There was a crescendo for the Maltese athletes at these Games as the relay teams won two silver medals and a bronze. These came from the men’s and women’s 4 x 100 metres and the women’s team which took part in the 4 x 400 metres. Earlier, Charlene Attard won her fourth medal at this edition, a bronze in the 200m final.

The afternoon started with the Chouhal duo, husband and wife Raschid and Antonella, in action in the Triple Jump and Shot Putt events.

The first medal for Malta at the track yesterday afternoon arrived in the 200m for women where Charlene Attard confirmed her potential by claiming bronze. She was clocked in a time of 24.54 seconds. Malta’s other athlete in the event was Therese Mallia. She was timed at 25.20. The winner, Eleni Artymata of Cyprus, had a time of 23.39 seconds. Second placed Alissa Kallinikou was timed at 24.05 seconds.

In the 200m final, Malta’s Darren Gilford and Mario Bonello could not match their faster sprinters over the distance.

Both were in the medal zone until 50m from the end, but unfortunately they ran out of pace and could only finish fifth and sixth with Bonello, a bronze medallist in the event in Andorra, also being disqualified.

There was another disappointment for Malta in the 5,000m for women where Carol Walsh and Lisa Bezzina took part.

Carol Walsh, among the leading quintet, dropped out midway through the race, suffering from an injury which had already hit her in the 10,000m event earlier in the week.

Bezzina had a slow race right from the start. She fell behind after only a few metres and never recovered, also being overlapped in the second from last lap by the first four finishers.

Bezzina, who was also stretchered out of the track, was timed at 18:58.10

The winner, Elpida Christodoulidou of Cyprus, clocked 17: 16.58.

There was a thrilling moment in the women’s 4 x 100m relay when the Malta quartet formed of Lara Scerri, Therese Mallia, Charlene Attard and Diane Borg, were in the lead until about 10 metres from the finishing line, when the Cypriot athlete dashed in from the blind side to beat Diane Borg in the final sprint to claim gold, just ahead of the Maltese girl. Our team had to content itself with the silver medal once again.

The men’s 4 x 100 relay race was another exciting event with the Maltese finishing a close second to the Cypriots.

The team went off to a good start thanks to Nicolai Portelli and Raschid Chouhal. Then Mario Bonello pushed the Malta team into third place before handing the baton to Darren Gilford. The latter sped brilliantly to overtake Iceland's runner and finish in second place behind the Cypriot runner.

Then came the women’s 4 x 400m relay with the Malta team finishing third in a time of 3: 47.92.

The women's team that took part in the 4 x 400m relay finished fourth.

At the end of the event, Charlene Attard, the new queen of athletics and of Maltese sport, with two silver medals and two bronzes, told The Malta Independent on Sunday that she was very happy with her feats here. “All I can say is that I never imagined I would win four medals, but two of them came also through the contribution of my colleagues in the relay teams,” she said.

Athletics coaches Mike Farrugia and Leandros Calleja, both expressed satisfaction at their athletes’ performances, even if they wished for more.

MAAA president Anthony Chircop said he expected certainly athletes to produce more, but at the same time, there were others who contributed more than they were expected.

He said: “It was a mixed bag this time. We feel that we are now in a position that we have to start afresh. We have to prepare a team for the Games in Cyprus in two years and also start building a squad for the event in four years time. We are aware that there is a lot of talent among our ranks. We have to nurture it carefully.

“We must also say that we were handicapped with the presence of so many ‘foreigners’ in some of the teams, especially the 30-strong Monaco squad, only three of which were real Monagesque athletes. In fact, the others are French and are ineligible to take part in our Small Nations team for the European Championship. We also know that the Cypriots and Luxembourg have a big number of ‘foreigners’ among their ranks. If possible we must also take steps to remain in contention next time,” he said.