Peppina Dalli won Malta’s seventh medal in the 16th edition of the Small Nations Games which are being held in Reykjavik, Iceland, when she placed second in the artistic gymnastics competition

Late yesterday, Maltese gymnasts achieved an historic result in the team competition yesterday after winning a GSSE silver medal at the Laugabol Hall in Reykjavik. Claire Azzopardi, Suzanne Buttigieg, Kirsty Caruana, Peppijna Dalli and Sana Grillo produced a strong collective effort to accumulate 137.550 and secure second spot in the overall standings.

This was Malta’s best result in GSSE gymnastics. Iceland took gold with 149.050 and Luxembourg placed third on 136.200. Caruana almost stepped on the podium a second time in the allround event but classified fourth place, just outside the medals zone.

The second medal won yesterday was a bronze in women’s table tennis. The Maltese team lost their semi-final against Luxembourg and placed third.

Later on yesterday evening, Maltese athlete was competing in the finals of the 100m butterfly and Michael Umnov was competing in the 200m breaststroke competition.

The Maltese women’s beach volley team lost 2-0 against Lichtenstein yesterday morning, 21-10 in the first session and 21-17 in the second session.

It was a positive day for the Maltese athletes competing in tennis, as the Maltese contingent has secured at least two medals during yesterday’s matches.

Having already secured a place in the doubles’ final, Elaine Genovese beat Luxembourg’s Eleonora Molinava’s challenge to qualify for the singles’ semifinal, now facing the Cypriot athlete. This was not an easy qualification. Elaine took the lead early in the match having won a break, but lost the first set 5-7.

She had also nearly lost the match but managed to save a set point and turned the set around to win 7-6 on tie-break. She dominated the decisive third set to win 6-2.

In basketball, Luxembourg set the tone early by scoring the first nine points. However Malta recovered and got in front in the second quarter, 2122. Luxembourg replied and led 35-24 at half time.

From then on the Luxembourg team never looked back and kept Malta in five points in the third quarter.

Malta never threatened their lead in the fourth quarter and Luxembourg could afford to relax a bit in the final moments.