The MOC Director of Sport, Pippo Psaila, yesterday made it clear that he has no intention of resigning from his post but said he would not be accepting any future offer to be Chef de Mission at any Games.

He said that he had now been in that post for 14 years and, under his charge, the Malta team had obtained 204 medals.

He added he had taken the decision for personal reasons. In the meantime, he will remain Director of Sport, responsible for all the technical preparation of all teams etc, etc.

Earlier Psaila said the Monaco Games had been satisfactory, even if the pre-set target of medals was not reached.

He spoke about the six medals which were lost but which were easily achievable, but added: “Our team was very young with an average age of 21 years. Twenty three were under 17. Fifty per cent of the medal tally was won by debutants. Above all, this edition was proof enough that Maltese sport has a future. Thanks to these new athletes, we have a good future ahead of us. This has come about thanks to the long-term planning of the MOC and the federations,” he said.

He defended the decision taken over the Minimum Qualifying Standards (MQS), saying: “Had there been no MQS, it would have been more difficult for the Maltese athletes in Monaco. We had a competitive team, our athletes were there, we had some close shaves where a medal could have easily gone our way.”

He spoke about the rising standards at these Games with world ranked (top hundreds) players in tennis, a former European champion and former world number one in table-tennis, European champions in bowls, and a Russian Olympic medallist in gymnastics. “Despite that, we still managed 30 golds. We have equalled the highest overall final placement in the medals table of an overseas performance by a Malta team. We never placed higher than this overseas,” he said.

At the end, he thanked all athletes, officials and MOC Executive Committee members for helping him achieving what he considered mere dreams in these 14 years.