Although Malta won only four gold and nine silver medals in Monaco, which somehow were short of expectations, the overall performance of the Maltese athletes was satisfactory - neither bad nor good.

Pippo Psaila, MOC Director of Sport and Chef de Mission in Monaco made this assessment after the 2007 Games in Monaco on Saturday.

Considering that Malta could only take part in eight of the 11 disciplines, the total haul of 30 medals is not bad at all.

It is true that there were some dispappointments in certain sports, due to some bad luck as well as below par performances, which could have won us more medals.

But overall, 30 medals was not really very far away from the number gained in Andorra (37).

In the last 10 years, we have kept more or less a good rhythm - 30 plus medals. Only in the Liechtenstein edition in 1999 that we missed that target.

In his final analysis in Monaco on Saturday, MOC president Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco himself was of the opinion that we experienced some positive results, especially in athletics, sailing, judo, tennis and gymnastics.

In the rest of the disciplines more was expected. Of course, we were not happy to have lost some medals, but this certainly does not mean that the athletes did not produce their best.

He had no doubt about the good and hard work of the associations but said that there were some things that need change to make up for the mishaps encountered in Monaco.

The MOC has two more years to improve on present results by the time the next Games are held in Cyprus in 2009

Medals table

Cyprus 34 33 25 92

Iceland 31 22 23 76

Lux. 21 23 26 79

Monaco 19 16 17 52

Malta 4 9 17 30

Andorra 4 6 7 17

San Marino 4 6 5 15

Liech. 2 6 5 13