Malta lawn bowls players John Parnis and Leonard Callus pondering their next move. Photo: Paul Zammit Cutajar

Leonard Callus and John Parnis conceded an unexpected 28-7 upset to Malaysia in a decisive lawn bowls men’s pairs tie yesterday that left the Maltese duo without a place in the quarter-finals at the Kelvingrove centre, Scotland.

Section C was tight with four teams vying for automatic entry into the last eight.

The quarter-finals slots yesterday went to Northern Ireland and Malaysia with the Malta pair left to wonder what might have hit them after going down so heavily in their last match from the group.

Callus and Parnis finished with a record of three wins and two losses.

They won their matches against Papua New Guinea, Canada and Northern Ireland.

The defeat to Samoa, however, on the opening day of the tournament came at a cost even though the Maltese pair were still not expected to fare so badly against group favourites Malaysia yesterday.

Malaysia went on to reach the semi-finals after a 17-9 win over Wales but Northern Ireland failed to make more progress as they were beaten by rivals England 15-14.

Today Callus starts his singles tournament with a match against Jersey player Malcolm de Sousa.

Carmen Spiteri had no chance to qualify for the knock-out stages of the lawn bowls women’s singles but she exited the tournament on a positive note after breaking her duck in Section C with a 21-12 win over Samoa’s Alofa Adam.

Victory lifted Spiteri off the bottom place of the standings, leaving Adam without a win from five matches.

Northern Ireland bowler Catherine McMillen and Natalie Melmore, of England, booked their place in the quarter-finals from Section C.

At the SSE Hydro arena, another Maltese judoka was eliminated from the early rounds of the competition following Marcon Bezzina on Friday as Isaac Bezzina lost to Australian Mark Anthony in a Round of 16 bout.

Isaac Bezzina was contesting the -90kgs category. His bout against Anthony, who later qualified for the bronze medal match, lasted two minutes, 12 seconds.

Double trap event

Team Malta’s focus at the Games today shifts to the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre in Carnoustie on Scotland’s east coast where the Double Trap competition will be held.

Malta will be represented by two-time Commonwealth Games medallist William Chetcuti and Nathan Lee Xuereb, the European junior champion.

Also in action today will be track sprinter Diane Borg in the women’s 100m heats.

Squash
Consolation Plate result (women Kim Borg Cauchi bt Safina Madhani (Kenya) 3-1 (11-5, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6).