735 athletes named by nine participating nations
A list of 69 athletes representing Malta at the forthcoming Games for European Small Nations in Liechtenstein, published on the Games official website, LieGames 2011, is not yet official, according to Maltese Olympic Committee Director of Sport Mark Cutajar.
The website produced the list of all the athletes from the participating nations. According to Cutajar, all NOCs had to send a list of athletes by 8 May, but that was not yet official. Cutajar added that there might be some athletes who might still be dropped for various reasons.
The list will probably become official next Thursday when the Maltese Olympic Committee will be staging a news conference to reveal the full list of the members forming part of the Maltese contingent at the Games in Liechtenstein.
As already made known, Malta is expected to take part in athletics, cycling, judo, shooting, squash, swimming, table-tennis, tennis and beach volleyball, although an event might still be dropped.
The list, as published on the website, includes well known cyclist David Millar, who had won the time trial gold medal for Malta at the San Marino Games in 2001.
Among the athletes not resident in Malta is athlete Kevin Arthur Moore who is eligible to represent Malta, according to the MOC. If his participation is confirmed, he is expected to take part in six events – 100m, 200, 400m, 800m, and the two relays 4x100m and 4x400m.
Also included is Pengfei Lu, of Chinese origin, but also eligible to represent Malta in these Games. She will be playing table-tennis in doubles, singles and the team event.
The top athletes seem to have become eligible after obtaining the required Minimum Qualifying Standards (MQSs) as requested by the MOC.
Among those missing is lady tennis player Elaine Genovese who is unavailable, while the participation of athlete Nicolai Portelli is still in doubt. It seems as if he has now fully recovered after his early season injury and reports indicate that he is in very good shape.
The full list of athletes is the following:
Athletics: Charlene Attard, Lisa Marie Bezzina, Mario Bonello, Diane Borg, Neil Brimmer, Giselle Camilleri, Owen Lee Camilleri, Rebecca Camilleri, Steve Camilleri, Rachid Chouhal, Matthew Croker, James d’Alfonso, Karl Farrugia, Nicole Gatt, Andy Grech, Mark Herrera, Angie Mangion, Kevin Arthur Moore, Alessandra Pace, Celine Pace, Nicolai Portelli, Francesca Xuereb, Martina Xuereb.
Cycling: Etienne Bonello, Clive Ebejer, Maurice Formosa, David Galea, Andrew Griffiths, David Millar, Jason Vella.
Judo: Marcon Bezzina, Joanne Camilleri, Brent Law, Jeremy Saywell.
Shooting (air pistol & air rifle): Eleanor Bezzina, Marianna Kisvardai, William Vella.
Squash: Theresa Brousson, Carl Camilleri, Dianne Desira, Joseph Desira, Nigel Dunkerley, Michael Fiteni, Bradley Hindle-Deguara, Mark Lupi, Annabelle Olivieri-Munroe, Johanna Rizzo, Colette Sultana, Daniel Zammit Lewis.
Swimming: Andrea Agius, Neil Agius, Edward Caruana Dingli, Andrew Chetcuti, Davina Mangion, Melinda Sue Micallef, Nicola Muscat, Talisa Pace, Mark Sammut.
Table-Tennis: Daniel Bajada, Simon Gerada, Pengfei Lu, Jessica Pace.
Tennis: Matthew Asciak, Nick Camilleri, Kimberley Cassar, Mark Gatt, Bena Jetcheva.
Volleyball (Beach): Alison Borg, Gertrude Zarb.
Over 730 athletes
According to the lists of all the nine nations taking part, published by the official website, there will be 735 athletes taking part, if these were all to be confirmed as participants.
Leading the list of athletes, as usual, will be Cyprus, with 132 athletes. They are followed by Iceland and Luxembourg who have registered 110 athletes each. Then come Monaco with 90, Liechtenstein and San Marino with 75, Malta 69, Andorra 54 and Montenegro 20.
It is the first time that Montenegro are taking part in the Games after the country was accepted as a member during the Congress held in Cyprus two years ago.
Squash teams first in action
Malta’s men’s and women’s squash teams will be the first in action in Liechtenstein.
In fact, they are scheduled to meet their Icelandic counterparts at 11am on Monday 30 May.
The opening ceremony is scheduled to be held at the Rheinpark Stadion in the capital, Vaduz, starting at 8pm, on the same day.