The Team Malta athletes were yesterday showered with some deserved praise from the top MOC officials after their excellent performances in the Liechtenstein Games the past week.
MOC president Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco once again reiterated that this was the best result ever away from our shores. “The number of medals confirms this. But it could have been even better had it not been for the first ever presence of Montenegro, the number of disciplines missing where we had potential medal winners, and the large number of foreigners included in the contingents of most of the other nations.
“We had a small contingent compared to the others, but considering everything, it was an excellent result. We are very happy with what has been achieved by our athletes. There were a few disappointing results, but I also have to praise those who were close to a medal, especially those who finished fourth in their events,” he said.
Farrugia Sacco laid a special emphasis on the youngsters included in Team Malta this year. “Athletes like Nicole Gatt, Daniel Zammit Lewis, Jeremy Saywell, Colette Sultana, Jessica Pace and Daniel Bajada are the future of Maltese sport. They were all medal winners and produced very good performances. This means that their federations are working on the right track. We must look at the future with great optimism,” he added.
He then went on to outline the performances of every sport, commenting that it was a big satisfaction for him to see the beach volleyball girls reach the levels of the medal winners. He did not agree with some negative comments about the cyclists and the tennis players.
He added: “In shooting we were there, but lost the medal in the shoot off. On some occasions, though prepared, we seem to miss that final push,” he said.
He also praised the performances of the table-tennis and judo athletes and added that the swimmers provided a nice surprise for him and the MOC. “Of course, we are satisfied, but we always wish to get more,” he said.
He then spoke about squash and athletics, saying that both were highly successful. “They both achieved excellent results. As to athletics, I compared Saturday’s afternoon with that of Andorra six years ago. Those were the best afternoons of my life as we got one medal after another. As to the squash boys and girls, we could not expect any more – four golds from a possible four was a 100 per cent success.
“After such results, it is not just the MOC, but the whole population that is well satisfied with what has been achieved,” he said.
At the end, he also criticised cyclist David Millar and squash player Mike Fiteni who opted to stay out just a few days before the Games. “Of course, not everything was perfect. These late withdrawals were a sort of setback. But after all, our main concern were the injuries to Marcon Bezzina, Joe Desira and Nikolai Portelli. The fact that they wanted to perform despite their injuries, shos how really committed they were give their all for Malta. I must sincerely thank them.”
In his final comments, Farrugia Sacco thanked the Maltese Council of Sport for its support. “According to the signed contract we have been granted euro 248,500 in direct assistance and euro 120,000 for expenses involved at the Games for European Small Nations in Liechtenstein.
“We also have in mind a bonus for the successful athletes, but no amounts have been decided upon so far,” he stated.
Chef de Mission Mark Cutajar said these results showed that those who had criticised him after the 2009 Games in Cyprus had been very unfair.
He said: “We showed everyone that we can reach our aims when there is a will from all sectors. These performances were the result of a united team effort involving the administration, officials and athletes. We had argued and held discussions. But in Vaduz, we forgot all about the problems and we all worked with one aim in mind – to represent Malta in the best way possible.
“It is well to say that 44 from 60 athletes came back home with a medal while 55 out of 60 managed a medal or finished fourth. This must be labelled as ‘Mission Accomplished’. Moreover, there were 16 new national records – 13 in swimming and three in athletics – as well as several personal bests.
“Had Montenegro not been there, we would have finished with 10 gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze medals,” he stated.
Cutajar went on to say that in athletics alone, there was the biggest success. “On the last day it seemed as if we had hijacked the track. We won seven medals from the eight events that afternoon. Overall, athletics provided Team Malta with four gold, six silver and four bronze medals. It was also a great triumph for Diane Borg and Rebecca Camilleri who made a very successful comeback. We also have to consider the injury which ruled Nikolai Portelli out of these Games. I am sure it would have been even better had he been available,” he said.
Cutajar also went on to outline the performance of each discipline showering praise on most of the athletes and making a special mention of squash coach Ivan Balzan. “He was not just a coach over there. He also acted as a real team leader,” he said.
Cutajar also had some criticism for shooting and cycling. “As for shooting I am very angry. If one takes a glance at the results of the shooters in the international competitions leading to this event, then those would have been a certain gold medal in Liechtenstein. We will have to see what happened, but we also have to admit that we have no Prone range in Malta. That is one discipline where we will have to invest in the near future,” he remarked.
As to cycling, he said: “The Millar setback was one of our greatest disappointments. We had met him personally after he himself invited us to dinner one day. Till 21 May he was available but from the day after, he started citing problems until he finally declined our invitation to join us. With him in the squad our cyclists would have performed much better. But after that setback, their morale was very low,” he added.
He also reserved a word of great praise to the beach volley girls. “They did quite well and it was only lack of experience that saw them losing the chance to get a bronze medal.”
He thanked everyone involved and ended his speech by reading an e-mail from Bradley Hindle Deguara, the Maltese flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony, who said he was very proud to have represented Malta. He added that the MOC deserved praise as well as the Chef de Mission, Cutajar, and his team, had done a tough and exhausting job in producing an excellent and well representative Maltese contingent at these Games.
At the end of the conference, I also asked whether it was positive to see the MOC and the KMS working together after relations had been strained following the Cyprus Games two years ago.
Farrugia Sacco said that he had always worked in the interest of sport. He added: “That is what I have been doing all along and that is what I will continue to do. All I can say that at the moment we enjoy a good relationship with the Maltese Council for Sport.”
On his part, Bernard Vassallo, who earlier had congratulated the MOC and Team Malta for the excellent performances and results, said that it was the KMS’s intention to continue working hand in hand, as proposed by the MOC president earlier, to see sport achieving better results in future. “We will certainly look at the possibility of increasing funds for sports. With some goodwill from all sides, this can be achieved, but he made it clear that this depended mainly on government funds from the annual budget. I hope that in future, sports will be considered as an investment rather than an expenditure,” he said.