The Xuereb twins, 16-year-olds Francesca and Martina, and gymnast Philip Caruana Turner (photo), were the toast of the Maltese contingent yesterday.

The two sisters registered a unique second and third place, that is, a silver and bronze medal in the women's 400m final on the second day of the athletics programme.

To be fair, another double had been registered in Andorra two years ago thanks to Carol Walsh and Lisa Bezzina. But yesterday's was something different in the sense that this double win came from two twin sisters.

Caruana Turner will go down in the record books as being the first Maltese to win a gymnastics medal on the Maltese debut in this discipline.

These were, of course, the major satisfactions yesterday during which Malta obtained another six medals - one silver and five bronze.

It was, of course, another positive day, even if there was disappointment for the tennis clan who just missed winning a berth in the women's doubles final after losing a marathon semi-final against Liechtenstein. They will have to be content with just a bronze medal this time.

However, the fact that they have included some new faces augurs well for the future of this discipline.

Once again it is becoming increasingly clear that athletics is the major provider of medals for the Maltese contingent. They have the biggest number of athletes, but once again, they are justifying their presence here in most of the cases.

The efforts made by the athletes in the months leading to the Games are being rewarded here and I just hope they keep up the momentum for tomorrow's final day when they are expected to bag another good number of medals.

Swimming has also provided some satisfactions after yesterday's bronze medal won by the women's relay team. My congratulations go to the four members of the team, but particularly to Madeleine Scerri, who was influential in the winning of this medal.

Table-tennis is another sport where it is now certain that Malta will win more medals. After missing out on the men's doubles gold which Gerada and Makowski relinquished last Tuesday, I just hope Gerada will exact revenge in the individual competition by winning it while also hoping that Yu Wang will deliver the goods in the women's sector.

Last, but definitely not the least, my congratulations to the young sailors. They have all performed admirably, especially those (five of them) who are in the medal zone in their respective categories.

To finish my comment I wish to say how pleased I was to hear Nicolai Portelli responding to an invitation from Pippo Psaila to attend a celebration on the ship later yesterday evening. "From now, I am already thinking of Saturday's event," he said.

It was an exemplary answer from an athlete who showed how seriously he takes sport. May we have many Nicolais in future among our ranks.