The Malta Olympic Committee's top officials yesterday again hailed the Commonwealth Games results as the best ever in the history of Maltese sport.

Addressing a news conference soon after the arrival of the bulk of the contingent, president Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco said their objectives had been reached and with a little more luck, Malta could have also won more medals. "We can say this was another step forward for Maltese sport in the wake of the results achieved since 1997. We have achieved our targets in winning more than the one medal we had won in Manchester four years ago. We also bettered the colour as this time we won a silver and a bronze medal. And considering that we were somewhat unlucky in Lawn Bowls, it could have easily been a better performance, medals-wise," he said.

Farrugia Sacco explained that the Mixed Pairs had lost in the semi-final to Scotland who went on to win the gold medal. And in the match for bronze, they had to face the strong Australia, who had surprisingly lost against England in the other semi-final. "That put us in an unfavourable position in the match for bronze," he said.

The president also showered praise on the others. "Everyone in the contingent contributed towards the successful results. I must thank everyone. But we will not be stopping here. We have to continue where we have left in the hope that with more investment in sport, we might get even better results in future," he said.

Director of Sport and Chef de Mission in Melbourne Pippo Psaila agreed with the president that this was the best result ever in Maltese sport history.

He also went on to describe the athletes' achievements and defended the cyclists. "They managed to achieve their targets. The fact that David Treacey finished 33rd from such a field in the road race and Jack Schiavone and Etienne Bonello finished 22 and 26 from almost 70 competitors in the time-trial is enough to confirm the improvement of these boys," he said.

Psaila said Maltese athletes had surpassed expectations and calculated that they finished among the top 25 per cent in all the events they took part in. "This justified the preparation they went through before the Games. If only we get the same amount of funding as most nations get, then I am sure we will be able to prepare our athletes better and in turn, these will get better results. At present, we cannot waste at least one cent. It is enough to say that we are not in a position to pay a bonus to the athletes.

"These results showed that we were right in the selection of our athletes. We have been proved right as it was mostly because of our stringent MQSs that the athletes reached such levels. From now on, our selection will fall on athletes who are ready and prepared to compete at the top levels. Our first objective will be the Beijing Olympics in two years' time. We already know that we have two athletes who are of world calibre. We also expect the authorities to respect the athletes more in future. They deserve a well done in this respect."

Psaila also commented on the Simon Gerada incident in the table-tennis competition and reiterated strongly that Gerada never threw a Maltese jersey in a bin. "The reports were simply not correct. Gerada only threw his personal jersey, which he wore after he was leading 2-0 (he changed because of the sweat) against Henzell, in a bin where the players also throw their towel close to the coach or umpire. It was certainly not a dust bin. At least that was what we saw from the stands. When he entered the dressing rooms, he was certainly not wearing the Malta shirt. And he did not apologise either. What he told me in a message was that he was sorry that he did not win a medal. I personally thought he could have finished third or fourth. What destroyed him was the attitude of his Australian opponent who even broke the rules when he left the playing hall after losing the second set," said Psaila.

Secretary General Joe Cassar commented on the meetings held with the Maltese communities and also announced that scouting is already going on in search of other Maltese-Australian athletes who are eligible to represent Malta in future.

He also said Malta has been promised $150,000 in technical aid from India and elsewhere in preparation for the 2010 Games to be held in New Delhi.

At present, William Chetcuti is in China where he will be taking part in a World Cup event, while in the near future, two members of the Lawn Bowls team will be taking part in the world championship.