Maltese Olympic Committee president Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco said yesterday evening, after the third day's results that it was another positive day for Malta in Monaco.

He said: "We have now reached 19 medals, and that is two above what we predicted until yesterday. We have missed on one gold if we compare the number with what we achieved in Andorra two years ago, but we can recover that in the remaining competitions where we have some athletes well placed for gold. There are still two more days to go and we have to wait to make our final judgments.

"However, I must say I am very pleased for the gymnastics squad who have managed a bronze on their baptism of fire. This was their first ever participation at such levels and the bronze won by Caruana Turner will certainly motivate the whole gymnastics clan in Malta.

In tennis, we had the young Asciak and Genovese playing some good tennis, and although they did not win medals, we are now well aware that they have a lot of potential.

"The Maltese sailors have had excellent results so far and that should lead to another good medal haul," he said.

But he also admitted he was not very happy with the situation. "Despite the good number of medals, our athletes are still far from gold. However, this does not mean that we are not satisfied. It was certainly another positive day, even if we wished for more. It is the fruit of two years of hard work. Whether it will be better or worse than before, we will only know on Saturday afternoon. My main satisfaction today is that I have seen two Maltese athletes on the same podium, something which is quite rare among our groups," he said.