Fifty seven athletes and 17 officials will form part of the Maltese contingent taking part in next month’s Games for European Small States in Monaco.
The Maltese Olympic Committee announced the names of the contingent yesterday. Pippo Psaila, the MOC Director of Sport and the Chef de Mission at the Games, said that it will look almost similar to that of Andorra two years ago. He said: “Then we had 60 athletes and 19 officials. The major difference this time is that we are not taking part in all the 11 disciplines being contested.”
In fact, Malta is not taking part in basketball and volleyball (including beach volley) as well as shooting (pistol and rifle). Quite unfortunately, the Trap, Double Trap and Skeet events this time are not part of the programme of the Monaco Games.
The contingent includes 18 athletes (athletics), two from bocci, seven gymnasts, six judokas, nine sailors, six swimmers, four table-tennis players and five tennis players.
Included among the tennis players is Malta champion Matthew Asciak who will be seeking to emulate his mother Helen. It is to be said that in the second edition of the Games, held in Monaco in 1987, Helen Asciak, together with Carol Curmi, produced an excellent performance to win the women’s doubles event in tennis, and therefore the first ever gold medal at these Games for Malta.
Addressing the media yesterday, Psaila said he was convinced Malta would return home satisfied as he is confident that the Maltese athletes will cut a good figure. “I cannot predict exactly the number of medals we will be collecting in Monaco. I will be in a better position to do so soon after the Opening Ceremony on 5 June, perhaps. But I am sure we will be close to what we achieved in Andorra, perhaps even better as well. I must also make it clear that we expect 46 per cent of our medals to be won on the last day of the competitions, that is, on 9 June,” he said. In Andorra, Malta had a 38-medal haul, seven of which were gold, 13 silver and 18 bronze.
Psaila added that not all the athletes had reached the Minimum Qualifying Standards. “Those who did not and are included in the contingent were very close. The Executive Committee, in selecting the athletes, was convinced that these also had a very good standard. Team Malta is very competitive, there is no doubt about that. We are sure that they will all be doing well in Monaco and we are expecting them to achieve very good results and a good number of medals,” he added.
Psaila said that the standard of Maltese athletes is getting higher. “For the first time ever, we had three athletes who qualified for the 10,000 metres. Apart from Carol Walsh and Lisa Camenzuli, there was also Dr Angela Sammut who obtained the MQS. Unfortunately, we are only allowed two athletes for the event. However, she is on standby,” he said.
As to another athlete, Rebecca Camilleri, a silver medallist in Andorra, Psaila said that she has been living in Belgium for the past 16 months and now had been out of the MOC athletes’ scheme. “We had no monitoring over her performances but we left the door open, just in case she obtained the MQS. Unfortunately, she failed to qualify. Obviously, at present, she does not have the standard required to join the contingent.
“There were others who pushed themselves too hard to get their MQSs. However, we took remedial action and took decisions to help them recover within a few days,” said Psaila.
The MOC Director of Sport also spoke about Maltese Australian swimmer Ashley Callus’s decision to stay away from these Games. “It was just not possible to have him included in the Malta contingent because he has already started his preparations for next year’s Olympic Games. That is how seriously such performers take these events. However, he has ascertained us that he will be open to all offers after next year’s Olympics,” said Psaila.
From the correspondence between the two sides presented to the media, it emerged that Callus had also been offered the post of Malta’s flag-bearer had he accepted to form part of the Maltese contingent.
The president of the Maltese Olympic Committee, Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, is also confident that the Maltese athletes will obtain very good results. “We know that not all the disciplines are to our liking. This time, they favour mostly the home athletes in which the Monagesque are obviously stronger. However, our athletes have been prepared well and are all competitive although this does not mean they will all be winning medals,” he said.
The MOC president made it clear that the selection of the athletes was made by the Executive Committee. “It would not be fair to point fingers at anyone. We consulted with the respective associations or federations before we arrived at our decisions,” he added.
He also spoke about Malta’s flag-bearer at these Games, confirming that the name of that person will be announced tomorrow during the athletes’ special meeting with the Archbishop, Mgr Pawlu Cremona, who will also be introduced to Team Malta.
Both the MOC Director of Sport and the MOC president emphasised that these Games will not be a one-week holiday despite the fact that the contingent will be accommodated on a five-star cruise-liner to be berthed at the quayside in Montecarlo.
Maltese Olympic Committee’s Contingent
Maltese Olympic Committee
Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco - President Malta Olympic Committee; P.R. Psaila - Chef de Mission and Director of Sport; - Joseph Cassar - Secretary General; Marie Therese Zammit - Assistant Chef de Mission; Vincent Scicluna - Assistant Chef de Mission
Medical Team
Dr. Kirill Micallef Stafrace - Chairman – Medical Commission; Dr. Lucienne Attard - Medical Officer; Milos Stanisavljevic – Physiotherapist; Elaine Vella – Physiotherapist
Athletics
Anthony Chircop - President MAAA; Edwin Attard - Secretary MAAA; Leandros Calleja – Coach
Men: Rachid Chouhal (long jump, triple jump, 4x100m); Darren Gilford (100m, 200m, 4 x 100m); Mario Bonello (200m, 4 x 100m, 4 x 400m); Mark Herrera (800m, 1,500m); Nicolai Portelli (400m, 4 x 100m, 4 x 400m); Neil Borg (100m), Mario Debono (400m, 800m, 4 x 400m); Karl Farrugia ( 4 x 400m); Jean Paul Callus (javelin)
Women: Charlene Attard (100m, 200m, 4 x 100m); Lisa Bezzina 5,000m, 10,000m; Diane Borg (100m, 200m, 4 x 100m, 4 x 400m); Antonella Chouhal (Discus), Therese Mallia ( 4 x 100m); Lara Scerri (4 x 400m); Francesca Xuereb (400m, 800m, 4 x 400m); Martina Xuereb (400m, 800m, 4 x 100, 4 x 400m); Carol Walsh (5,000m, 10,000m)
Bocci
Victor Zahra - President – Bocci Fed.; Arthur Darmanin – Coach
David Farrugia (raffle individual); Joseph Demanuele (raffle individual)
Gymnastics
Michael Brown – Coach; Plamen Angelov Peynov – Coach
Audrey Schembri, Francesca Borg, Christina Borg, Roxanne Bonnici, Jeremy Saywell, Philip Caruana Turner, Terence Gatt (all Individual and team event)
Judo
Carlos Carbonell – Coach; Alex Bezzina - Technical Director – Judo Federation
Brent Law (-60kg); Jerome Zammit (-66kg; Kriss Law (-73kg); Evgeny Ulanov (-81kg); Marcon Bezzina (-57kg); Joanna Camilleri (-63kg)
Sailing
Mario Aquilina – Coach; Jean Paul Fleri Soler - Coach
Simon Aquilina, Christoph Podesta, Benji Borg, Maya Podesta (all Laser), Sean Borg, Thomas Zammit Tabona, Gabriel Pace, Ella Fleri Soler, Abigail Fenech (all Optimist)
Swimming
Chris Agius – Official; Andrew Colhburn - Coach
Davina Mangion (100m free, 200m free, 400m free, 100m fly, 200m fly, 4 x 100 relay, 4 x 200 relay, 4 x 100 medley relay; Talisa Pace (50m free, 400m free, 800m free, 4 x 100m relay, 4 x 200m relay, 4 x 100 medley relay; Nicole Cremona (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke, 4 x 200m relay); Angela Galea, 100m breaststroke, 100m fly, 200m fly, 200m medley, 400m medley, 4 x 100m relay, 4 x 100m medley relay; Madeleine Scerri (50m free, 100m free, 100m backstroke, 200m free, 200m backstroke, 200m medley, 4 x 100m relay, 4 x 200m relay, 4 x 100m medley relay; Neil Agius (100m backstroke, 200m free, 200m backstroke, 200m medley, 400m free, 400m medley, 1,500m free)
Table-Tennis
Alex Anastasi - Technical Director; Tanja Hain - Coach
Women: Johanna Grech, Yu Wheng (Singles, Doubles and Team)
Men: Simon Gerada and Andrei Makowski (Singles, Doubles and Team)
Tennis
Dr. David Farrugia Sacco - Secretary – Tennis Fed.
Rob Tarpey - Coach
Sanja Jukic, Lisa Camenzuli (singles and doubles), Elaine Genovese (singles)
Men: Matija Pecotic, Matthew Asciak (singles and doubles)