The Mediterranean Challenge Cup is a ten-pin bowling competition for the federations around Mediterranean Sea. It is recognised by the European Tenpin Bowling Federation and is played since 1998.
The first Mediterranean Challenge Cup was held in Nicosia (Cyprus) in 1998 with players from Greece, Israel, Malta and Cyprus.
The second MCC was played in St. Julian's (Malta) and included a new team, Turkey.
Athens (Greece) held the 2000 Cup with a new team from the western shore of the mediterranean sea, Spain.
Fourth MCC repeated host city, Nicosia (Cyprus), and one of the teams withdrawed, Turkey.
In 2002 the MCC was held in Barcelona, increasing the number of teams to seven with the return of Turkey and the first participation of France. It was played from April 12 to 13 in the Bowling Pedralbes, and the Greece national team won the gold medal in the teams event and Sue Abela (Malta) and Bertrand Pujol (France) won in the singles event. [1]
The sixth MCC was held in the Korukent Cosmic Bowling of Istanbul (Turkey). Greece and France withdrawed and Italy joined the Cup. Best players were Lluís Montfort, who won three gold medals, and Sue Abela who won two gold and two bronze medals. [2]
It was played in Rome (Italy). Gibraltar and San Marino joined the competition and Greece returned. Best players were Sue Abela (Malta), winning three gold and one silver medals and Marco Reviglio (Italy) with 2 gold and 1 silver medals. [3]
It was played in St. Julian's (Malta), and Turkey withdrawed. Three players won two gold medals: Sue Abela (Malta), Anastasia Rovithaki (Greece) and Marcial Ovide (Spain). [4]
San Marino held the 2006 MCC. Turkey returned, Morocco joined the Cup and Spain withdrawed. Players from Malta, with Sue Abela, Lorraine Casha, Brian Farrugia and Rankin Camilleri, won most of the events. [5]
Eleven teams played in Mersin (Turkey), with the return of France and Spain, from March 27 to April 3 at Rollhouse Bowling Center of Mersin. Chiara Roiati (Italy) and Mark Spiteri (Malta) won the individual events.[6]
In Khania (Greece), Morocco withdrawed and remained 10 teams.
It was held in Montpellier (France) from April 23 to 25. The number of teams was the same as the last year, with the withdrawal of Spain and the inclusion of Catalonia. The winners of the individual events were Ioannis Stathatos (Grece) and Sue Abela (Malta). In the doubles events won Italy (men) and Greece (women). French national team won the teams event. Masters event champion was Lluís Montfort (Catalonia) after being the best in the combined classification. [7][8]
In 2010 the MCC was played in Paphos (Cyprus) from April 15 to 17. The teams were the same as 2009. Antonio di Francesco (Italy) and Liat Vizenfeld (Israel) won the singles events and Italy (men) and Cyprus (women) won the doubles event. Cyprus national team were the best in the teams event. The All events classification were for Marco Reviglio (Italy) and Niki Schiza (Cyprus), and the Masters event were won by Or Aviram and Sarit Mizrahi, both from Israel.
In 2011 the MCC was held in Barcelona (Catalonia), increasing the number of teams to 13 with the first participation of Croatia,[9] Slovenia[10] and Tunisia.[11] It was played from March 30 to April 2 in the Bowling Pedralbes. Sue Abela (Malta) and Georgios Stefanidis (Greece) won the singles events, Carannante-Abela (Malta) and Stefanidis-Krizinis (Greece) won the doubles events and France won the teams event. The "All Event" winners were Sue Abela (Malta) and Habib Dogan (Turkey) and the Masters champions were Schiza (Cyprus) and Marco Reviglio (Italy).
| Medal history MCC 1998-2011 [12] | |||||
| Tot | |||||
| 1 | Malta | 29 | 19 | 19 | 67 |
| 2 | Greece | 25 | 22 | 20 | 67 |
| 3 | Italy | 12 | 17 | 17 | 46 |
| 4 | Israel | 12 | 13 | 23 | 48 |
| 5 | France | 10 | 8 | 8 | 26 |
| 6 | Spain | 9 | 16 | 10 | 35 |
| 7 | Cyprus | 6 | 5 | 9 | 20 |
| 8 | Turkey | 3 | 3 | 6 | 12 |
| 9 | Catalonia | 2 | 6 | 5 | 13 |
| 10 | San Marino | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |