Sue Abela, Joanna Attard, Justin Caruana Scicluna and Neil Sullivan are currently representing Malta at the Commonwealth Championships at the Pins Lincoln Bowling Centre in Auckland, New Zealand.

Team Malta are accompanied by national coach Rick Vogeleseng and MTBA head Julian Pace Bonello, who is also president of Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Federation.

The first competitive events – men’s and women’s singles – were held yesterday and Malta was among the medals thanks to a fine effort from Abela who picked up a bronze medal after a joint third place.

Abela started her six-game session strongly with a brace of 200+ games before faltering with a low 147 in game three. She rallied for the back three games, rolling a 189 before finishing off with a 233 and a 191. That put her on a 1,183 total (197.1 average) to share third place with former world champion Lisa John, of England.

Malaysia’s Siti Shazwani claimed second place on 1,188 and the event was won by another bowler from England, Kirsten Penny (1,301), a previous winner of the Malta Open Championships.

Attard placed 13th among a field of 18 players with a 1,070 tally from her six games.

Malta’s best showing in the men’s event was that of Sullivan. He placed a creditable seventh among 20 competitors (1,185 total) while Caruana Scicluna had to settle for 13th on 1,132.

The competition was won by Sam Cooley who shot a superb 1,444 series.

The Aussie bowler placed ahead of Singapore’s Jaris Goh (1,328) and Isaac R. Paul (Malaysia, 1,247).

The championships continue today with the doubles.

The mixed doubles will be played tomorrow and the team event on Friday. The Masters and grand finals will be played on Saturday and Sunday.

The attendance of Team Malta has been made possible by the Malta Tenpin Bowling Association, as well as the support of the Maltese Olympic Committee.

Eden SuperBowl has also provided training facilities for the team throughout their preparations for the New Zealand championships.