It was a highly satisfactory – and to an extent disappointing – day for Malta yesterday at the Melbourne Games.

The biggest satisfaction arrived through the silver medal won by Rebecca Attard Madyson in the women’s trap event. She finished second behind Diane Swanton of South Africa.

Swanton had three rounds of 24 each for a total of 72 to take the lead in the qualification round. She also equalled the Games record.

She was followed by Madyson in second place on 70 with rounds of 23, 22 and a 25 straight – the only one registered in the event.

It was in the final that Madyson lost her touch as she hit a disappointing round of 16, while Swanton increased her lead at the top with a round of 20.

At the end, Swanton took gold with 92, followed by Madyson with the silver medal on 86 targets.

Malta Olympic Director of Sport, Pippo Psaila said later this was a historic day for Malta. “We had never won a silver medal, although in the past we had won two bronze medals.”

He added: “This result shows our commitment even before the Games when I said I expected the colour and the number of the numbers to improve. The first target has already been reached. We now have to wait to see what happens in the final days of the event.”

Rebecca Attard Madyson said she was obviously very glad to have landed the silver medal. “It was an emotional moment when I stepped onto the podium and received my medal. I hope there will be others to follow,” she said.

In men’s trap, after the first day, the Maltese pair of Frans Pace and Stanley Cardona were occupying mid-standing positions after the opening day’s two rounds.

Forty one shooters are taking part in the event. Pace had two good rounds of 23 and 22 which have put him on 45 targets, four below the leaders, Michael Diamond of Australia and India’s Sandu Manavjit Singh, who scored 24 and 25 each (49).

There are two shooters on 48, one on 47 and seven others on 46 (one of them Adam Vella who is representing Australia), ahead of Pace who is in joint 14th place at present.

Stanley Cardona is further below in 34th place, after registering a total of 39 – 22 in the first round and a disappointing 17 in the second.

Shooting in this discipline continues today.

There was a lot of disappointment in the Lawn Bowls discipline as our men’s pairs team of Francis Vella and Leonard Callus first qualified for the semi-finals after beating South Africa 2-0 and then were eliminated on a tie-break as they lost 2-1 to Scotland, therefore missing a chance to go for gold (or silver) in the final.

The pair will now face hosts Australia today in the match for the bronze medal. Australia lost to England 2-0 yesterday in the other semi-final.

In the singles competition, Shaun Parnis had a setback as he lost his first match to Scotland’s Darren Burnett 1.5-.5. Today he faces Mia Tuteru of Cook Islands and tomorrow he is scheduled to face Fiji’s Caucau Turagabeci.

In the men’s singles table-tennis event, Simon Gerada started his commitments in great style beating Napetari Tioti of Tuvalu 4-0 (11-1, 11-2, 11-2, 11-4).

In weightlifting Lindsay Borg could only finish fourth in the 75kg category.

She was taking part in Group 1, alongside Deborah Esther Lovely of Australia who went on to win the gold medal.

Borg lifted 74.60, 72 and 75 in rounds one, two and three of the Snatch. In the Clean & Jerk, her first two attempts at 78 and 90 were cancelled, but then she lifted 90 on her third attempt to finish with a score of 165kg.

On the road, the cycling duo of Jackie Schiavone and Etienne Bonello did not figure badly against such strong competition in the Men’s Individual Time Trial.

In a field of 69 cyclists, Schiavone finished 22nd in a time of 55 minutes 12.76 seconds. He was 6:35.47 behind the winner, Nathan O’Neill of Australia.

Bonello finished 26th overall in 56:02.21, 7:24.92 behind the winner.

The women’s basketball team’s adventure in its debut in these Games ended yesterday with an 80-47 defeat at the hands of a stronger India side. It was a match in connection with the final placings.

The session scores were 24-14, 17-13, 20-15 and 19-5 with the Indian girls always in command. The Indians led 41-27 at the interval.

For Malta, Josephine Grima was again the best player notching 22 points – second best in the game after Geethu Anna Jose of India, who totalled 25.

The other points for Malta were obtained by Lucienne Bezzina 16, Rachel Camilleri and Sandra Schembri Wismayer, three each, Bever Lee Ann Zammit two and Doreen Parnis 1.

In the pool, Angela Galea was in heat No 2 for the 200m butterfly but she could only finish sixth and last and was therefore eliminated. She clocked a time of 2: 20.73 finishing 10.96 seconds behind the winner of the heat, Australia’s Jessica Schipper, who later went on to claim the gold medal in the event.

Today, apart from the Lawn Bowls match for the bronze medal, there will be the continuation of the men’s trap competition including the barrage and Simon Gerada is to continue his participation in the table-tennis men’s singles event as well as in the men’s doubles with his brother Wayne.