opening event was the six-game women’s doubles, and Team Malta could not have wished for a better start, with the country’s two representatives – Sue Abela and Joanna Attard – picking up a gold as well as a bronze medal, respectively.
Abela got Malta’s latest Mediterranean Championships campaign off to a dream start, taking the lead from the very first game among the field of 20 competitors with a solid 228. She backed that up with a 217 in game two.
Then, with bowlers from France, Greece and Italy all snapping at her heels, Abela shot what would be her low game, a 180 in game three but still managed to hold on to her advantage.
Abela rolled a 187 in game four, and was soon back on form with a good 211 in the fifth which gave her a lead of 34 pins over the chasing pack, although she faced a strong challenge from France’s Lauriane Celie.
Abela was first to finish with a flourish, a 234 game giving her a superb 1,257 total (209.5 average), as Celie came in with a 218 for second place on 1,198.
Attard has shown significant progress lately which has given a huge boost to her confidence and her mental game.
She more than showed her mettle in the early stages of the singles, starting off with a good 181 and improving to a 199 and 198 to keep in touch with the medal positions.
Game four saw a positional setback for Attard, a below-par 163 game sending her plummeting down the standings.
A 175 in game five did little to improve her position.
Attard began game six in seventh place, still in a reasonable position for her chances in the ‘All Events’ qualification, but in need of a little magic to claim a medal in this event.
Incredibly, she managed to pull an inspired 243 out of the hat, the high game of the morning – putting her on 1,159 (193.1 average) for the session.
That amazing finale had Attard up to third place as the results were filtered through. It was a very tense few minutes for her with Greece’s Styliani Tsikouna looking set to clinch third and deny the Maltese bowler of a medal.
In an unbelievable finish, however, Tsikouna fell under the pressure and could only put in a 169 game, handing the third place to Attard by a single solitary pin.