Malta’s girls played their hearts out in their final qualifying match against Malaysia yesterday. And at the end, they went agonisingly close to making history, that is, obtaining a first victory, as they just lost 68-65 to the Malaysian girls.
It was undoubtedly Malta’s best performance after having suffered heavy defeats against favourites New Zealand and Nigeria in their opening two matches.
The defeat now forces Malta to play against India today to determine their final placing.
Once again in this match, Josephine Grima, who plays for Prof. Santino Coppa’s Priolo side in Sicily, was the best player on the court, not only among the Malta team, but also including the opponents.
Her 29 points tally confirms her superiority above all the rest with the next best scorer being Malaysia’s Goh Beng Fong with 18.
The other scorers for the Malta side were Bever Lee Ann Zammit 9, Lucienne Bezzina 8, Doreen Parnis and Sandra Schembri Wismayer 6 each, Kristen Fae Micallef 4, and Rachel Camilleri 3.
The Maltese girls had a very good start winning the first session 17-11 and they went on to consolidate their lead in the second session which they won 15-13. At the interval, the Maltese girls were leading 32-24.
But in the third session, the Malaysian girls came out fighting and wiped that deficit by winning the session 18-24, to come to within just two points of the Maltese girls (48-50).
In the final session, it was tense, but at the end it was Malaysia who won 20-15 to win by three points.
In Lawn Bowls, the hopes of the Maltese of moving closer to the medal zone in the Men’s Triples competition nosedived, as their adventure came to an end following a 2-0 defeat in the quarter-finals against N. Ireland.
Today, it will be the turn of Leonard Callus and Francis Vella to try to move into the last four of the Men’s Pairs competition when they face South Africa in the quarter-final.
In the singles, Shaun Parnis has a qualifying (preliminary round) match against Scotland’s Darren Burnett.
Also today, there will be the cycling time trial in which Jack Schiavone and Etienne Bonello will be taking part.
Some of our shooters will again be in action. Rebecca madyson takes part in the women’s trap qualifying round, while Frans Pace and Stanley Cardona will be in action in the first day of the Men’s Trap qualifying rounds.
In Table-Tennis, Simon Gerada will be playing his singles qualifying match against N. Tioti of Tuvalu.
In the pool, Angela Galea will be in heat 2 of the 200m butterfly and Lindsay Borg will take part in the 75kg category of the weightlifting competition.