2007: Sports in Malta
by Antoine Busuttil, MaltaMedia's Sports Editor
2007 was another eventful year for sports in Malta.
In football, this will definitely be a year to remember.
The national team continued to show improvement with a number of positive results, the main highlight of which was the 2-2 draw with Turkey in front of over twelve thousand spectators at the National Stadium.
Under the guidance of coach Dusan Fitzel, the locals took the lead through Brian Said. The visitors levelled matters before the break. Andre Schembri restored the lead for Malta but once again Turkey, one of the finalists for next June's EURO 2008, equalised.
Malta managed to hold Moldova in a 1-1 draw away from home in another EURO 2008 qualifier and held Austria in another 1-1 draw in a friendly match which marked the 50th anniversary of international football for the Malta national team.
Marsaxlokk claimed their first ever Premier League title, dominating from start to finish. Hibernians won the other trophies at stake, namely the FA Trophy, Super Cup and the Euro Challenge Cup.
MFA president Dr Joe Mifsud was re-elected to the UEFA Executive Committee for another four year term, at the end of which, he would have been serving for a staggering 17 years. Locally, Dr Mifsud was confirmed as the President of the Malta Football Association for another three years after beating rival candidate Norman Darmanin Demajo in the association's Annual General Meeting which was held in July. Dr Mifsud polled a total of 52 votes against the 49 votes obtained by Darmanin Demajo. At the end of this three year term, Dr Mifsud would have served for a total of eighteen years as MFA president.
The Games of the Small States of Europe stole the lime-light in June. Despite predictions that Team Malta could match or even do better than it did in Andorra in 2005, Malta had to settle for 4 gold medals, 9 silver and 17 bronze.
Judo brought two gold medals for Malta thanks to Joanna Camilleri and Marcon Bezzina. Camilleri claimed Maltaís first gold medal on the first day of the Games in the -57kg category. On the other hand, having moved from -57kgs category to the 63kg category made it more difficult for Bezzina. However she still mananged to claim gold.
Malta won the other two gold medals thanks to brothers Benji and Sean Borg in sailing.
Benji Borg won the gold medal in the Laser class, beating home favourites Monaco. Sean Borg, on the other hand, won the medal in the Optimist Class.
In athletics, Charlene Attard won four medals - silver in the 100m, bronze in the 200m and formed part of the 4x100m and 4x400m winning a further silver and bronze medal respectively. This year, she also set a new national record for the 100m at 11.93s. This year, she also took part in the European Indoor Championships, European Under 23 Championships, European Cup second league and also the World championships in Osaka.
Darren Gilford won the silver medal in the 100m. He also formed part of the 4x100m relay winning the Silver medal. Like Charlene Attard, he took part in European Indoor Games in Birmingham and World Championships in Osaka.
Francesca Xuereb took the Silver medal which her sister won in the GSSE Andorra 2005 games in the 400m event leaving the bronze for her sister Martina. She was a member of the 4x400m which won a Bronze medal. Meanwhile she also took part in the IAAF World Youth Championships in the Czech Republic, placing 8th overall in the 400m and placed 4th overall in the European Youth Olympic Festival in Belgrade.
The men's (Mario Bonello, Rachid Chouhal, Darren Gilford and Nicolai Portelli) and women's (Charlene Attard, Diane Borg, Therese Mallia, Lara Scerri) 4 x 100m teams both won silver.
Nicolai Portelli won the Bronze medal in the 400m and formed part of the silver medallist relay 4x100m team. He also took part in the European Cup League 2B finishing 4th overall in the 400m.
Martina Xuereb won bronze in the 400m. Meanwhile she took part in the European Cup League 2B where she placed fourth in the 400m. At the IAAF World Youth Championships, she placed ninth overall in the 400m while at the European Youth Olympic Festival, she made it through to the semi-finals in the 200m.
The other bronze medals in athletics were won by Carol Walsh (athletics - 10,000m); Rachid Chouhal (athletics - long jump) and Charlene Attard/Diane Borg/Martina Xuereb/Francesca Xuereb (athletics - 4x400m relay).
In swimming, Angela Galea won the silver medal in the 200m butterfly while Madeleine Scerri, representing Malta for the first time, claimed three bronze medals - 100m and 200m backstroke and then as part of the 4x100m relay team.
Andrezej Makowski and Simon Gerada won the silver medal in the table-tennis men's team event. Yu Wang also won a silver medal in the women's singles and two bronze medals in the doubles and team events, together with Johanna Grech.
Ella Fleri Soler won the silver medal in the Optimist class in Sailing in her first participation in the games.
Malta took part in gymnastics for the first time winning a historic bronze medal in the vault thanks to Philip Caruana Turner.
Another three bronze medals were obtained in judo thanks to Evgeny Ulanov and Brent Law - (men's team event); Brent Law (-60kg) and Evgeny Ulanov (-81kg).
David Farrugia won the other bronze medal - in the Raffa event in bowls.
In other events, the womenís national Squash team, made up of Theresa Camilleri, Annabelle Olivieri Monroe and Johanna Rizzo won the ESF tournament, beating favorites Isle of Man in the final after going through a group which included Latvia, Serbia, Russia, and Ukraine and beating Poland in the semi-finals.
The Womenís National Rugby 7's team placed second in the European 7ís Championship 2007 which was held in Bosnia. In the qualifying round, Malta won five games and drew once making it to the semi final. Malta beat Moldova but then lost to Finland in the final.
In the Rolex Middlesea Race 2007, two Maltese boats obtained very positive results. Elusive Medbank placed fourth overall, first in class (18 yachts) and division (39 yachts). Elusive also had the honour of being the first Maltese boat home, and first Maltese boat on corrected time in IRC. Elusive placed fourth overall in both the IRC Classification, (out of 56 yachts) and the IMS Classification (44 yachts). The Airmalta Malta Falcon II placed fifth overall in the IRC Classification and second in the IMS Classification for Class B out of 50 yachts registered in this class. Airmalta Falcon also placed second overall in their class in IRC.
In table football, Malta moved second in the World Rankings after ending as losing finalists win the World Cup, losing to World Champions Italy 2-1.
by Antoine Busuttil, MaltaMedia's Sports Editor
2007 was another eventful year for sports in Malta.
In football, this will definitely be a year to remember.
The national team continued to show improvement with a number of positive results, the main highlight of which was the 2-2 draw with Turkey in front of over twelve thousand spectators at the National Stadium.
Under the guidance of coach Dusan Fitzel, the locals took the lead through Brian Said. The visitors levelled matters before the break. Andre Schembri restored the lead for Malta but once again Turkey, one of the finalists for next June's EURO 2008, equalised.
Malta managed to hold Moldova in a 1-1 draw away from home in another EURO 2008 qualifier and held Austria in another 1-1 draw in a friendly match which marked the 50th anniversary of international football for the Malta national team.
Marsaxlokk claimed their first ever Premier League title, dominating from start to finish. Hibernians won the other trophies at stake, namely the FA Trophy, Super Cup and the Euro Challenge Cup.MFA president Dr Joe Mifsud was re-elected to the UEFA Executive Committee for another four year term, at the end of which, he would have been serving for a staggering 17 years. Locally, Dr Mifsud was confirmed as the President of the Malta Football Association for another three years after beating rival candidate Norman Darmanin Demajo in the association's Annual General Meeting which was held in July. Dr Mifsud polled a total of 52 votes against the 49 votes obtained by Darmanin Demajo. At the end of this three year term, Dr Mifsud would have served for a total of eighteen years as MFA president.
The Games of the Small States of Europe stole the lime-light in June. Despite predictions that Team Malta could match or even do better than it did in Andorra in 2005, Malta had to settle for 4 gold medals, 9 silver and 17 bronze.
Judo brought two gold medals for Malta thanks to Joanna Camilleri and Marcon Bezzina. Camilleri claimed Maltaís first gold medal on the first day of the Games in the -57kg category. On the other hand, having moved from -57kgs category to the 63kg category made it more difficult for Bezzina. However she still mananged to claim gold.
Malta won the other two gold medals thanks to brothers Benji and Sean Borg in sailing.
Benji Borg won the gold medal in the Laser class, beating home favourites Monaco. Sean Borg, on the other hand, won the medal in the Optimist Class.
In athletics, Charlene Attard won four medals - silver in the 100m, bronze in the 200m and formed part of the 4x100m and 4x400m winning a further silver and bronze medal respectively. This year, she also set a new national record for the 100m at 11.93s. This year, she also took part in the European Indoor Championships, European Under 23 Championships, European Cup second league and also the World championships in Osaka.
Darren Gilford won the silver medal in the 100m. He also formed part of the 4x100m relay winning the Silver medal. Like Charlene Attard, he took part in European Indoor Games in Birmingham and World Championships in Osaka.
Francesca Xuereb took the Silver medal which her sister won in the GSSE Andorra 2005 games in the 400m event leaving the bronze for her sister Martina. She was a member of the 4x400m which won a Bronze medal. Meanwhile she also took part in the IAAF World Youth Championships in the Czech Republic, placing 8th overall in the 400m and placed 4th overall in the European Youth Olympic Festival in Belgrade.
The men's (Mario Bonello, Rachid Chouhal, Darren Gilford and Nicolai Portelli) and women's (Charlene Attard, Diane Borg, Therese Mallia, Lara Scerri) 4 x 100m teams both won silver.
Nicolai Portelli won the Bronze medal in the 400m and formed part of the silver medallist relay 4x100m team. He also took part in the European Cup League 2B finishing 4th overall in the 400m.
Martina Xuereb won bronze in the 400m. Meanwhile she took part in the European Cup League 2B where she placed fourth in the 400m. At the IAAF World Youth Championships, she placed ninth overall in the 400m while at the European Youth Olympic Festival, she made it through to the semi-finals in the 200m.
The other bronze medals in athletics were won by Carol Walsh (athletics - 10,000m); Rachid Chouhal (athletics - long jump) and Charlene Attard/Diane Borg/Martina Xuereb/Francesca Xuereb (athletics - 4x400m relay).
In swimming, Angela Galea won the silver medal in the 200m butterfly while Madeleine Scerri, representing Malta for the first time, claimed three bronze medals - 100m and 200m backstroke and then as part of the 4x100m relay team.
Andrezej Makowski and Simon Gerada won the silver medal in the table-tennis men's team event. Yu Wang also won a silver medal in the women's singles and two bronze medals in the doubles and team events, together with Johanna Grech.
Ella Fleri Soler won the silver medal in the Optimist class in Sailing in her first participation in the games.
Malta took part in gymnastics for the first time winning a historic bronze medal in the vault thanks to Philip Caruana Turner.
Another three bronze medals were obtained in judo thanks to Evgeny Ulanov and Brent Law - (men's team event); Brent Law (-60kg) and Evgeny Ulanov (-81kg).
David Farrugia won the other bronze medal - in the Raffa event in bowls.
In other events, the womenís national Squash team, made up of Theresa Camilleri, Annabelle Olivieri Monroe and Johanna Rizzo won the ESF tournament, beating favorites Isle of Man in the final after going through a group which included Latvia, Serbia, Russia, and Ukraine and beating Poland in the semi-finals.
The Womenís National Rugby 7's team placed second in the European 7ís Championship 2007 which was held in Bosnia. In the qualifying round, Malta won five games and drew once making it to the semi final. Malta beat Moldova but then lost to Finland in the final.
In the Rolex Middlesea Race 2007, two Maltese boats obtained very positive results. Elusive Medbank placed fourth overall, first in class (18 yachts) and division (39 yachts). Elusive also had the honour of being the first Maltese boat home, and first Maltese boat on corrected time in IRC. Elusive placed fourth overall in both the IRC Classification, (out of 56 yachts) and the IMS Classification (44 yachts). The Airmalta Malta Falcon II placed fifth overall in the IRC Classification and second in the IMS Classification for Class B out of 50 yachts registered in this class. Airmalta Falcon also placed second overall in their class in IRC.
In table football, Malta moved second in the World Rankings after ending as losing finalists win the World Cup, losing to World Champions Italy 2-1.
Photo (1): Copyright © foto aquilina
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Photo (2): Copyright © www.stephengatt.com