Maltese Olympic Committee satisfied with Games results, athletes potential needs ongoing development, support

The Maltese Olympic Committee hosted a press conference this morning to provide an overview of Malta’s performance at the recently held Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom, and the European Youth Olympic Festival held in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia.

Welcoming members of the media, the Maltese Olympic Committee Director of Media and PR Maria Vella-Galea, congratulated Hamrun Spartans following their historic win against Levski the previous day and thanked members of the media for the support and synergy that was experienced throughout the duration of the Games.

The Maltese Olympic Committee Secretary General Kevin Azzopardi remarked that Hamrun Spartan’s win is in synch with what the MOC believes and its philosophy Maltese athletes’ presence in Games is have competitive performances rather than simply participation. He noted with satisfaction that this was the case in the last few months.

European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF)

The Maltese contingent consisted of three athletes, two of which competed in Athletics events – Mireya Bugeja (800m) and Matthew Galea Soler (200m, 400m), and Philippa Busuttil competed in the all-round events in Gymnastics.

Matthew Galea Soler, whose target was to register a personal best time also brought home a Bronze medal in the 400m event having qualified to compete in the final. Galea Soler achieved both, registering a time of 48.84.

Although Bugeja and Busuttil did not make it to the final rounds in their respective disciplines they still performed well, especially when one has to consider that this was their first experience in multi-sport events of such a high level, remarked Chef de Mission for these Games, Maria Vella-Galea.

Commonwealth Games

Team Malta consisted of twenty-nine athletes who competed in nine disciplines. In Lawn Bowls, Malta competed in the Men’s Fours, Men’s Threes, Women’s Fours, and Women’s Pairs. The results obtained by the team were not as expected particularly since in the previous Games the Women’s Fours brought a Bronze Medal Home.

In the Men’s Fours, Malta had a tough draw against Scotland, Jersey, New Zealand, and South Africa. Malta suffered three losses and a win against the latter. In the Men’s Threes,’ Malta lost to Scotland and Fija, drew against India, and won against New Zealand. For the Women’s results, the Women’s Fours lost all their games whilst in the Women Pairs, Malta suffered three losses and obtained a draw.

In Athletics, the best results were achieved in the 200m where Charlotte Wingfield progressed to the semi-final round, the first time for a Maltese athlete to do so. In the 400m, Janet Richard was short of the national record by .4 of a second. Carla Scicluna competed in the 100m where she achieved her second best time, the level in this category has increased significantly from the previous games. In the Long Jump, Claire Azzopardi did not succeed in producing her best jump, her result being 5.76m.

The best result achieved in athletics was the combination of the above athletes who secured a national record in the 4x100m relay event. Their time of 45.59 was just 0.2 of a second away from a place in the final round.

Matthew Abela and Sam Cassar who were making their first appearance in such Games for Badminton got eliminated in the round of 64. Abela-played against Australian Ying Xiang Lin who eventually progressed to the Top 16. Although he gave a good show of himself in the first set, the Australian proved to be stronger in the second set enabling him to win the game. For Sam Cassar, it was a different game, where in the first set he was still trying to find his feet and settle. He had a better second set, narrowly losing the set by just one point. His opponent, Sri Lankan Dumindu eventually also made it to Top 16.

In the Doubles competition, the duo secured a victory against Uganda. Both played very well in the first set asserting their dominance by playing a sold game. They faced a tougher challenge in the second set but their determination saw them win. In the second round, against the Australian team, Abela and Cassar were head to head up to 15- 15, however, the Australians found an inner strength to beat time with a score of 15-21.

Cyclist Aidan Buttigieg, who has only three years of experience in such competitions competed in the Time Trial event and the Road Race. The Time Trial event, not being his forte, was used as a build-up to the Road Race. He finished in 41st place out of 54 cyclists. In the Road Race, he finished 60th out of 120 starters and for which 47 cyclists did not finish. The Peloton the athlete finds himself in makes a huge difference. Suffice to say that only 13 seconds separated cyclists in the 20th and 61st place.

The draws for Squash did not start in our favour with an allMalta game taking place between Kijan Sultana and Niall Engerer. A hard-fought game saw Engerer progress to the next round where he played against New Zealander Paul Coll, who eventually went on to win Gold.

Fifteen-year-old Lijana Sultana beat Trinidad and Tobago. Eventually, she went on to lose against Candian Hollie Naughton who ended the Games with a Silver medal. In spite of a very strong game from Colette Sultana who managed to win the first game and was close to winning the other two, she was not able to progress to the second round.

In the mixed doubles, the Sultana siblings played against a strong English team. In the second Game, Malta was leading but experience and maturity saw the English team win. The other mixed doubles game played by Colette Sultana and Niall Engerer saw them lose against Wales in what was a fast game.

A mental game was played in the men’s doubles where Malta was the underdog against the Cayman Islands, this resulted in a win for Malta. Unfortunately in the girl’s doubles, Malta was leading but unfortunately, Malta suffered a loss. In the round of 16, the Men’s doubles faced England, who were technically and physically stronger than the Maltese duo.

Keith Galea and Danica Bonello Spiteri, were making their second Games appearance in Triathlon, having competed in the 2014 edition. Both had a very steady swim which enabled them to keep a good position throughout the race. It was evident that the race was divided into two unofficial groups - the elite and non-professional athletes. Both Galea and Bonello Spiteri finished in the top three of the non-professional group.

Notably in Weightlifting, three of the four athletes had qualified for these Games on their own merit, and all four athletes – Elisia Scicluna, Tenishia Thornton, Yazmin Zammit Stevens and Roberta Tabone, registered their personal best results which augur well for the future of the sport.

The two Maltese wrestlers had mixed results, which were also partly due to the draws received. Adam Vella had to contend against a strong Pakistani athlete Inayat Ullah, to whom he lost 10 technical points. In the meantime, Gary Giordimaina had a very good start where he beat Australian Justin Holland in the 57kg category, In the second game, the quarter-final, the opponent was the bronze medallist, Canadian Darthe Capellan. The game started well however the Canadian was stronger than our athlete. Since Capellan lost the following game, Giordimaina could not progress to the repechage round.

In Judo Isaac Bezzina fought well, keeping his cool against a strong Rhys Thompson, who managed to secure a wazari (point) in the first minute of the contest. This changed the rhythm of the game, as Thompson was placed in a superior position. Since Bezzina lost his round before the quarter-finals, he won’t be able to proceed to the repechage round.

The best result for Malta was Katryna Esposito’s Bronze Medal. Although she lost her first bout against Amy Platten, Esposito wisely used the adrenaline and excitement in her favour in the second bout when she beat Welsh Judoka Ashleigh Anne Barnikel. This victory spurred Esposito on to go for her next bout against Mauritian Priscilla Morand with a determined and ‘want to win’ attitude which resulted in Malta’s sole medal from these Games.

“One can clearly see the difference between the elite and nonprofessional athletes – this is something seen by Maltese athletes but all in general. Of course, bringing home a medal is satisfying and makes us happy however were are not fully satisfied because we know that our athletes have the potential to give more. This is something we will keep working hard for together with the athletes themselves, coaches and associations, and federations. We went to Birmingham to compete and this is what we did,” remarked Attard.

Concluding the press conference was MOC President Julian Pace Bonello who reminded those present that in the previous press conference he noted his expectations of good results from Maltese athletes, even though the Games were of a very high level. He noted his satisfaction at the results achieved were many games were won, personal bests registered, a National Record established and a medal won.

He went on to express his gratitude towards Sport Malta and the National Development and Social Fund (NDSF) for their financial contribution athletes in their Games preparation.