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2004: Sports
 The
best result was that of William Chetcuti in shooting who obtained a creditable
9th place in the Men’s Double Trap Olympic Competition. Chetcuti, the youngest
shooter among the 25 in the competition, was extremely unlucky not to have
gone further up in the final placings as his total in the first round landed
him in the 6th place together with another 4 shooters. Chetcuti did not
qualify to the final barrage for 1 clay and had to enter the shoot out which
unfortunately played too much on his emotions. Earlier this year, he managed
to win the European Junior Championships in Nicosia where he also set a
new world record of 146/150. On the other hand, a most negative result was that obtained by athlete Tanya Blake who could only finish in the last place in one of the heats of the Women's 800m event. Darren Gilford's performance in the men's 100m was quite satisfactory although he failed to improve his personal best and national record. In sailing, Mario Aquilina placed 39th in the Laser Class. Judoka Marcon Bezzina lost to Kye Sun-Hui and Natalia Yukhareva in the women's lightweight (52-57kgs) event. Sun-Hui went on to win the silver medal in the event. Angela Galea placed fourth in one of the heats of the Women's 100m Butterfly while eighteen year old Neil Agius placed seventh in one of the heats of the Men's 400m Freestyle.  It was another year to remember for the women's national basketball team. After claiming gold in the GSSE 2003, Malta won the bronze medal in the 8th Promotion Cup which was held in Andorra. Malta was drawn in the toughest group since all the teams were highly competitive and physically strong. Malta, under the guidance of the coaching tandem of Santino Coppa and Carlo Farrugia, defeated hosts Andorra, Azerbaijan and Scotland, losing to Iceland. Malta therefore had to play for the bronze medal where they managed to beat Armenia. Malta also managed to qualify for the Commonwealth Games which will be held next year. In the domestic scene, Rabat Depiro won the women's league. Honours in men's basketball went to Pembroke in the Kinnie League and Depiro in Division 1. Omar Said (Pembroke) and Lucienne Bezzina (Hibernians) were named Players of the Year for the senior men and women respectively.
Snooker once again provided satisfaction with the Malta snooker team, made up of Alex Borg, Duncan Bezzina and Simon Zammit, claiming the European Teams' Snooker Championships contested by 24 national champions and 20 top professionally-ranked players representing 19 countries. Alex Borg reached the final of the European Championships which were held in Austria but was unlucky to lose by the odd frame in thirteen while in the European Open which was held in Malta, a remarkable comeback by Tony Drago was not enough to avoid a defeat to Jimmy White in the semi-finals of the European Open. White won 6-4 but then lost 9-3 to Stephen Maguire in the final.
 It was a disappointing year in the international scene for Malta in football. The team led by Horst Heese and Carmel Busuttil ended the calendar year with the lowest ever FIFA Ranking since they were first adopted in August 1993. In fact, Malta now lies in the 134th place, losing five places since December 2003. This year Malta played ten matches, winning one and losing seven. Malta defeated Estonia 5-2 while two matches against Moldova and Iceland ended in goalless draws. Malta suffered two heavy 7-0 defeats - to Germany in a friendly match in Gelsenkirchen and to Sweden in the first World Cup qualifier. Malta suffered another heavy 0-4 defeat to Belarus in the Malta International Tournament in February. During the tournament, Malta obtained its only win, a 5-2 win over Estonia. The other defeats were in the matches against Finland (1-2 friendly at Ta' Qali), the Faroe Islands (3-2 friendly in Toftir), Bulgaria (4-1 World Cup qualifier in Sofia) and Hungary (0-2 World Cup qualifier at Ta' Qali). The Malta Under-21 side however registered two wins - a 2-0 win over Finland in a friendly match and a 1-0 win over Iceland in a European Championship qualifier.
Local clubs also disappointed in Europe as the four of them were eliminated in the first round. In the UEFA Champions League, champions and FA Trophy winners Sliema Wanderers were eliminated by FBK Kaunas of Lithuania. Birkirkara and Marsaxlokk took part in the UEFA Cup, losing on aggregate to FK Partizani Tirana and NK Primorje respectively. Hibernians FC were also eliminated from the UEFA Intertoto Cup by NK Slaven Belupo. Stefan Giglio was voted MFA Footballer of the Year.  This year's annual general meeting of the Malta FA brought the elections for the officials of the association. Dr Joe Mifsud was contested for the first time. However he was confirmed as president for the next three years after polling 56 votes out of 97. The other contestant for the post, Joe Caruana Curran, polled 41 votes. Dr Mifsud was also re-elected to the UEFA Executive Committee in the election which was held during the XXVIII UEFA Ordinary Congress in Limassol, Cyprus. Meanwhile Birkirkara FC international secretary John Borg was voted Chairman of a group of 27 clubs representing various different football associations from throughout Europe, thus winning the sole seat available to this group of clubs on the highly successful UEFA European Club Forum Board.
In rugby, a 22-8 defeat to Moldova in Chisinau brought to an end Malta's positive run and hopes of clinching a third successive promotion. Although Malta suffered another defeat in November to Poland, the balance was still positive with wins over Serbia & Montenegro, Latvia, Hungary and Switzerland. In sailing, the Elusive crew obtained high placings in the IRC classifications in the Rolex Middle Sea Race, also claiming the top place among other Maltese boats. In bowling, Melissa Anastasi claimed three medals in the Mediterranean Championships which were held in Italy - a gold medal in the ladies' doubles, a silver in the team event and a bronze in the ladies' all event. In waterpolo, the Maltese national team took part in the European B Championships in Turkey. Locally, Sliema Burger King were once again declared champions as they managed to beat Neptunes Vodafone 6-4 in a decisive match on the final day. On the other hand, Go Mobile Sirens ended the season in style as they defeated champions Sliema Burger King 11-7 to claim the First Division Knock-Out. In hockey, Rabat Depiro won the double but they also managed to obtain a creditable second place in the European Club Challenge II - the first international hockey competition to be held in Malta. The Maltese youth national handball defeated England 30-13 in the final of the 2nd Malta International Handball Tournament at the University Sports Complex to claim the tournament. Meanwhile Maltese youth national handball coach Milos Stanisavljevic obtained a prestigious result for Malta when he was declared as the runner up in Category A of the International Sports Awards 2004. Stanisavljevic was thus awarded an Honorary International Diploma.  2004 also brought sad news with the death of athletes and other sports personalities. Two young footballers - Luke Cassar and Menrick Yeomans died in a traffic accident on September 18. Cassar, a product of the Paola Hibs nursery, used to be called with the first team, always ready to replace Malta’s international Mario Muscat. On the other hand, Menrick Yeomans used to play for Tarxien at U-12, U-14, U-16 and U-18 levels. A week before he died he was transferred to Hamrun Spartans, where he was expected to play in the first division. On the same day, 25-year old Darren Agius died while playing football in Zabbar.
On November 29, an accident at the ASM racetrack claimed the life of Darren Dimech. Dimech was riding his motorcycle when something went wrong. He fell from his bike which accidentally hit him on his head. Other sports personalities who died over the past year include Robbie Buttigieg, Arthur Podesta, Willie Apap, Joe Aquilina and Guzeppi Schembri. [view their obituaries] |
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