“Through constant monitoring and adequate programming within the MOC Youth Directorate, we are pleased of the progress registered within the youth sector as this is a guarantee for the immediate future commitments the MOC will be involved in. National associations have even so understood this factor and through the MOC policies they have invested in their young talents. Recent results achieved in these sectors were enough for the Maltese Olympic Committee to look forward in participating in the 3rd Commonwealth Youth Games” – these were the comments of Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco President of the Maltese Olympic Committee on presenting officially Malta’s contingent of 12 athletes for the Commonwealth Youth Games, to be held in Pune, India, between 12 and 18 October.
The presentation was made during a Media Conference held at the MOC Headquarters where the President stressed that notwithstanding certain limitations, Malta’s participation in these Games, besides offering experience to our young athletes, can be a positive one considering the high level of competition which dominates within the participating countries.
Mr Joseph Cassar, General Secretary of the MOC, gave a general overview of the Games with the participation of over 1,300 athletes and 350 officials from 71 countries in nine different disciplines, namely athletics, badminton, boxing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling.
Malta will be represented in athletics and shooting.
Chef de Mission for the Malta contingent will be MOC Director of Youth Mr Envic Galea who gave details regarding the selection of athletes, the monitoring and programming of same as well as on the programme of events Maltese athletes will be taking part in Pune.
Track twins Francesca and Martina Xuereb and skeet ace Clive Farrugia are the top athletes in the MOC’s selection for the Games which will serve as a showcase for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, to be held in Delhi the Indian capital.
Together with the Xuereb sisters in the track and field events are Michael Fraser (400m), Michael Sullivan (110m hurdles), Marija Sciberras (100m hurdles), Andrew Cassar Torregiani (long jump), Andy Grech (long jump) and Dorianne Micallef (200m).
In shooting, skeet ace Clive Farrugia will be leading the group which consists also of trap shooter Ryan Bugeja and Derek Bonanno who will compete in double trap. Charlot Chircop will take part in the 10m air rifle competition.
Other officials joining Team Malta for Pune will be Anthony Fava, athletics official ,and Edwin Vella, shooting official.
Present also for the media conference was Mr Johan Cuschieri, Malta consul for India, who greeted the Maltese athletes present and wished them a positive participation.
Athletics Malta for the Youth Commonwealth Games
ANTHONY FAVA
Council Member &
Media Officer
Malta Amateur Athletics Association
When the Maltese Olympic Committee invited the Malta Amateur Athletic Association Youth to nominate promising youngsters worthy to participate in the III Youth Commonwealth Games in Pune, India, the Association immediately drew up a set of standards to be able to determine worthy contenders for selection. In the final selection, however, the Council of the Association came to a decision to balance the choice of athletes with one eye on the Games for Small Nations 2009. Thus, in preparation for a wider representation in disciplines in which selection is chronically weaker, attention is being focused on the preparation of athletes likely to contest the hurdling events. In fact, Pune promises to give much needed experience to those youngsters who are knocking on the door of the GSSE team. It goes to say that the state of preparation and the immediate past performances of these athletes helped the selectors no small way.
Clearly, on the basis of current form but also due to the magnificent showing of the Xuereb twins at the World Youth Championships in Ostrava, the Czech Republic, in the summer of 2007, Martina and Francesca Xuereb virtually had to be an automatic choice.
In fact, the National Junior record at their favourite event, the 400m, was established by Francesca during this World event when both girls had qualified for the finals, a first time for Malta.
At this long-awaited occasion, a historic moment for a Maltese athlete in any competition, Francesca recorded a best ever time of 55.10 seconds for the one-lap sprint, a Junior Maltese National Record, while her sister finished ninth overall.
Consistently, these two girls have alternated success in true identical twin fashion, the only hiccup if one were to call it that, was the selection to the Andorra Games for Small Nations, where, due to an injury sustained prior to the Games it was Martina, then only 14 years old, who grabbed headlines and hardware.
Since then, after another interlude when Martina broke her arm, both have been sharing the spoils, more recently in the FISEC Games in Malta this July, where between them they bagged seven medals, two of which a joint effort, being in the 4 x 100m relay. The twins are also beneficiary of one of the MOC schemes, which is very clearly helping them, and their coach Mark Farrugia, to select training camps and competition overseas.
Another athlete who exploded on the scene in a matter of a few months is Michael Fraser. The grandson of a Maltese grandmother whose father was born in Malta, months ago Michael expressed to the family his wish to represent Malta, the land he is so well acquainted with and attached to.
The Association invited him to take part in the friendly international this April and the results were truly impressive. Meantime Michael had applied and was subsequently granted Maltese citizenship, appropriately bestowed on the eve of the FISEC Games.
Wasting no effort, the lad immediately paid back the trust shown in his capabilities by winning a couple of Gold medals and a well earned Silver medal in the 4 x 400m. Not only that, but he smashed a long-time national record for the junior 400m in the process. The event in Pune will be like a family outing for Michael as his cousin Lucy Ellis will be there too, representing Scotland in the swimming events.
In fact, his grandfather, a Scotsman now residing at Marsascala, would have been perfectly happy had his grandson chosen that country, but, like a true victor from Fort St Angelo, his grandma wouldn’t have it otherwise.
History will also be repeating itself as Michael’s uncle, the well-known ex-secretary of the MOC Mr Lino Bugeja, had represented Malta in the same event, the 400m – then measured in imperial ‘yards’ – at the First Mediterranean Games held in Cairo in 1951. Back then, the sea journey to the east end of the Mediterranean itself was a tough hurdle to overcome.
Standards in respect of the sprint hurdles were put on the back burner when the two coaches specialising in these events, Leandros Calleja and Lara Gerada got on to the serious work to prepare our two athletes, Marija Sciberras and Michael Sullivan, respectively, in shape for Pune.
For Marija Sciberras this will not be her first taste of competitions abroad, having had experience, like Michael, competing with many athletes her own age at the European Kids Athletics Games in Brno, the Czech Republic and in the FISEC Games in Hungary last year.
Having started her athletics career in the middle distance events, Marija switched to the vertical jumps and the sprints before being encouraged to go for the hurdles by a visiting Italian coach brought over to Malta by the Association as a mentor for Maltese coaches. Coach Leandros Calleja believes that with her height and good co-ordination Marija is full of promise for the event.
The sprinting events being another of her strong points definitely gives credence to this belief, as borne out by her performances in the FISEC Games, when she won Bronze in the 300m hurdles and a silver in the 100m hurdles, capped by another bronze in the 4 x 100m relay.
Michael Sullivan has not had a relaxed summer either. His coach Lara Gerada may not be going about his preparation with fanfare, but it has been intensive nonetheless. Training six days on seven incorporates weights, sprints, hurdles – each twice a week – teamed with beach training, including up hills and road runs and ‘mind-set’ sessions have been the fare throughout summer.
Then there was the week with Mike MacFarlane. Brought over by the Association with the valuable help of the Maltese Olympic Committee, this former British champion sprinter and equally successful coach to contemporary British stars gave Michael and indeed all the other athletes in preparation for the forthcoming Games valuable insights and a new perspective to their expectations.
The Long Jump discipline has always been a very popular event with Maltese youth. At each meeting organised by Athletics Malta, numbers have always been encouraging. Therefore it will come as no surprise to many that follow the sport that there will be two athletes taking part in Pune.
Both have made substantial inroads in their performances in their short careers, especially when it comes to regularly altering the Record books. Andrew Cassar Torreggiani is one lad following family traditions, though not necessarily in the Long Jump. Encouraged initially at his school by another athlete turned tutor who made a name for himself on the local scene, Mr Kevin Zammit, Andrew is another within the fold of Leandros Calleja.
Like other youngsters challenging older established athletes, Andrew has made his way up through international competition in the FISEC Games and in the inaugural Games in Brno. While from the latter venue Andrew came away with a Bronze medal in the 60m at the FISEC Games in Hungary he landed a Gold in the Long Jump, in a Youth Category Record distance, topped up by two silvers in the July 2008 edition in Malta.
His hauls were in the Long Jump and in his latest love, the Triple Jump. Andrew’s latest achievement however was more of an academical nature, even if with sport connotations. In fact, his exploits earned him a study bursary at Sedbergh School in Cambria, renowned for its sporting set-up and inclinations.
Andy Grech is the other horizontal jumper who had been making a name for himself in the sand pits.
Another athlete egged on to take up the sport by Kevin Zammit, Andy has never looked back. He breathes, eats (mostly eats) and sleeps athletics, more precisely the long and triple jumps.
Consistently setting new sights for others to follow – chaps like Andrew, Andy lately got a fad for the triple jump, where in no time at all he established a new Junior category record. Andy is well served by Jivko Jetchev, a coach from Bulgaria who is very fast becoming a longer time resident of Malta than his native country. Under his care Andy is fast becoming a force to reckon with and his exploits have earned him selection to a number of events overseas.
He twice participated at the Jeux des Iles, twice at the FISEC Games and has also been selected for the European Youth Olympic Festival. With Andrew and the two Michael’s, at the Pune Games, Andy will also be contesting the 4 x 100m relay, an event which calls for co-ordinated teamwork and where there are strong possibilities for Malta in any international competition in every category.
This is considered especially so at the Games for Small States in Europe, a theory quite enthusiastically supported by Mike MacFarlane, who had more time to dwell upon this with the girls’ team due to the absence overseas of Michael Fraser and Andrew Cassar Torreggiani, pursing their academic studies in the United Kingdom.
To make up the foursome in the girls’ relay team and being an achiever in her own right in the sprinting events, especially the 200m, the MAAA recommended Dorianne Micallef.
A one-time National Youth category record holder in the High Jump, Dorianne has been honed in her event by her coach Frans Galea. Tall and lanky, in 2006 Dorianne represented Malta at the Jeux des Iles in Sicily where she was part of the team that won the Gold Medal in the longer relay, the 4 x 400m.
As with most of the other athletes making up the team, Dorianne was also at Brno in 2006 helping that team win gold in the 4 x 60m relay. As if to underscore her importance to the event, the FISEC Games in Malta this July saw her yet again on the podium, this time a winner of the silver medal in the 4 x 100m.
The beauty of it all is that her successes have been attained in the same team comprising the Xuereb twins, this forging an understanding and natural co-ordination so vital for success in this one event in athletics where these values count for that little bit extra, much more than any individual talent.
(Part 1 was carried in the issue of 30 September)
MIA Olympic Special – What’s On
Wednesday 8 October on TVM at 5.15pm and on E22 at 7pm; Thursday 9 October on E22 at 10am (RPT), Friday 10 October on TVM at 10am (RPT) and Saturday 11 October on E22 at 3pm (RPT) will feature the following:
Featured Event – Handball Festival
Sedqa organised a handball festival to encourage people to make good use of their free time while expanding their chance of socialising in a healthy manner with their peers. The event which was organised in collaboration with the Malta Handball Association was aimed at young people aged 13 to 16 years.
Highlighted Event –
ASM / Weightlifting
The Assocjazzjoni Sport Muturi organised an event on Sunday for Autcross, Bangers and motorcycles. The programme was held at Ta’ Qali which recently had some modification on the track. For this season there is going to be some new faces competing in various categories.
The Malta Weightlifting Federation on Sunday held their National Championships at the Corradino Sports Complex. Their was a good participation in this event which augurs well for forthcoming ones in November and December.
MOC Section
The Commonwealth Youth Games will be held in Pune, India between 12 and 16 October. Malta will participate in two disciplines out of a total of 9 disciplines being disputed there. This programme meets some of the protagonists namely Athletes and Shooters together with coverage of the Press Conference held last week.
GSSE Archive
This series of MIA Olympic Magazine will take us to recall some past editions of the Games of the Small States of Europe since next year we will have another edition which will be held in Cyprus.