Badminton mixed doubles in dramatic victory

The Table-Football team obtained a hard earned 2-1 victory over Sicily to give Malta its first point in the Friendship Games being held in Syracuse Sicily.

The Malta team was made up of Stefan Pace, Charles Aquilina, Derek Conti and Joseph Borg Bonaci under the guidance of coach Jason Pisani.

The Maltese proved to be better than their opponents, and as usual this sport gave us yet another satisfaction.

In the most interesting and balanced match Derek Conti drew 1-1 with Richichi, after trailing 0-1 in the interval. Charles Aquilina beat Russo 2-0 with a goal in each half, whilst Joseph Borg Bonaci was in splendid form trashing Testa 5-0.

The only defeat for Malta was suffered by Stefan Pace who was beaten by Sicily’s Marabito.

Earlier the Malta team trashed the team from Syracuse 4-0, with four easy wins. Stefan Pace beat Magri 4-0 and Joseph Borg Bonaci beat Rambiolli 5-0.

In the other matches Derek Conti had the better of Lo Presti beating him 5-1, and Charles Aquilina obtained the largess victory beating Morabito 8-0.

One of the members of the team Charles Aquilina was very satisfied with his two performances. He said the team deserved the victory as they are the better team and the victory was never in doubt ever though the Sicilian is fast improving.

Malta Table Tennis team lost 3-1 against Sicily, with the Sicilians a span above our players.

In fact it immediately appeared that there was no match between the two sides. Malta’s only point was obtained by Daniel Bajada. The other player representing Malta was Andrew Gambina, under the technical guidance of Alex Anastasi.

In another match against Syracuse Team, Malta however had the best winning 3-2. Daniel Bajada won his two singles, but unfortunately Andrew Gambina lost both his matches. It all went to the wire with the decisive doubles game.

Here Daniel Bajada and Andrew Gambina made a gallant effort and managed to win the decisive game to win the contest against Syracuse.

Mixed Doubles team give Malta dramatic victory

It was a splendid morning for the Malta Badminton Federation yesterday morning as the Malta team obtained a dramatic victory over the Sicilian team to give Malta the second point of The Friendship Games.

Malta lost the opening match of the ladies doubles, but the team recovered winning the men’s doubles and the ladies singles. In the fourth match of the men’s singles, Malta appeared to be heading for glory as Stefan Salamone had a crushing start against Filipo Speciali.

But the Sicilan player made a remarkable comeback to beat Salamone. With the score standing at 2-2 al eyes were focused on the mixed doubles match with Fiorella Farrugia and Samuel Cali rewarding those present with a fine display and an important victory for the Malta team.

In the opening match the Maltese pair Marii Borg and Fiorella Farrugia had a disappointing performance giving away twelve unforced errors against the Sicilan pair made up of Mirella Militello and Annalisa Calandra.

Militello and Calandra took full advantage of the Maltese dismal display winning the match 21-13, 21-18.

This defeat put enormous pressure on the men’s doubles team who had to win at all costs. Stefan Salamone and Samuel Cali did not let the Maltese down as they were in excellent form beating Filippo Speciali and Giuseppe Lipariin two keenly contested sets. The Maltese pair won 21-15, 21-18.

In the third match of the contest Marii Borg cancelled her disappointing performance in the doubles event beating Militello in two sets. Mirella Militello was leading 20-17 in the first set, but Marii Borg saved three set points to eventually win the first set 24-22 in an exciting finish.

This proved to be the turning point of the match as Marii Borg was now a transformed player and she easily won the second set 21-14 to put Malta 2-1 in front.

In the men’s singles match, Stefan Salamone had a magnificent start winning the first set easily 21-8 against Filippo Speciali. But the Maltese player apparently lost all concentration as he failed to reproduce his first set performance.

He made some unforced errors which made it easier for Filippo Speciali who played brilliantly in the final two sets, which he won 21-19, 21-9.

All eyes were now on the mixed pair made up of Samuel Cali and Fiorella Farrugia who faced Giuseppe Lipari and Annalisa Calandra. The Sicilian pair won the first set 21-17, but the Maltese pair rallied back to win the next two sets 21-16, 21-16 and give Malta an important victory.

In the equestrian competition Malta finished in third place behind Sicily team and Syracuse team. The Maltese totaled eight penalty points in a total of 208.55 seconds.

The winners Sicily had a clean sheet, and were the fastest to complete the four runs. Syracuse who finished second had four penalty points.

Lawrence Ciarlo on Sinopli was Malta’s best with a penalty less run. Thomas Xuereb on Sed and Sarah Micallef on Querven committed four penalty points each. Gina Curmi on Rominant committed five penalty points, but these were not taken into consideration as only the best three results are valid for the final standings.

Although the Maltese finished third, it was an overall god performance by the Malta team.

Undoubtedly the 1-9 defeat in the Pool competition was the biggest disappointment for the Malta team.

The Maltese players usually dominant in this sport, yesterday had an off day as they could not put one thing right. The Sicilians on the contrary were at their best and gave the Maltese a sporting lesson.

Antoine Aquilina was beaten by Calio 3-0, and Chris Tabone gave Malta its only win beating Paolo Picatagi 3-2. But this was the only defeat for the Sicilians who continued with wins from Andrea Calogero, and Mimmo Spano over Chris Mills and Miguel Falzon respectively.

In the second round of matches Calio defeated Chris Mills 3-2, Andrea Calogero defeated Miguel Falzon 3-1, Mimmo Spano beat Christopher Tabone 3-2, and Picatagi defeated Antoine Aquilina.

The ninth and final point was obtained by Paolo Picatagi who defeated Miguel Falzon 3-1.

First reactions after second day

In a brief press conference delivered by MOC officials, the first reactions were given after the second day of competitions. Malta Olympic Committee President Lino Farrugia Sacco emphasized that the main scope of these games is to give space to smaller federations who rarely have other opportunities of international competition.

Speaking on the future of the games he said that discussions are carrying on with CONI Sicilia, but the general impression is that these are at a crossroad, with the Sicilians pushing for expanding these games to North African countries, with the Malta Olympic Committee opposing this as this would explode the expenses far beyond the reach of the MOC.

On the results obtained so far Farrugia Sacco said that he was pleased with the table-football and badminton result, but was disappointed and surprised with the pool defeat. He said that in general he is never pleased as he wants our athletes to keep on improving.

Other persons addressing this short press conference were Secretary General Joe Cassar who said that the organisation of these games is improving, Chef de Mission Tony Debono who spoke on the results obtained so far and Vincent Scicluna who said that these games should be seen as a means of gaining experience.