Malta obtained two silver medals on the opening day of the programme with Lisa Bezzina and Diane Borg claiming second place in the 10,000 metres final and 200 metres final respectively.
It was Diane Borg who provided the first thrill as she ran a superb 11.94 seconds in the heat to qualify with a personal best time. In the heats, Charlene Attard clocked 12.34 seconds, but did not qualify.
Later Borg finished second in the final claiming the silver medal in 11.89 seconds - a new national record.
Bezzina’s silver medal came at the end of the first day’s events. She finished second behind Montenegro’s runner Perunovic, who claimed gold. It was the first time that Montenegro are taking part in the Games. Their runner denied Bezzina and Malta the glory of a gold medal.
Borg’s silver medal is still shrouded in mystery in the sense that it could also be a gold if a protest lodged by Malta is upheld. It was being discussed yesterday but a decision was to be announced later yesterday evening or today. In any case, the presentation ceremony for that event as well as that for the 10,000m have been transferred to tomorrow.
Diane said she was very happy with the result. “This is my best performance ever. I have set a new national record and could have been better. I felt I was slightly obstructed during the run, but I am still happy with the silver medal whatever the outcome of the protest. I now will do my best to help the relay team,” she added.
Lisa Bezzina was elated at her success. She said: “This is my best result having also registered a personal best. I wish to thank my coach John Walsh, the Maltese Olympic Committee, Ian Restall, my boss, my parents and everyone who helped and supported me throughout my preparations. Without their help, I would have never made it,” she said.
Earlier, there was also a great surprise as Rashid Chouhal, quite surprisingly, failed to qualify for the 100m men’s final. He finished second in the second heat in a time of 11.06 seconds after appearing to slow down in the final 70 metres. Instead, it was Karl Farrugia, in heat one, who qualified for the final in a time of 11.04 seconds.
After the run, Chouhal said he did not know that only six were to qualify for the final (the stadium has only six lanes). He said: “I admit I slowed down in the final 20 metres after having started like a house on fire. I thought I had qualified. Little did I realise that the six with the best times clocked would enter the final. I am disappointed at having missed this opportunity but, on the other hand, I am happy for Farrugia and congratulate him on reaching the final.”
Kevin Moore and James D’Alfonso qualified for the final of the 400m men. Moore had the best time in the heats. Racing in heat one, he clocked a good 48.41 secs to finish first, while James D’Alfonso qualified after finishing third in the heat in a time of 49.49secs.
In the women’s 100m heats, Francesca Xuereb and Nicole Gatt both qualified. Xuereb clocked 58.55 to finish third in heat one, while Gatt clocked 58.63 to finish first in heat two.
In the 800m for women, Celina Pace failed to qualify after clocking 2:23.40 to finish fifth.
Edwin Attard, secretary general of Malta Athletics, was obviously very happy with the results. “We could not have hoped for a better start. It was really encouraging to see most of our athletes qualifying for the finals, apart from the silver medals won by Diane and Lisa. We just hope this was a prelude of what is in store in the next two days,” he said.