On Easter Sunday, it is not normal for anyone to be sending congratulations, but I am doing so after yesterday’s impressive performance by young swimmer Ryan Gambin in the European Championships being held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

As is well known, Gambin yesterday became the first ever swimmer from Malta to qualify on his own merits for the Olympic Games, in this case, next summer’s Games in Beijing.

It was a magnificent performance which saw him registering a time of 54.33 seconds in the 100m butterfly. The qualifying time was set at 54.71seconds by the organisers of the Beijing Olympics.

Now he is also looking forward towards qualifying for another event today – the 50m freestyle – where he will be taking part in the heats. In order to qualify, for this second event, he has to do better than the set time of 23.13 seconds.

The fact that he has already qualified for one event makes us happy. We must all feel proud that we have another good swimmer among our ranks.

Gambin is now set to become Malta’s top medal winner in the Games for European Small States next year in Cyprus.

For it is also to be said that Gambin was not only successful in yesterday’s event. Earlier the past week, he also took part in two other events – the 50m butterfly and the 50m backstroke. In both cases he also covered himself with glory as he lowered his own previous national records substantially. He had, in fact, established new records a few weeks ago at the Tal-Qroqq pool, where he showed that he has true potential to become Malta’s top swimmer.

Following these results, it is evident that there should be a boost for swimming in Malta and the ASA’s swimming unit should start working immediately in trying to lure more youngsters to the sport.

Gambin will now be looked upon as a role model and every effort should be made to give him the chance to continue showing improvement. After all, he is still 22 years old and that means that there is still more room for improvement.

The MOC

At this stage, I must also congratulate the Maltese Olympic Committee for their unstinted search of competitors for Malta who live abroad.

I must insist that all those eligible to represent the country must be offered the chance to prove themselves.

Whatever critics might say, I still feel that these athletes, like Ryan Gambin, Simon Gerada, Madeleine Scerri and those who came before, are all of Maltese descent. They all had the right to represent the country.

After all, they have all made us proud thanks to their achievements.

The MOC should be given every means by the government to continue its search for more Maltese athletes worldwide and not only in Australia, where the majority of the Maltese living abroad are to be found.

We also know that there are thousands of Maltese living in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, at least. There must be more talented Maltese youngsters living abroad. And it is evident they would only be too glad to represent their country, once they are known to be eligible.

Let us hope that the MOC will be successful in attracting all available and eligible Maltese athletes to represent the country.

New PS for Sports

My congratulations also to the new Parliamentary Secretary for Sports, Mr Clyde Puli.

Although not a new member of Parliament, Mr Puli is certainly a newcomer in this field and he will certainly all the help from the Council of Sport as well as the Maltese Olympic Committee and the national associations or federations to give all possible help to local sport.

The appointment of Mr Puli by the Prime Minister is a very good step. Let us not forget that in the previous government, there was no Parliamentary Secretary for Sport, as this fell under the responsibility of former Education Minister Dr Louis Galea.

Prime Minister Dr Lawrence Gonzi has now deemed it fit to again appoint someone who will be directly responsible for Sport, as was the case till 2003 when Mr Jesmond Mugliett was the Parliamentary Secretary for Sport.

The onus has now fallen on Clyde Puli and he will certainly be pushed by the sports-loving people to give sports the support it deserves from a government which has shown that it cares for our youngsters.

Mr Puli will certainly have his own targets to achieve in this new field, foremost among which, in my opinion, will be some projects as the Kirkop and Qawra Complexes, not to mention facilities for The Malta Tennis Federation and the Malta Judo Federation, who still do not have their own premises till today.

Puli has a tall order in front of him, but I am sure that his youthful energy will see him through his new job successfully.

Henry Brincat

Sports Editor

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