The rest of the Maltese contingent will be leaving Malta today for the Andorra Games for European Small States which get under way with the Opening Ceremony tomorrow at the Andorra La Vella Stadium.

Some athletes – the cyclists, table-tennis and tennis players, judokas, swimmers, track and field athletes and the shooters, not to mention the officials accompanying them, are already there.

They were all involved in a pre-camp at Andorra and to get acclimatised with the high altitude. This was decided upon by the Malta Olympic Committee in an effort to get the best out of the athletes, hoping to see them reaching their peak at the right time and moment.

Today the women’s national basketball team and the taekwondo athletes will be travelling with the remaining officials who will include the Malta Olympic Committee President Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, general secretary Joe Cassar and the MOC Director of Media as well as Malta Basketball Association President Magistrate Antonio Mizzi.

Also at Andorra, but not forming part of the Maltese contingent will be former MOC general secetary Bertie Muscat and former long jump athlete Lara Gerada. They will be representing Dr Louis Galea, Minister of Education, at the informal Ministers’ Conference on an invitation from the Andorran Government. Dr Galea is unable to attend due to another commitment.

The first to arrive in Andorra were the Director of Sport of the MOC and Chef de Mission, Pippo Psaila and his assistant Marie Therese Zammit.

They have been in Andorra since last Sunday preparing for the arrival of the Maltese athletes and officials.

It is not yet known what the Opening Ceremony will consist of. What is known is that it will start late in the evening, at around 9pm and that hundreds of schoolchildren will be taking part in the spectacle. Every nation usually keeps the programme as a surprise packet.

But the fact that it is being held late in the evening indicates that there will be some laser shows and most probably, a spectacular fireworks display.

Of course, there will also be the march past of the over 900 participating athletes, among them the 63-strong contingent from Malta which will follow flag-bearer William Chetcuti, the young double trap shooter.

The eight participating countries will march in the following order: Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino and host nation Andorra.

Malta’s contingent is one of the smallest in recent years though the MOC contends that it will definitely not be the weakest.

In fact, both Pippo Psaila and Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco insisted, since the contingent was announced, that most of the athletes were geared to win. And they were both expecting Malta to defend the fourth place it obtained two years ago in the Malta Games with success, even if some disciplines which procured a good number of medals for Malta two years ago will be missing now in Andorra.

These are sailing and squash which were not selected by the Andorra organisers, while Malta will not be taking part in beach volley, volleyball and mountain biking.

Both the MOC president and the Chef de Mission have made it clear to the athletes that they will be having a very important role to play in Andorra – as Malta’s ambassadors. But they have also insisted on the athletes to do their best to be as successful as possible in the name of all the other athletes who failed to achieve the Minimum Qualifying Standards and were therefore left behind.

The athletes, on their part, are aware that they will be facing some tough competition but they have prepared intensively – some of them even obtained their MQSs several months before the target date. That shows how determined they were to take part in these Games!

I have asked a few whether the fact that there is no bonus this time for the medal winners will effect their performances. They all seemed to be partly disappointed, but all insisted they felt the need to rise to the occasion and prove their worth in the hope that eventually a sponsor is found to pay the bonuses.

They also seem to be well aware of the MOC’s new policy in having them competing and not just participating. And that is also why most of them have gone out of their way to try and reach even better standards than the MQSs laid down by the MOC.

One sincerely hopes that our athletes will rise to the occasion as they have done since the Games in Malta in 1993. That was the launching pad for better standards in Maltese sport, but the first quality leap arrived in Reykjavik in Iceland in 1995 where the best results, up till that year, were achieved. In Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, those performances were not repeated, but our athletes did not disappoint either, leaving their best for the San Marino Games in 2001 and the Malta Games two years ago.

In the name of all Maltese sports followers, I wish the whole Maltese contingent the best of luck.

Daily coverage

The Malta Independent will be providing extensive coverage of the Andorra Games throughout the week. Henry Brincat, who is the only journalist who has not missed one single edition of these Games since their inception in 1985 in San Marino, is accompanying the contingent to report on these Games.

The Maltese contingent

MOC

Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, president, Pippo Psaila, Chef de Mission, Joe Casasar, secretary general, Marie Therese Zammit, Ass. Chef de Mission, Laurie Pace, Asst, Chef de Mission, Magistrate A. Mizzi, Director of Media and President Malta Basketball Association, Anthony Chircop, Director of Publications and President Malta Amateur Athletics Association

Medical team

Dr L. Attard, medical officer, Dr J. Buhagiar, Anti-Doping, Milos Stanisavljevic and Nadia Camilleri, physiotherapists

Athletics

Officials: E. Attard, L. Calleja, R. Mifsud

Athletes: Nicolai Portelli, Mark Herrera, Karl Farrugia, Darren Gilford, Mario Bonello, Rashid Chouhal, Stefan Mohnani, Rebecca Camilleri, Therese Mallia, Lisa Bezzina, Charlene Attard, Carol Galea, Lara Scerri, Dian Borg, Martina Xuereb, Jean Paul Callus, Antonella Chouhal, Jeandre Mallia, Karl Farrugia.

Basketball

Officials: Santino Coppa, Carlo Farrugia

Rachel Camilleri, Joselle Cardona, Alexis Darmanin, Caroline Fenech, Dorianne Galea, Josephine Grima, Annie Jetcheva, Kirsten Micallef, Doreen Parnis, Sandra Schembri Wismayer, Marleen Troost, Greta Zarb.

Cycling

Officials: Roy Chamberlain, Austin Camilleri

Cyclists: Etienne Bonello, Dermot Galea, Roderick Muscat, Jack Schiavone, David Treacy

Judo

Officials: Nicolangelo Fetto, Mario Giuliano

Judokas: Murman Kurchilava, Reuben Micallef, Yvgeny Ulanov, Marcon Bezzina, Vicky Licari, Luana Ciantar, Michael Zahra, Eileen Portelli.

Shooting

Officials: Antonio Picone, Jimmy Bugeja

Shooters: Joe Attard, William Chetcuti, Emmanuel Grima, Frans Pace, Paul Vella, William Vella.

Swimming

Offcials: Istvan Kormos, Monique Mangion

Swimmers: Roberta Callus, Francesca Paolella, Angela Galea, Davina Mangion

Table-Tennis

Officials: Alex Anastasi, Mario Genovese

Players: Simon Gerada, Andrezei Makowski, Johanna Grech.

Tennis

Officials: Dusan Janiciyevic, David Farrugia Sacco

Players: Lisa Camenzuli, Stephanie Pace, Daniel Ceros, Boris Pasanski.

Taekwondo

Officials: Brian Saliba, Dr Chris Vella

Athletes: Neville Desira, Stephen Formosa.

NOC guests

Saviour Portelli, George Cassar, Frank Camilleri, Samantha Bonnici, Xandru Grech and Teresa Chircop