Frank Vella and Shaun Parnis were off to an excellent start on the first day of the Bowls World Cup and World Junior Cup in Warilla, near Wollongong in NSW, Australia.

A small group of Maltese supporters turned up at the Warilla Bowls and Recreation Club to cheer the Maltese lawn bowlers on.

Shaun Parnis was first off the mark to represent Malta in the World Junior Cup, and on tie breaker he beat Edward Alderson from the Isle of Man 2 -1.

Immediately after, Frank Vella was ready to lock horns with the Australian and World Champion Steve Glasson. Frank lost the first game by a mere two points. In the second game Frank beat the Australian champion by 7-0 after five ends. He led all the way up to the ninth round, won the second game and consequently forced Steve Glasson to a tie breaker which the Australian won by just two points.

In the afternoon both Frank and Shaun entertained us to another two brilliant wins. On rink 2 Shaun Parnis made history by beating the Australian champion Barrie Lester 2-1.

Simultaneously on rink four Frank Vella was playing Cheun Bing Leung of China. This appeared to be an easy win for Frank, but it was not so for the South African champion Eric Johannes, who struggled to beat Cheun Bing Leun that same morning.

During the game against Cheun Bing Leung the crowd watched an incident of excellent sportsmanship from the Maltese player Frank Vella. At the conclusion of the sixth end the official marker advised the crowd that Frank won that end by three points. The Chinese player accepted that result without question. Frank immediately told the official marker and the Chinese player that one of his own bowls was in fact out of bounds and therefore he should get two points only, not three. The official agreed and the crowd let Frank Vella know that they admired his sportsmanship.