Team Malta concludes its commitments in Glasgow

Team Malta concluded its Commonwealth Games commitments in Glasgow on Saturday, playing the final group games in lawn bowls.

In the morning session, Men’s Pairs Shaun Parnis and Troy Lorimer concluded their campaign in fine fashion against Niue’s Tifaga Tupuiliu and Keith Papani. The boys got off to a fantastic start, putting bowls all around the head from the outset. Lorimer leading superbly, giving Parnis an armchair ride throughout the opening set, and their consistent play was rewarded with a 6–4 first-set victory.

They carried that confidence into the second set, with both players in outstanding form with great accuracy that saw them  dominate from start to finish, scoring 11 shots to nil to complete a commanding 11–0 second-set win and thus securing a fourth place in their group.

Connie Rixon started her final round-robin game strongly, picking up the opening ends before Canada’s Kelly McKerihen found her rhythm. Despite Rixon’s excellent start, McKerihen edged out a tightly contested first set 8–7.  From there, McKerihen took complete control of the match. She consistently outdrew Rixon, sitting shot with almost every bowl Connie delivered, and didn’t concede another end. McKerihen claimed the second set 11–0 to secure the match.

While Friday’s news was headlined by Katryna Esposito’s bronze medal, several other athletes were also in competition, amongst them Rachela Pace (Athletics), James Zahra (Judo) and Connie Rixon (Lawn Bowls.

Athletics

Photo Credit: Mario Bonello

Rachela Pace competed in Group B of the women’s long jump qualification. Her opening jump of 6.16m immediately placed her in strong contention for a final spot, and she followed it with a 6.06m in the second round. To secure one of the top-12 places across both qualifying groups, she needed 6.23m or better on her final attempt.

Rachela produced an improved jump in the third round, but it was ruled a foul, leaving her in a heartbreaking 14th place — just two positions short of the final. Although she came within centimetres of her season’s best of 6.30m, her performance showed she was fully competitive against a strong field of 24 athletes.

Judo

James Zahra got off to a strong start by throwing his opponent from Vanuatu, Alan Monthouel, with a combination of techniques uchi-mata ( inner thigh throw) into Ko-uchi gake ( inner minor hook) earning a low value point -Yuko when his opponent landed on his side.

His opponent seemed much more comfortable on the ground, constantly shifting between different grappling techniques trying to hold James.

Zahra held his opponent’s leg whilst being pinned by his opponent , which meant the osaekomi time had not started— but as soon as his opponent managed to free his leg, Zahra was held in a side 4 corner hold -Yoko Siho Gatame for a full 20 seconds, which was enough for the maximum score and an instant win.

Lawn Bowls

Connie Rixon, competing in the women’s singles, made a strong start to her match against Jersey, settling quickly and taking the opening set 7–4 with a composed performance. Jersey responded well in the second set, edging out Rixon 5–4 to level the match and force a tie-break. With the match coming down to a single tie-break end, Rixon held her nerve, scoring two shots to claim the tie-break 2–0 and seal a well-deserved victory.

Photo by Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images

Rixon continued play in the evening against England’s Katherine Read, the current section leader and a seven-time Indoor Champion. Rixon was in fine form from the outset, controlling the first set from start to finish to take it 8–5. She started the second set equally well, picking up the first couple of ends, but Read produced some outstanding bowls to edge Rixon out 8–7 and push the match to a tie-break. In a tense finish, Reid managed to place one crucial bowl resulting in a narrow loss for Rixon.

Team Malta’s very last commitment at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games will be the Closing Ceremony which will take place on Sunday evening.