WELSH Petanque Association Singles Champion Mathew Howells has just returned from representing Wales in his first European Championship tournament.

The Abergavenny Petanque Club member made the trip to Turin in Italy earlier this month.

His first match was against Andorra. Howells played well but Andorra pointed well on a very difficult piste to secure much needed points to take an early lead. Ultimately Andorra proved to strong and won the game 6-13.

In his second game against Lithuania, Howells stuck to his game and pointed really well. The Lithuanian failed to hit his last shot and Howells won 13 -12

In his third game against Scotland, it was a hard fought battle for points but Howells eventually won 13-9.

His fourth game was against Slovakia who won the match 13-9.

At the end of day one Howells finished in 15th place.

On day two Howells needed to win against his first opponent from the Ukraine to secure a place in the last 16. Unfortunately Howells lost the game 5-13 placing him in the Nations Cup.

First match in the nations cup qualifier was Norway and Howells secured the 13-9 win.

After a long wait next up were Denmark who were victorious 13 -11. Howells had to beat Norway again to stay into the competition which he did 13 -10.

In the quarter finals of the Nations Cup Howells was up against Poland. Faced with an aggressive shooting opponent Howells fought hard with close points on every end but Poland took the 13 -2 win and knocked Howells out of the tournament.

Howells’ performance was a credit to both club and country.

He would like to thank his coach Andy Pook for the time and effort he put in both before and during the competition. He would also like to thank his sponsors and family for their support.