Four of Malta’s top bowlers travelled to Mersin in Turkey last week, to compete in the tenth edition of The Mediterranean Championships. Malta were top of the medal table after the previous nine editions, and were looking to maintain that lead over no fewer than ten other Mediterranean nations, namely Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Israel, Italy, Morocco, San Marino, Spain and host nation Turkey.
The Maltese team, made up of Sue Abela, Joanna Attard, Mark Spiteri and Brian Farrugia certainly flew the flag, netting no less than four silver medals from the varied events, and also a gold medal thanks to a fantastic last day display from Mark Spiteri who claimed the title of male champion.
Malta’s first singles medal
The Singles was the first event of the Championships, starting with the Ladies’ competition where Sue Abela and Joanna Attard were pitted against 20 other female bowlers.
Attard’s first taste of this international event saw her place a very respectable ninth, with a six game total of 1,136 (189.3 average), while Abela bowled for the top spot against Natassa Rovithaki of Greece.
The latter played with awe inspiring determination, rolling a huge set of 225, 268, 204, 242, 256 and 191 for a record breaking 1,386 total (231 ave).
Mark Spiteri placed 11th on a good 1,216 total (202.6 ave) in the very tough male division, while Brian Farrugia improved to 15th after a disappointing start to the event, which was won by Nunzio Romano of Italy, followed by Frenchman Emmanuel Michaud, and Ioannis Stathatos from Greece.
More silverware in Doubles event
The Ladies’ Doubles produced Malta’s second silver medal, thanks to the pairing of Abela and Attard.
Sue Abela was on top form, never rolling under 200 with a low game of 204 in the fifth, helping to buoy her team mate’s game also, Attard playing very well apart from a low 161 in the sixth and final game.
Attard shot a 1,173 (195.5 ave), coupled with a brilliant 1,375 from Sue (229,1 ave), for a team total of 2,648.
That was enough to put them in second place, just 84 down on the Israeli duo of Nofar Hershkovich and Mor Aviram on 2,622 pins. Third place was claimed by the Italian team of Rafaella Fusco and Chiara Roiati.
Third silver in team event
All four Maltese athletes pulled together in the team event to claim our third silver medal of the Mediterranean Championships, finishing second only to the strong Italian outfit.
Abela and Spiteri topped a 200 average yet again, with 1,287 and 1,278 pins respectively over the six games, while Brian Farrugia rolled a better 1,277 set, and Attard scored 1,078 pins.
Gold-winning performance
from Spiteri, silver for Abela
Each bowler’s cumulative pinfall from the Singles, Doubles and Team events decided the All Events standings, from which the top eight men and women would go forward to the Masters’ Knock-Out finals.
Sue Abela placed second in the Ladies’ division, only due to Greek Natassa Rovithaki’s incredible display in the singles event.
Mark Spiteri’s consistent performance over the three events placed him in the seventh position in the men’s All Events, which was led by young Frenchman Emmanuel Michaude.
The format for the finals were best-of-three head to head matches, and Sue Abela’s first opponent was Florie Biguet from France. The latter took game one 223–235, but Abela was the better of the two, equalising with a 203 win in game two, and taking the match with a 197–158 winner in game three, sending her into the next round to face Italy’s Rafaella Fusco.
The encounter was over in two games, Abela prevailing with incredibly similar scores of 224–190, and 223–190. This meant an Italian-Maltese final between Abela and Chiara Roiati.
The ladies’ final was a very tense affair, with Roiati claiming the opening game by 40 pins, 234–194.
Abela was back in contention with a good 194–205 win in game two, but then lost out thanks to leaving a cruel 7-pin in the final frame of the tight deciding game, with finished 211–204 in the Italian’s favour.
Spiteri goes for Gold
The Men’s division was extremely tough, and merely qualifying for the Masters was a fantastic achievement for Mark Spiteri, but the greatest one was yet to come. Mark faced Italian Nunzio Romano in the first match, and played like a true champion, winning over two straight high-scoring games, 226–255 and 214–232 the scores.
That put him through to face Gal Shemer (Israel) in the semi-final, which was another straight victory for Spiteri who took game one 214–181 and then game two 181–148.
A place in the Men’s final was Spiteri’s dream reward and he was more than up to the challenge of the young French phenomenon, Emmanuel Michaud.
Spiteri took game one 228 – 177, but it was then all square after two, as Michaud levelled it with a 215–181 win. Both bowlers were fatigued by the time game three got underway, and it was reflected in the score line, but Spiteri came through with a close 163–159 victory, to be crowned the male Mediterranean champion in this tenth event.