Once again yesterday, Chiara passed her test with flying colours when she went through her second and last technical rehearsal on the stage at the Palats Sportu’s concert hall in Kiev.

The atmosphere was very similar to Monday’s, with Eurovision fans, journalists, photographers and delegation members boisterously cheering the Maltese singer and with Chiara waving to them and blowing them kisses in return. She gave another four impeccable interpretations of Malta’s entry, Angel, standing tall and oozing confidence all along the way.

As Chiara sang, the stage was dominated by blue and white hues, with effects mimicking a clear sky and flowing water enveloping her.

It was quite an appropriate theme for a singer hailing from the island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. That will be the way the stage will look like during Malta’s three minutes in Saturday’s final night. Chiara will only set foot again on that stage again on Friday and Saturday, when three dress rehearsals will be held in the run up to the final.

As soon as the rehearsals were over, she darted to the press conference hall where she was greeted with a roaring applause. One journalist asked her whether she felt alone on the stage.

“I did not feel alone at all!” she replied. “Today I got this very, very, very big feeling and emotion while I walked out onto the stage and it felt incredible. I felt as if all the Maltese people and all of you who are supporting me here were with me on stage, singing this song with me.”

One could notice tears in her eyes when she compared the emotion she felt during the second rehearsal to how she felt when she was declared the winner of the Song For Europe Festival in Malta back in February.

Asked what type of music she prefers to listen to, Chiara replied that she likes to expose herself to different genres. However, love songs always remain closer to her heart. She identified Johnny Logan’s Hold Me Now as her all-time ESC favourite and Reflections from Disney’s Mulan as her number one song at the moment. She could not turn down a general request to sing a-cappella a short part from Reflections. She also gave those present a taste of her song Ismaghni Ftit Habib (Listen to Me, my Friend), in Maltese, which she created in loving memory of a friend of hers who died of a drug overdose.

At one point, the press conference host asked those members of Chiara’s family who have travelled to Kiev in her support to join her on the head table. Up went her father Maurice Siracusa, her mother Marianne, her aunts Iris and Marcelle and her cousin Daniela. Her husband, Jusif, who is known for his reserved character, did not.

Mr Siracusa commented that he was happy to see his daughter relaxed and happy, while noting that whenever Chiara is in that mood she always gives her very best. “But then this is a father’s opinion, which is always biased!” he added.

After the press conference, Mr Siracusa remarked that although Chiara’s family had come to support her, they were keeping their distance in order to allow her to be able to work professionally together with the official delegation.

There is no doubt that, apart from her brilliant song and mesmerising interpretation, Chiara’s unpretentious yet witty approach during Monday and yesterday’s press conferences as well as her fluency in English have helped in making her one of the favourites of the 50th ESC.

International bookmakers are still ranking Malta in roughly the same position as in the past days. William Hill punters are placing the island sixth with odds at 12/1 while Bet365 are putting us seventh with odds at 12/1 as well.

Chiara and the Maltese delegation are losing no time as they strive to exploit to the fullest the promotional opportunities offered by events organised by other participating countries. Yesterday night, for instance, Chiara was guest at a party hosted jointly by France, Spain and the UK, three of the ESC’s four permanent participants.

Tonight, it will be Malta’s turn to throw a party, and to do so it has teamed up with Greece and Cyprus. Special relationships and bridge building initiatives are always evident between neighbouring or friendly countries at the ESC, even so with regard to Mediterranean participants.

One cannot overlook, for instance, the reciprocal friendship and support that the Maltese delegation and singer have forged with their Cypriot counterparts.

On Monday night, Chiara was the special guest of a Cypriot TV crew as they interviewed her together with their own country’s representative, Constantinos Christoforou, during a live broadcast. The Cypriot singer made Chiara’s day when he declared that, should he end up second, he would feel bad unless the winner was Malta.