Neil Sullivan made history yesterday when he won Malta’s first ever accolade at the Commonwealth Championships, currently underway in Malaysia, after finishing second in the men’s singles event.

Malta is represented by four bowlers at the tournament, namely, Sullivan, Sue Abela, Tiziana Carannante and Justin Caruana Scicluna.

The men’s singles was the first competition in store, Sullivan and Caruana Scicluna among 25 participants hailing from 13 Commonwealth nations.

Caruana Scicluna placed 19th after a below-par series, finishing on 1,150 pins, having only breached the 200-mark twice.

Sullivan, however, settled much more easily into his game, rolling a 244 opening game, then dropping to a 185 before an inspired 277.

In the back three, Sullivan shot games of 194, 235 and 258 to finish with a 1,393, meaning a superb 232.2 average.

Having managed to stave off the challenges from South Africa’s Guillaume Louv (1,384) and Malaysian Adrian Ang (1,345), Sullivan’s tally was enough to earn him the runner-up spot behind home bowler Zulmazran Zulkifli. He clinched gold just 33 pins ahead of Sullivan.

The ladies singles got underway shortly afterwards and in spite of a shaky start, Abela managed to place seventh among the field of 26 bowlers.

After a 194 opening game, a 154 in the second saw the Malta champion tumble down the standings.

Ever the fighter however, Abela responded with a 245 and a 214 to pull herself back into it, and then finish with games of 169 and 209 for a 1,185 total.

Carannante’s first experience of the championships started with her taking a respectable 17th place with a total of 1,023.

The women’s title went to Siti Amirah, also of Malaysia, with Singapore’s Shanya Ng second and yet another Malaysian, Zandra Aziela third.