A Maltese taekwondo athlete and two bowlers won gold medals on the first day of the Malta Invitational Games.

Michela Scerri, Dennis Mercieca and Cynthia Frendo Duca all flew the Maltese flag from the top of their respective podiums, taking home gold in their respective disciplines.

The Maltese Olympic Committee are organising these Games to boost those disciplines that do not form part of the sports programme in next year’s GSSE in Malta.

This four-day sports festival is replacing the now-defunct Friendship Games which were previously organised by the Maltese Olympic Committee and CONI Sicilia.

Around 180 athletes from 10 countries, namely Andorra, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Iceland, Luxembourg, Montenegro, San Marino and Malta are competing in these Games.

Scerri won in taekwondo while fellow competitors Alycia Cassar, Nathan Degiorgio and Samuel Vella obtained silver medals after hard-fought bouts.  

Luke Chircop also gave a good account of himself and won the bronze in his category. 

Meanwhile in bowling, Mercieca won gold in the male category, finishing three pins better than his closest rival after six games, while Frendo Duca took top spot in the female category.  

Tiziana Carannante took bronze for Team Malta, finishing nine pins clear of the fourth-placed bowler.

The Malta Invitational Games are a branch of the Special Olympics and feature competitors with intellectual disabilities representing eight European small nations, including Malta.

Malta is hosting the 2022 edition of the games, which will feature more than 450 athletes compete.

Apart from the top competitions, a number of exhibition matches were held for younger athletes on the first day of the event.

Jean Schembri won his taekwondo competition against a competitor from the Faroe Islands while Noah Kitcher and the youngest athlete in the team, six-year-old Dwayne Micallef also won their fights. 

Female athlete Areti-Christina Chamaleli won her exhibition fight against Mirian Poulson from the Faroe Islands.