Malta managed to increase their medal haul in athletics when yesterday morning Chris Magro clinched bronze in the shot put with a throw of 12.04 metres. Alistair Bezzina also won a bronze medal, finishing third in the 3000 metres, clocking 9.25.82’.

In the ladies’ camp, Lara Scerri finished second in the 200 metre final to win a silver medal clocking 26.86 seconds to make it a personal memorable performance in this edition of the Madrid Games.

Disappointingly there were defeats for the Maltese teams in Handball, Futsal and Ladies Basketball.

The Men’s Handball team lost to a superior Spain B 20-31 in the final Group match, while in Futsal, Malta was beaten 1- 4 by Portugal, with Warren Chircop scoring Malta’s only goal. Today Malta plays in the third-fourth place play-off.

The ladies Basketball team lost heavily 30-63 to Flanders in a very tough match for the locals. Abigail Muscat was best scorer with eight points.

There was also some disappointment in Tennis as no Maltese player managed to reach the singles’ finals.

Matthew Asciak was unlucky to go down against Spaniard Carrascosa (6-4, 2-6, 6-7) in a balanced match. Asciak today plays for third place.

Steffi Sullivan was also beaten by Spaniard Ryjak in the ladies’ singles (6-2, 4-6, 6-7), failing to make it to the final. In the doubles event Alan Calleja and Clayton Zammit were eliminated by Spanish duo Izquierdo and Martin

Meanwhile, Asciak and Sullivan advanced into the final phase of the competition in mixed doubles, beating Dutch opponents La Gro and Beuter 9-3.