Rebecca Camilleri in action, yesterday. Photo: Paul Zammit Cutajar

Rebecca Camilleri made history yesterday as she became the first female athlete representing Malta to reach a Commonwealth Games track and field final following qualification to the decisive stage of the long jump event at Hampden Park.

The 29-year-old arrived at the Games in Glasgow on a high after having set a new national record of 6.41m in the National Champion-ships before winning a silver medal for the country at the European Team Championships (Division C) in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Camilleri, who established herself among the top 40 jumpers on the continent, had her eyes set on a place in the next round of the competition where the medals are decided and she kept her promise with a solid performance.

Twenty-four competitors took part in the qualifying round and the top 12 progressed to this evening’s final.

Drawn in Group A, Camilleri started with a no-jump but she was soon back in groove when managing a leap of 6.31m that put her fourth in her section.

She failed to improve on that mark but it little mattered as she still made it into the top 12 when placing ninth overall.

Bianca Stuart, of Bahamas, topped the qualifying round with a leap of 6.67m.

“I’m very happy to have made it to the final,” Camilleri told Times of Malta.

“The level of competition here is much higher than the 2010 Games in New Delhi. The final will be a world class competition so making it this far is already an achievement in itself.

“However, I believe I can compete well and will do everything I can to break my own record and achieve a respectable placing in the final rankings.”

Camilleri had good reason to sound happy but it was not the same for Malta sprint champion Kevin Moore who went agonisingly close to reaching the semi-finals of the 200 metres.

The 23-year-old was in heat six and he ran the distance in 21.07 seconds... just 0.03 seconds slower than the national record he had established in Geneva in June.

Canada’s Gavin Smellie won the heat in 20.74.

With the top two from the ten heats, along with the fastest four in the classification, progressing to the semi-finals, Moore was placed 27th overall... 0.03 of a second behind the final qualifying spot.

Last night, Diane Borg was fifth from seven sprinters in a 200m heat in 24.74 seconds.

Medals table

Lawn bowls
Men’s singles: Leonard Callus vs Peter Juni (Papua New Guinea) 21-10; Callus vs Martin McHugh (N. Ireland) 10-21; Callus vs Petelo Gabriel (Samoa) 21-20. (Callus did not reach QFs)

Squash
Men’s doubles: Malta vs Guyana 2-0 (Hindle Deguara/Zammit Lewis reach last 16).
Women’s doubles: Malta vs Malaysia 0-2; Malta vs Australia 0-2.
Mixed doubles: Malta vs Trinidad 2-0.